Special Recognition
Charlene Kerr-Poggemeyer Design Group
Charlene Kerr has helped hundreds of communities across the state of Ohio to realize their revitalization dreams. She has worked for more than three decades alongside local leaders to revive communities, one project at a time. She started the planning department at Poggemeyer Design Group and has nurtured the downtown program from its infancy, building the firm’s reputation as a respected leader in this field. Charlene is truly a good friend to Ohio’s downtowns.

Most Creative Fundraising Effort
Missing Piece Direct Mail Piece-Main Street Elyria
Main Street Elyria began the year with the goal of increasing support from individuals and the business community through membership. A series of inventive and unique direct mail pieces aimed at a target audience was created. Recipients found a clear envelope with a card that revealed a puzzle graphic with the slogan “The missing piece is you.” The piece of the puzzle containing the word “you” was cut apart and placed loose in the envelope to draw attention. It worked! The end result was a 19% response.

Best Special Event
Urban Nights- Downtown Dayton Partnership
“Urban Nights” is a free, bi-annual event that showcases the creative side of downtown Dayton. Each spring and fall the Downtown Dayton Partnership presents the event in conjunction with nearly 50 downtown businesses, including art galleries and studios, apartments and condos, restaurants, and retailers. The community is invited to tour urban living spaces and check out a wide variety of artwork on display in traditional and non-traditional gallery space. Restaurants and retailers participate in the event by offering special discounts and incentives for patrons.

Best Marketing Program
“Got It! In the Neighborhood” Marketing Campaign-Restore Cleveland
The “Got It! In the Neighborhood” marketing campaign highlights the exciting range of retail and services in Cleveland’s neighborhood retail districts and encourages the community to explore what is available in locally owned stores. The images in the campaign are from stores located in these neighborhoods. Information panels were installed in 15 public information kiosks throughout Cleveland, where 25,000 cars a day pass by. In addition, a website, www.RestoreCleveland.com, was created. Merchants received coordinating posters, postcards and bag stuffers to use for in-store events.

Award of Merit
Hiram Farmer’s Market-Hiram Village
Many communities have farmer’s markets that are excellent sources of income for local farmers, as well as a means to provide foot traffic and a social gathering component to their downtowns. The Hiram Farmer’s Market however, has a unique twist that this year’s selection committee found intriguing. The marketing for this event is done through a series of cartoons that are created by Mayor Robert Summers. These cartoons have a wonderful hometown flavor and a creative humor that show that not all farmers markets are created equal.

Best Small Rehabilitation Improvement
5 East William Street-Roger & Bill Koch-Delaware
Roger and Bill Koch, operating as JBK Partners, LLC, took a small 1880s building that had lost its storefront some forty years ago and restored it to full commercial use. Although the total space is less than 1,000 square feet, this building now houses a downtown commercial operation and contributes both street presence and economic vitality to Delaware. JBK rebuilt the interior and restored the original tin ceiling. On the exterior, the brickwork was repointed and great pains were taken to preserve the ghost sign still visible on the sign band of the building.

Best Large Rehabilitation Improvement
The Art Academy of Cincinnati
The Art Academy of Cincinnati was a total rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of two buildings located on Jackson Street in the Over-The-Rhine District. The $13 million cost was funded by private donations, City of Cincinnati grants, historic tax credits and a real estate swap with the Art Academy’s former sister institution, the Cincinnati Art Museum. The project represents a major investment in Cincinnati’s largest historic district, which has struggled to overcome the legacy of civil unrest in 2001. The arrival of the college, its 200 students, 50 faculty members, and $5 million annual operating budget has brought new people and programs with public impact to the area on a daily basis and helped to energize further development.

Award of Merit
MKC Associates Incorporated Building
Originally built as a farmer’s market in 1916, this building served as a forerunner to the modern grocery store well into the 1940’s. In 2004, MKC decided to purchase, relocate and renovate this historic structure in order to be a part of the downtown district, and create a corporate headquarters for the 80-year old architectural, engineering and planning firm. The project was designed to honor the building’s character by preserving the original structure and leaving the interior structure exposed-including the interior brick walls, original glass clerestory and the structure’s steel framing.

Best Residential Rehabilitation
Traucht-Walton Homestead Restoration-Jeff & Emily Walton
Purchasing the Traucht-Walton home at auction, Jeff & Emily Walton painstakingly restored not only the house, but the barn, granary and other outbuildings. Materials were collected from salvaged homes in the area. Amazingly, no early photographs were available and did not show up until a distant relative of the previous family arrived several years after the project completion. Changes made by the Walton’s were astoundingly accurate. Jeff and Emily gave the Traucht-Walton House the perfect preservation “extreme makeover”!

