Colfax approves $5,000 for Downtown Association

The Colfax City Council passed a motion to grant $5,000 to the Downtown Association in its meeting on July 23. The Historic Downtown Association is a nonprofit organization that has spent the past few months laying the groundwork to revitalize Colfax's downtown and bring new visitors to the city. In the last few months, the association has hosted multiple meetings for business owners, launched an art month, developed a plan to attract new businesses and more. The funds will help cover start-up expenses, event costs and marketing efforts as they continue to demonstrate the capacity to drive meaningful changes and promote Colfax and its community members. "A lot of the initial funding is continuing the Historic Colfax platform, getting photographers in there to start taking better pictures that I can take on my phone," said president of the Historic Downtown Association Erin Newington in the meeting. "We have a full lineup of commercials that we've designed. A lot of the initial funds are going to tourism-based activities and helping us launch some of these newer events." Newington also highlighted she has already laid down much of the groundwork for the Downtown Association and any funding from the city would be used to continue her campaign of bringing people to the city through events and a social media presence. One of the new events touched on is the Colfax Bazaar, a one-day marketplace on Aug. 2 with vintage items, handmade goods and local flavors. "It's $5,000 to try something new. I think it's a good idea to try something new," said one citizen during public comment. "That's how you get people to want to get involved in Colfax is by encouraging it." The council approved the grant following a brief discussion period, allowing the Downtown Association to continue its efforts to grow tourism in Colfax. In addition to the discussions of the grant, multiple residents expressed frustration with a lack of progress on revitalizing the downtown hotel, while others offered praise for the recent clean-up efforts around the city. The council also discussed scheduling additional workshops to foster greater community involvement and ensure all voices are heard as they move forward with event planning after concerns were raised about some voices within the city, such as the Chamber of Commerce, were not heard.