For any stores in Williams Lake needing a Façade lift, the applications to receive funding are now open.
Every year, the City of Williams Lake, alongside Northern Development Initiative Trust, offers funding for businesses that want to improve the fronts of their stores. This year, the Business Façade Improvement Program is offering $20,000 to four businesses in Williams Lake.
The City of Williams Lake is accepting applications for the Improvement Program starting February 18, until April 1.
“We take all the applications that come in and adjudicate them based on scoring criteria for what will provide the biggest visual improvement in our community,” says Beth Veenkamp, Manager of Economic Development for the City of Williams Lake.
“We’ve only got four[spots] of them available this year, so it is a bit competitive.”
Grants up to $5,000 are available per business. Up to 50 per cent of a project cost with a total budget of $10,000 is also available. Each application has to have a project budgets of $2,000.
Open Book, Woodland Jewelers, Red Shreds, and Red Tomato Pies are a few businesses that have received new façades from Improvement Program. Veenkamp says the businesses have to be in Williams Lake, and have a valid business license.
“We’ve had full scale façades built, with an overhang. One had a mural on front of the buisness. It really ranges, but they all make the business spaces look amazing,”says Veenkamp. “We could look at some of the examples around town; like the Red Shreds façade, or the Open Book façade, you almost forget what they used to look like. The Before and after pictures tell the tale.”
Applications for the Improvement Program can be found on the City of Williams Lake’s website.
Something going on in the Cariboo you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