Best Public Improvement Project
Chilo Park Lock 34 Park Visitors Center-Clermont County Park District
This project involved the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of the Chilo Lock and Dam Operations Building #34 into an interpretive visitor center and museum. Additional features include a community room, the ability to hold events and a river walk. Focusing on the cultural and natural history of the Ohio River valley, the center now provides a unique setting and outstanding views of the river for its visitors. The lock had been in operation from 1927 to 1964, and is significant due to its association with the canal system of the Ohio River completed in 1929. It was one of 50 lock and dam structures built to provide a year round, nine-foot navigable depth for a distance of 981 miles.

Award of Merit
Franklinton Entrance & Historic Directories-Franklinton, Neighborhood Design Center & Columbus Compact Franklinton is the oldest settlement in central Ohio, founded in 1797. A design process was undertaken by a group of citizens to include a series of 6 kiosks with maps showing the locations of 48 historic sites, together with 12 markers pointing out those sites. The importance of the railroad to Franklinton’s history influenced the design of the kiosks and markers, which reflect the trusses on the railroad bridges at the eastern entrance to Franklinton. The second element is a sculptural entrance sign, which shows in abstract form the transportation systems, which contributed to the development of historic Franklinton.

Best Main Street Business of the Year
The Brown Jug Restaurant, Delaware-Bill Stroud & Ed Wolf
The Brown Jug Restaurant has been a landmark in downtown Delaware since it opened in 1977. Ed Stroud and Bill Wolf restored the late-nineteenth century Italianate structure and have since added an outdoor patio on an adjacent lot that has turned the corner into a place of activity and conversation. The restaurant is well known for its name and decor, its fabulous food and its creative marketing ideas. Ed and Bill have donated time, money, restaurant space and most importantly, their hearts to the Delaware Main Street Program. The Brown Jug Restaurant truly is “Main Street on the Corner.”

Main Street Manager of the Year
John Garrett-Main Street Canal Winchester
John Garrett is one of the founders of the revitalization program in Canal Winchester and is responsible for the community coming into the Ohio Main Street Program. When Eric Schmidt, a board member and local business owner, started doing business in the downtown, most of the district was unoccupied.  John assured Eric that this was going to change, and he led the organization and made good on his word.  John worked with the board to create a program of work, get committees running and attended many workshops, where he brought the helpful information back to motivate the community. Today it is hard to find a place to rent in downtown.

Spirit of Main Street Award
Linda Shearer-Main Street Delaware
Without Linda Shearer’s efforts, there would be no Main Street organization in Delaware and the downtown would be decidedly poorer in spirit and in sense of place. At the end of 2002, Main Street Delaware was in critical condition. There were those in the community that said Main Street had lost its way and its purpose and there was talk of dissolving the organization. Linda took over the presidency at its darkest hour. She held it together with hope, tears, blind faith, dumb luck and hard work. Linda steered the group through 2003, most of which was without a director and through much of 2004, when the director abruptly quit. Throughout those two years, Linda contributed thousands of hours to Main Street at the expense of her personal life, sleep and her own livelihood, but never at the expense of her sense of humor. As a result of Linda’s efforts, Main Street Delaware gained new offices in the downtown, held the first of several annual board retreats, and its first annual dinner.

Preservation Hero Award
Jonathan Sandvick-Sandvick Architects
is president of Sandvick Architects, Inc. He is chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Cleveland Historic Warehouse District, Vice Chair of Heritage Ohio, trustee of the Downtown Cleveland Partnership, trustee of the Cleveland Restoration Society, former chair of the Neighborhood Preservation Committee, serves on several design review committees, and volunteers for facility reviews and technical assistance for churches via the Sacred Landmarks Committee. Jonathan has been the architect for over 40 buildings historically rehabilitated and adaptively reused in downtown Cleveland alone. In all, Jonathan and his team have achieved housing for nearly 5,000 residents in historic preservation adaptive re-use projects. Jonathan and his firm have achieved 40 awards for excellence in the past 12-years. These include the highest honor in the Nation from the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and from the National Trust for Historic Preservation for Excellence in Achievement for the Notre Dame Academy Historic Preservation Adaptive Re-Use Housing project in 2001 and for Cleveland’s Hyatt Arcade project in 2002. Jonathan donates many volunteer hours to preservation and revitalization programs, and continues to be one of the leading advocates for these causes. The leadership Jonathan has provided to Heritage Ohio, alone, has been invaluable. Jonathan truly is Ohio’s Preservation Hero.