Our environment—the places where we live, work, and play—has a significant impact on our wellbeing, both at the individual and the societal levels.
When we don’t feel connected to our place and our neighbors, we experience negative impacts on our physical health, our quality of life, and our shared resiliency.

Historic downtowns and neighborhood business districts are rife with possibilities for fostering community connections and the many positive impacts that ripple out from social connection.

There is a strong connection between Main Street and sense of belonging. Our districts as places create opportunities for increased connection and belonging, especially when they are intentionally programmed.
CHWA’s Exterior Enhancement Grants program helps stimulate Coupeville’s economic vitality and historic preservation in the towns historic commercial district while supporting businesses, buildings, and property owners in achieving their ultimate visions. This is a great example of how CHWA’s program has helped Coupeville’s town and community in such a positive way.

One of the greatest ways that Main Street fosters belonging is through volunteerism. Washington Main Street’s Belonging in the Evergreen State report confirms that Main Street volunteers experience a high sense of belonging. Volunteerism is core to the work we do on Main Street—it helps us accomplish our goals, but it also provides opportunities for community members to work together, shoulder to shoulder, in service to our community.

We are so grateful for all of the amazing volunteers over the years that have made this sense of connection possible and helped our beautiful town of Coupeville thrive and evolve in such a positive and strong way. We look forward to keep involving the community of Coupeville in future projects.

There’s a reason that every stump speech these days includes reference to the importance of “Main Street businesses” and “Mom and Pop”: small businesses are both the backbone of our local economies AND are up against disadvantages that range from access to capital and banking barriers to competing for attention in an increasingly busy and corporate-dominated marketplace.

While Main Street America’s recent small business survey gives reasons for metered hope, Washington’s small businesses are lagging behind national averages when it comes to confidence in future success. According to this data, Washington’s businesses continue to experience lower revenue and higher expenses for doing business, demonstrating that support is more critical than ever. The good news is that small businesses located in Main Street districts reported higher confidence scores than those not supported by a local Main Street organization.

Coupeville Historic Waterfront Association’s (CHWA) Exterior Enhancement Grant Program is a matching grant; CHWA contributes up to 50% of the cost of eligible improvements for a single building or property.

Congrats to all of our 2025 Grant and previous Grant recipients :
-Vail Wine Shop & Tasting Room, received over $4k on their exterior stairs.
-Corey Oil, received over $8k on their exterior refresh.
-Island County Historical Museum, over $5k to maintain the roof of their historic blockhouse.
-Bayleaf’s received $1750 for their beautiful entry awning.
-Molka Xete’s received $4k for a fresh facade paint.

Main Street is consistently a trusted resource, if not an actual lifeline, to small businesses. A 2021 study showed that businesses located in Washington Main Street districts rebounded from the pandemic at a faster rate than businesses located in similar environments but without the presence of a Main Street organization.

During economic uncertainty, small businesses depend upon Main Street as a rooted and trusted connection to resources and strategy.

We hope you are enjoying learning more about MSTCIP during this special Main Street Week.

From Coupeville, up-and-coming metro areas such as Vancouver and Everett to rural regions like Colville and LaCrosse, Main Street has been an effective strategy for organizing local people around their shared passion for resilient historic commercial districts since 1984.

In fact, one of the best things about Washington Main Street is the diversity of the network of Main Street communities across our state. While the contexts may differ, the principles are the same, and Main Street leaders from every corner of our state have the opportunities to learn with and from each other through Washington Main Street’s programming.

Coupeville’s Summer Busker Series where CHWA pays musicians to play along the waterfront in downtown Coupeville - every Wednesday - from 4pm to 6pm - in June, July, and August, was inspired by the Port Townsend Main Street Program’s Busker Series, which happens every Thursday throughout each Summer.

Whether a Main Street district is contending with the pressures associated with being along the I-5 corridor or struggling with the population threats that come with changes to agricultural practices, Main Street can be a powerful tool for bringing people together to sustain and invigorate downtown.

We hope you’ll join us at the center of it all—in Ellensburg!—for the PLACES Conference on October 6-8, 2026.

Main Street represents both longevity and adaptability. From the potential to reuse and reimagine historic spaces to the impressive track record of reinvention through decades of economic and social change, Main Streets—the organizations and the districts themselves—are a sound investment.

The Washington State Main Street Program has a positive return on investment for the State of Washington. For every dollar the state has allocated to the program, the economic activity generated in Main Street communities has generated $1.58 back to the state in tax revenues from enhanced business activity.

This noteworthy ROI encompasses the Main Street Tax Credit Incentive Program, a unique funding opportunity that allows Washington businesses to effectively keep their tax dollars local by making a donation to a designated Main Street Community.

In 2025, 33 businesses paid their B & O taxes via the MSTCIP, redirecting $159K in tax dollars from a general fund in Olympia to CHWA and downtown Coupeville. So far, in 2026, 22 businesses have signed up for the MSTCIP to redirect $149K to CHWA and downtown Coupeville. Please go to CHWA’s website to learn more, and to sign-up your business to redirect your B & O taxes to CHWA and downtown Coupeville, here -https://www.coupevillehistoricwaterfront.com/mstcip

Thank you to all who participated and to those signing up this year, without your investments none of this could exist. We have great and exciting news that we will be able to share very soon ! So stay tuned! Together we make such a big, positive impact, for ourselves and for future generations.

As we wrap up Washington Main Street Week, CHWA reflects on the uniqueness of Coupeville… A community of hard working people of all ages: thoughtful volunteers, helpful families, veterans who are young & old. Diversity is not found easily in a small town. And this is something Coupeville is proud of.

Coupeville is a culturally and historically rich place, along the waterfront of Washington State.

The preservation of both the surrounding nature, and all of the downtown, through Coupeville’s Main Street Program (a.k.a. CHWA), will help to ensure that the vibrancy of Coupeville continues. CHWA is honored to help create a beautiful and memorable destination for many more generations to come to Coupeville..

We believe that Main Street is full of possibilities—for vibrant, creative housing solutions; for entrepreneurial and small business ecosystems; for safe and walkable neighborhoods; for gathering places that bring people together across real and perceived barriers; and for the opportunity to work shoulder-to-shoulder to improve the place where you live.

The Main Street movement in Washington State is strong, and it offers limitless potential for our communities to continue to innovate, adapt, and thrive.