The Small Business Revolution (SBR) will be announcing the Top 5 Towns on Tuesday, February 13th at 7:30am ET, 4:30am PT. You can watch the Top 5 announcement on Facebook Live by following SBR’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/smallbizrev. Florence, Oregon is currently in the Top 10 Towns and is anxiously awaiting the results to see if the community has made it to the next round.
If Florence makes it into the Top 5, the next step will be an online vote that will run from Feb. 13th until Feb. 20th. Individuals will be able to vote once per day, per email address during the week-long voting period by visiting www.smallbusinessrevolution.org. Voting will begin promptly after the Top 5 announcement on February 13th and will conclude at 6:00pm PT on February 20th. Voting will be done on a 24-hour clock and individuals with multiple email addresses are welcome to use each of them to vote during the day. Once you’ve voted, you will have the option to share your vote via your social media channels to spread the word to your friends and family.
In 2017, there were about 1 million votes cast nation-wide, with the winning town receiving over 350,000 votes. Florence is currently one of only two towns in the current Top 10 on the entire west coast, with the other being Martinez California. The community of Florence is hoping to mobilize the Pacific Northwest for their cause.
“The community of Florence is honored to represent Oregon on this adventure,” says Florence Downtown Revitalization Team Chairwomen Ellen Huntingdon. “We truly believe that a win for Florence is a win for all rural towns throughout the Pacific Northwest. Our small towns, nation-wide, all face similar challenges. If Florence is chosen as the featured town for Main Street Season 3, we would love to pass on the knowledge that we receive from this opportunity and help spark a small business revolution in all of our neighboring communities.”
The Florence Downtown Revitalization Team, Florence Area Chamber of Commerce, and the City of Florence encourage those who are interested to share the dates of the public vote with their contacts. Since the announcement of the Top 5 Towns and the opening of the public vote will happen simultaneously, Florence is doing everything they can to prepare for the possibility of making it into the next round. Supporters of Florence are also encouraged to keep sharing what they love about the community using the hashtag #MyFlorence and tagging @smbizrevolution.
The Small Business Revolution endeavor has been spearheaded by the Downtown Revitalization Team, which is a subcommittee of the Florence Area Chamber of Commerce, along with support and coordination from the City of Florence, Florence area business owners, and local leadership. If chosen to be featured in The Small Business Revolution Main Street Season 3, the Florence community will receive $500,000 in downtown revitalization and will be featured in an eight-part series that will stream on Hulu.
You can watch seasons 1 and 2 of the Small Business Revolution Main Street series on Hulu or on their website at www.deluxe.com/small-business-revolution/main-street. For more information, please contact Ellen Huntingdon at ellen.huntingdon@opbc.com or 541-902-1509.
