WYALUSING, Pa. -- A new program aims to help business owners in historic communities refresh their buildings.
Buildings along Main Street in Wyalusing date back to the 1800s. Over the years, as businesses have moved in and moved on, some show signs of aging. But now, one group wants to help wipe some of those signs away.
"You can do things like paint the front side of your building. You can put in new display windows. You can put in a new awning on your building. You can put in new street signage. There's several different opportunities that we can help you with, with this program," explained Vanessa Billings-Seiler, the program coordinator of the PA Route 6 Alliance façade program.
The PA Route 6 Alliance received $103,000 from the state to help fund these projects, specifically targeting two communities: Wyalusing in Bradford County and Tunkhannock in Wyoming County.
"I would really love to see those businesses in those two heritage communities to do some research about their buildings. Find out what it used to look like, so as you're doing your new plan for your facade or signage, maybe you can incorporate some of the older designs into your new design of your building," Billings-Seiler said.
This program is meant to bring back a little history to these buildings to resemble what they were in their glory days. Along the way, there's a chance you can learn something about the buildings that you didn't know before.
"You always hear the stories about people doing reconstructing, and they find things inside the walls. That would be excellent. That would be awesome," Debra Bongiorno said.
Bongiorno owns the building that houses her Rocky Forest Real Estate office. She plans to apply for some funding to make updates to her space in Wyalusing.
"There's quite a few buildings being redone on Main Street already, and we'd like to join them in that updating."
There will be two workshops held to give anyone interested in more information. One is February 3 at the Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock at 6 p.m. The other is February 4, starting at 10 a.m. at the Keystone Theater in Towanda.