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DARS, the Downtown Amherst Revitalization Society has completed its mandate. The Board of Directors has informed the downtown business community of their decision to discontinue as an organization. DARS was formed in 1999 primarily for the purpose of focusing on capital improvements and beautification projects within downtown Amherst along with targeted promotional and marketing tools. In explaining the decision, long-time DARS Board Chair Beth Munroe said “from a business perspective it makes sense to move on as DARS has fulfilled its mandate to help develop, beautify and promote downtown Amherst.” She pointed to the many successes the Society has enjoyed over the past 12 plus years including murals, tree sculptures, Victorian Christmas, the Nova Scotia Fibre Arts Festival and the soon to be launched WiFi zone in the downtown core. Deanne Fitzpatrick, downtown business owner and a member of the DARS and Fibre Arts Festival Boards agreed that DARS has accomplished a lot but that now is “a good time for the downtown business community and the Town of Amherst to become more engaged with each other and work in partnership to enhance and promote an expanding downtown core area.” Mayor Robert Small welcomed the opportunity for the Town to strengthen a growing partnership with the downtown business community. He pointed out that the town has directly partnered with DARS on a number of initiatives including the inception and development of the Centre First Strategy, annual Victorian Christmas celebrations and the WiFi zone. “This partnership will continue and in fact has been strengthened with the adoption by the Town of the Arts, Culture and Heritage Strategy and the hiring of a coordinator to help implement the strategy along with the redevelopment of Victoria Square and many street and sidewalk enhancements which will continue this year,” Mayor Small said. Another initiative being discussed by the town council is the formation of a Business Advisory Group. Other projects initiated by DARS include hanging baskets, downtown signage promotional tools, a mural guide, the historic homes and historic downtown Amherst guides, tree carving guide, and a Downtown Dining Guide. Both the Mural and Downtown Dining Guides are being updated for 2012 with both English and French versions being produced for distribution. The 2012 Fibre Arts Festival brochure is being finalized while a new Festival website was just launched in February. The decision to disband DARS will not affect the Nova Scotia Fibre Arts Festival, which celebrates its 5th anniversary this year. The Fibre Arts Festival Committee is working with the help of the Cumberland Regional Development Authority (Cumberland RDA) to become a registered Not-For-Profit Society. |