Rehoboth Beach Main Street returns with new focus

Rehoboth Beach Main Street was supposed to be disbanded on March 31, but swift action taken by the board in February prevented that from happening.

Now, Rehoboth Beach Main Street enters a new chapter chapter with Trey Kraus, owner of Carlton's on Rehoboth Avenue, in charge.

"We are going to be the cheerleader and the co-marketer and incubator to help people come up with ideas to make Rehoboth better and help people put it together," Kraus said.

And Main Street will be taking a different approach.

In the past, Main Street organized events such as fireworks on the Fourth of July as well as the Rehoboth Beach Chocolate Festival. 

Since those events were taken over by other groups when it was believed Main Street would be closing, Kraus said they won't be putting on singular events.

Kraus and Main Street want the focus on creating an enticing environment for people to come shop, eat and open businesses along Rehoboth Avenue and the surrounding street.

And, rather than focusing on being a collection of businesses, Kraus said,

"We are representing, as a whole, the whole community. We just happen to have businesses."

BACKGROUND: Rehoboth Beach Main Street plans to disband

BACKGROUND: Board votes to keep Rehoboth Beach Main Street

Businesses, too, are excited that the Main Street Foundation is operating once again.

Main Street gives businesses their own voice, said Susan Kehoe, general manager of Browseabout Books on Rehoboth Avenue. Organizations such as the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce, as well as the city itself, do a lot for businesses, but Main Street only further unifies the business community, she said.

"And there’s strength in numbers," she said. "And it helps people attract great customers. If main street isn’t thriving, Rehoboth is not a desirable place to live."

Rehoboth Beach Main Street Foundation did a lot for businesses in the past, such as providing packets of useful information on city rules to new businesses and residents, Kehoe said, as well as helping with community beautification projects such as helping businesses get new signs and facades.

And while the city's main street is thriving right now, she said there is always room for improvement.

"I do see there are too many open store fronts and that’s cause for concerns," she said. "When you start seeing empty store fronts, you get all nervous. I think that’s our biggest concern."

Commissioner Kathy McGuiness, who was the founding president of Rehoboth Beach Main Street, also sees the empty storefronts as an issue. 

She has never seen so many empty storefronts along Rehoboth Avenue in her life, she said at the Oct. 2 commissioners meeting. 

"I know history is repeating itself, but this town needs CPR," McGuiness said, referencing a time before the Main Street Foundation existed. "I am sure that there could be funds, in light of all the funding that goes around the city for certain things, that there are funds there to support our downtown and our business which are crucial for the entire community."

She is in favor of ensuring Rehoboth Beach Main Street is properly housed by the city as well as financed to ensure Rehoboth Avenue and its surrounding areas are healthy.

"I would like to see things move forward probably in a little bit faster method because I have seen what can happen and it's happening at quite a fast rate," she said. "It's alarming, and I do not want this to deteriorate into our neighborhoods and spread and decrease our property values."

McGuiness was in favor of having Main Street bring its budget and needs to the next Rehoboth Beach Commissioners meeting, scheduled to be held on Oct. 30 in order to get the program up and running.

Previously, the city had financed the program by providing between $30,000 and $35,000, Mayor Paul Kuhns said, as well as being given a place to work.

Kuhns also seemed to be in support of the foundation's impact.

"It's something we need to focus on," said Kuhns at the Oct. 2 meeting. "Not only with Main Street but in a partnership with Main Street, because obviously the downtown business community makes the community function as it does and I think it helps the residents."

READ MORE: Despite split over vacancy, Rehoboth officials hope to work together

In the meantime, Kraus said Main Street is anxious to get started.

"We've got income ready to come in, and we've got expenditures hopefully to go out," he said. "We're all business people, so we are going to manage the expenses to suit the income and adjust to that monthly at our meetings."

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