Big Fish of the Platte (Fremont, Nebraska)

Several members of Main Street of Fremont were driving home from a Nebraska Main Street-sponsored training on public art projects when they had an idea. It sounded fishy at first, but it turned into an outlet for local artists to display their work and raise money for a downtown streetscape project.

Now support your Down Town and kindly tip your hat
To the biggest fish, yes, the biggest fish of Nebraska’s River Platte

That’s the refrain from “The Biggest Fish of Nebraska’s River Platte,” the theme song for the “Fremont, Big Fish of the Platte” public art project which featured more than 30 brightly painted six-foot fiberglass catfish which adorned street corners throughout the eastern Nebraska city. A subcommittee of the Main Street board was formed to tackle the project. The Chicago company that started much of the national street art craze, Cowpainter’s Inc., happened to have a number of catfish that had been destined for a project in an Illinois community that had dropped the plans. Hence, the first fish blank to arrive in Fremont was dubbed “Quincy.” He became the poster child for the project. The committee hooked up fish artists with sponsors as the project finally began to float. Many were local, but several were done by high school students from Pawnee City in southeast Nebraska. The advertising manager for the Bellevue newspaper did “Fill-er-up” as a gas station attendant from the era of the heyday of the Lincoln Highway. “Sole of the Platte” was commissioned for the owners of Buck’s Shoes in downtown Fremont and featured a fish adorned with whimsical footwear and begged the question, “can you teach a fish to heel?”Imagine having fun while raising money to do a project that will benefit all the residents of a community by enhancing the downtown where they live.

Main Street All Hands (Wayne, Nebraska)

You have to get up pretty early to keep up with the folks at Main Street Wayne. The All Hands Committee, the governing body of the organization in this northeast Nebraska college town, meets every Tuesday at 8 a. m. It adjourns at 9 a.m. and whatever is left on the agenda generally rolls over to the next week. And, the committee votes every so often to decide if they want to keep meeting every week at the early hour ... and the answer is always the same. Yes. As one member put it, the group has been so successful and has such great momentum they are afraid NOT to meet weekly. The schedule is invaluable in the days and weeks prior to a promotion or other planned activity. Rather than having to put a special meeting together to talk about the annual Christmas parade of lights, the event just naturally comes up on the weekly agenda. That avoids any last minute surprises and makes for a smooth flow of assigned tasks.
Main Street Wayne has established a strong working relationship with Wayne State College. Members of the faculty and student body serve on the All Hands Committee. Main Street has also added a downtown element to the nationally recognized Chicken Show. It’s called Henoween and it happens the night before the annual Chicken Show when several blocks of downtown are cordoned off for games such as frozen chicken bowling, a talent show, a free live stage show and food vendors, carnival rides and the ever popular painted concrete chicken art auction. For the All Hands Committee, it’s all about downtown.

Christensen Corporation (Fremont, Nebraska)

An historic building constructed in an alleyway between two others has been revived thanks to the vision of a property management company. The Christensen Company renovated the long-vacant building on a side street in this historic downtown to reflect the flavor of by-gone days. In the process, the showcase property became a great corporate headquarters. Boarded-up windows on the second story were opened up and a traditionally appropriate storefront was added at the street level. An interior stairwell was built to give access to the second floor, alleviating the need to use a common stairwell in the building next door. Dramatic use of wood and brick and natural lighting adds to the charm of the remodeled space which now houses offices for Mark and Laurie Ferraina and other employees. This renovated space has served to attract shoppers to the historic Main Street District while testifying to one family’s pride in historic preservation.