DO-IT expands to entire town

Thursday, January 26, 2012

MILFORD – DO-IT, the organization created 20 years ago to improve the downtown, is taking the entire town under its purview.

The group recently changed its mission and will take what it has learned over two decades and apply it to the town as a whole, said Tracy Hutchins, who heads the Downtown Ongoing Improvement Team and the town’s Main Street Program.

“We will try to put Milford on the map - let it be known that “it’s a great place” to eat, shop, visit,” said Tracy Hutchins.

Plans are still in the early stages, she said, and all events that DO-IT sponsors will continue.

“We have a plan to see what is a reasonable attack this first year – a transition year,” she said, and how they are going to shift to a town-wide focus. “It will take some time.”

Hutchins, who has been the DO-IT and Main Street director for almost four years, recently told selectmen that the organization’s accomplishments over the years include the Oval reconstruction and beautification, the pedestrian bridge between Keyes Park and the Boys and Girls Club, the reading children statue, and the bandstand restoration.

The group also puts on the lunchtime concerts, and the Taste of Milford, which has been combined with the Keyes Art Show and drew 500 people last year.

The Pumpkin Festival attracted more people and vendors then ever, she said, and the new indoor farmers market is “surprisingly successful” and the one in early January was very successful.

High occupancy rates for Oval storefronts are one of the results of all these events, she said.

The town-wide commitment will mean working with the town’s Economic Development Council, Hutchins said.

Projects to make the town’s gateways, approaching from Amherst, Wilton and by way of South Street, more attractive are at the top of the to-do list, she said.“If you make it look nice people will want to come.”

Last week a refurbished Web site, milforddoit.org, debuted and the organization is talking with local businessman Ryan Hansen, who is on DO-IT’s board of directors, about combining that Web site with an electronic version of his Granite Town Quarterly, which recently suspended publication.

DO-IT also wants to develop a Milford “brand,” focus on town-wide beautification, encourage building revitalization and heritage tourism, and promote its building loan fund.

The group is also looking at a new name to reflect its new responsibilities and tentatively settled on “Milford Improvement Team” but will keep DO-IT for legal purposes.

“We are certainly not going to forget about downtown, Hutchins said. “That will always be a priority, but we’ve evolved into an organization that acts as a marketing arm for the town.”