WINDSOR – After more than two years of trying, the Town of Windsor has finally been accepted in to the North Carolina Small Town Main Street program.

The program will utilize a balanced, comprehensive approach to downtown revitalization that focuses on four key elements: organization, design, promotion and economic restructuring.

According to information supplied by the North Carolina Department of Commerce (NCDOC), organization for the program will involve building partnerships to create a consistent revitalization program, to include developing effective management and leadership downtown using diverse groups of people.

Promotion within the program will help to re-establish downtown as an attractive place for shoppers, investors and visitors. It involves not only improving sales, but also rekindling community excitement and involvement.

The design portion of the plan will work to enhance the visual quality of the downtown, according to the NCDOC. Attention will be given to all elements of the downtown environment, including buildings, storefronts, public spaces, rear entries, signs, landscaping, window displays and graphic materials.

Finally, the economic restructuring entails strengthening the downtown’s existing economic assets while diversifying its economic base.

&uot;We’ve been working on this for about two years now, it’s a pretty big deal that we’ve finally been accepted to participate,&uot; stated Town Manager Allen Castelloe.

Windsor joins Angier, Badin, Burgaw, Tryon and West Jefferson this year as the new communities in the state’s Main Street program.

At the most recent Windsor Board of Commissioners meeting last Thursday, a resolution was passed to adopt the agreement to participate in the program.

The resolution states that the town will participate in the program for an initial period of no less than 12 months.