The Hermiston Urban Renewal Agency (HURA) will hold an open house tonight to kick off the planning and design of the new downtown festival street.
The festival street is to be built on N.E. Second Street connecting Main Street to the new Harkenrider Center. Everyone is encouraged to attend the event which gets under way at 6 p.m. Refreshments and entertainment will be provided. Participants will be encouraged to provide ideas on features to be incorporated into the new event space. Representatives from HURA, Greenworks, and Anderson Perry will be on-hand to present the concept of a festival street and a history of the downtown planning efforts underway.
The proposed festival street is the centerpiece of the Hermiston downtown urban renewal plan adopted in 2013. Information is available online.
A festival street is a public street which is open to vehicle traffic but which contains design elements which make it easily convertible to a public gathering space during special events.
The projected construction budget for the festival street is $1.25 million. It is anticipated that the next 10 to 12 months will be spent on a collaborative design process between HURA and the citizen advisory committee. The advisory committee is made up of three at-large citizens, one city councilor, and one parks and recreation commissioner. Construction is targeted to begin in the fall of 2017.
