Alley project becomes beautiful reality

Havre’s Art Alley is a reality! Following the completion of the mural project in September of 2019, which culminated in the colorful artwork that adorns the west side of the Hill County Printing building, the work of the local volunteer Havre Main Street Group continued. The next project was developing an art alley in downtown Havre. The chosen alley was between Second and Third streets and Third and Fourth avenues, or the alley behind several downtown businesses, including Havre Home Center and Cavaliers.

But why an Art Alley? And why in Havre? To attract visitors downtown, to add some color to an important part of our community and “for the sake of art.” Arts add vitality and vibrancy to communities through exhibits, events, entertainment, murals and other projects. All these creative threads tie us together as a community. Public art helps ensure that this special place we all love continues to be unique, interesting, fun and full of color.

The idea of an Art Alley isn’t new. In fact, we “borrowed” the concept from places like Anaconda and Butte, as well as places from outside of Montana. These neglected alleys were transformed, cleaned up and created a gathering place for creativity, events and simply a place to enjoy. This project provides the perfect opportunity to energize our downtown through lights and ultimately art, as well as, encourage local residents and visitors alike to spend time in these underutilized spaces, ultimately creating safe, welcoming spaces.

In addition, the Main Street Group has turned nine gray traffic control boxes into canvasses adorned with local artwork and constructed and placed colorful and “artsy” bike racks in strategic place in the community. All these projects happened because of the community volunteers and the members of the Havre Main Street Group, which is now part of Downtown Havre Matters!

The Main Street Group met several times over many months this last winter to develop the task list for the project. Group members did outreach to all business/building owners that border the project to share the plan to light Art Alley with strands of LED lights that would crisscross the alley.

Conversations also took place with the City of Havre, NorthWestern Energy and Loch Electric regarding logistics. In early fall, the vision was getting closer to reality. Memorandums of Agreement were executed with each business that would have an attachment to their building to secure the lights, and on November 2, 2020, Loch Electric, a significant partner in this project, began the work of hanging and providing electricity to the lights.

As with all projects, success would not be possible without the good work of a lot of people. Active local volunteers for this downtown revitalization effort include Jim Bennett, Lindsey Brandt-Bennett, Jillian Brough, Andy Carlson, Erica Farmer, Shawn Holden, Mia LaSalle, Emily Mayer, Sarah McKinney, Becki Miller, Craig Mueller, Anne Neal-Dugdale, Gail Rader, Lindsey Ratliff, Paul Tuss, Debbie Vandeberg and Pam Vies.

Key partners include NorthWestern Energy, Hill County Community Foundation, Wells Fargo Bank along with private donation; the Loch Electric team for their time and use of equipment to attach and string the lights; Havre Home Center for donating the attachment supplies; and Koefod Agency and Crawford Distillery for being the electrical attachment points. In addition, the following business partners for allowing the lights to be attached to their buildings: Cottonwood Cinemas, Northsky Holdings, Havre Home Center, Helmbrecht Studio and Hill County Title. Finally, a big thank-you to the downtown businesses that surround the Art Alley for their willingness to be part of this vision.

There are big plans for the Art Alley! Stay tuned for events and displays that will further enrich the attractiveness of our wonderful community. Havre Has It!

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Debbie Vandeberg

Main Street Group