Seeing Main Street in a Whole New Light FREE WORKSHOP: March 29, 6:30-8:00pm, Cottage Grove Armory

Description

To help us recover from the doldrums of the winter and find the light at the end of the COVID tunnel, the City of Cottage Grove is partnering with Downtown Cottage Grove and the State Historic Preservation Office to offer a FREE WORKSHOP to all interested parties on exterior building & retail lighting.
This workshop, titled “Seeing Main Street in a Whole New Light”, will be taught by Seanette Corkill, the owner of Frontdoor Back, a store design & visual merchandising firm. The workshop will be held at the Cottage Grove Armory, socially-distanced in the Drill Hall, on March 29th from 6:30-8:00pm. Successful downtown districts know that lighting is crucial to creating a sense of safety but great lighting goes further and promotes and delights visitors and citizens, helping them create meaningful connections with their cherished places. Great lighting also helps shoppers open their wallets for retailers and service providers when a place has that certain je ne sais quoi that lighting can provide. Choosing and placing lighting can be confusing and getting it wrong can be costly. The workshop will cover the 7 layers of light that need to be present for a district to have the 24/7 vitality that today’s consumers are looking for. It will cover the incremental steps that businesses and property owners can take to make improvements and will demystify and clarify the numerous technical terms and qualities of lights that are often confusing. After attending, you’ll be more discerning about what constitutes good vs poor lighting, you’ll be more confident making purchasing decisions and you will have a better understanding of where to begin making investments. Seanette is a frequent Main Street event speaker and presents on store design, building facades, window displays and visual merchandising to retail groups and business districts across the country. She also provides custom training and design solutions for store owners. After the workshop, Seanette will be providing her services to four+ Downtown Cottage Grove business owners, to give them a customized list of prioritized recommendations for what their property or storefront needs to create meaningful and comprehensive lighting solutions. Interested businesses should contact Amanda Ferguson, City Planner, for more information. How do you use lighting to create safety while attracting customers? Let’s find out together, and help revive Downtown Cottage Grove. If you have more questions, or want more information, please contact Amanda Ferguson, City Planner, at (541) 942-3340 or planner@cottagegrove.org.