King Biscuit Blues Festival

Main Street Helena

Member of Main Street Arkansas and Main Street USA

Main Street Helena's new Headquarters in the recently refurbished Crescent Building.

What Is Main Street Helena?

Main Street Helena is the sponsoring organization for the King Biscuit Blues Festival and is classified as a 501 (c)(3) non-profit entity as defined by the Internal Revenue Service. The festival is only a small part of what Main Street Helena is all about.

Main Street Helena was the first Main Street City Project in Arkansas. Helena was chosen for its historic main street buildings in the

downtown area that were being threatened by demolition and neglect that plagues many small towns throughout the country. The goals of the Main Street program are to preserve the downtown area and revitalize and economically restructure the downtown area to compete with other economic forces such as shopping centers. For the first few years, the state helped fund the Main Street Program with matching grants. Since that time, Main Street Helena has become self-sustaining with its main funding coming from the proceeds of the King Biscuit Blues Festival.

In addition to the King Biscuit Blues Festival, Main Street Helena promotes downtown Helena throughout the year by having special sales, seminars for the small business owner, style shows, wine tastings and art shows. They are always trying to recruit new businesses and have promotions to bring people back to the downtown area.

Main Street Helena is run by an executive director in conjunction with a board of directors. The board is composed of people from various backgrounds and professions whose common interests are to preserve and revitalize the downtown area.

Main Street Helena's membership is made up of businesses, professionals, corporations and individuals who contribute yearly dues to main street. For more information about how to help Main Street Helena achieve its goals and/or to become a member of Main Street call (501) 338-9144.