By ANGELA COOPER-McCORKLE
Published July 18, 2018

Downtown Monroe continues revitalization, including litter pickups

MONROE — The Downtown Monroe Association (DMA) introduced a new executive director plus plans to clean up the neighborhood and drum up business at the July 11 City Council meeting.
The association welcomed Snohomish Farmers Market manager Sarah Dylan Jensen as the replacement for Joie Worthen who stepped down in mid-June.
Jensen managed the recent “Marry Me in Monroe” event which had 50 customers and 20 wine tasters who stayed for a post-event wine walk. 
She will leverage skills gained from her own small business, Mockingjay Press, which specializes in social media marketing for small businesses, to spread the word about Monroe’s specialty shops.
One idea Jensen ferried back from a recent Port Townsend conference was creating a young professionals week. The concept is to empower young entrepreneurs from Monroe and throughout the area to network, build their skills and get invested in the community.
Jensen’s in the early stages of envisioning the young professionals program, which could include a presentation by city staff about real estate. The budding business owners could learn everything about “purchasing or renting in the historic downtown district, from funding to finance” Jensen said.
Another new DMA activity is a monthly downtown cleanup.
The litter brigade began June 30 and continues on the last Saturday of each month. The next one is July 28 at 9 a.m. and meets at the corner of Main and Lewis.
Jensen would like to grow the initial group to 20 or more volunteers.
“We’d love to focus on the entirety of downtown, including alley ways, behind driveways, up to the railroad tracks both directions,” Jensen said in an interview.
Jensen’s aiming to have local businesses offer post-cleanup discounts on treats to entice people out of their beds Saturday mornings. She envisions a cleanup crew as full of families with children, learning about keeping their communities beautiful experientially.
To learn more about goings on downtown, visit www.facebook.com/DMAWA

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