About Sheridan Revitalization Movement
The group formed in 2016 with the idea of bringing together like-minded citizens and the businesses of Sheridan to revitalize the town, especially the downtown. It developed into a 501(c)(3) non-profit with a 5-member board supported by a large group of community volunteers who support the work with help on clean-up events, fundraisers for holiday lighting and assist the board to revitalize Sheridan. The Movement is also an active member of Oregon Main Street since 2017 and we have just joined the Sheridan, Oregon Chamber of Commerce.
What We’ve Done:
Clean Ups
We’ve held cleanups of the City, since 2017. Usually twice a year in April, as close to Earth Day as possible and also in October or November. We’ve coordinated with the City, Recology and Solve to help get supplies. It’s 100% volunteer work! This year, the City took over our spring cleanup, and was able to add many more ways of cleaning up the City. We worked hand-in-hand with the City, especially in getting volunteers to help. We still intend to have citywide cleanups twice a year.
We’ve also helped individuals who are unable to clean up their yard. This spring we worked with the City to help bring items to the curb for people who weren’t able to get items to the curb themselves for the city-wide trash pickup.
Sheridan Sign
We were able to work with the now-mayor, Rich Cox, to renovate the sign on Highway 18 that let people know “Sheridan is here”. There is still a little more work to be done, but the sign is able to be seen by the thousands of cars going east on Highway 18, hopefully enticing visitors to drop in and visit our city.
Sheridan Christmas
In 2020, Thanks to our Christmas sub-committee, led by Staci Coker, working with Stuck Electric, we were able to get Christmas lights on the downtown bridge. Plus we were able to patch together some of the old City Christmas lights and get them put up. We were also able to get some of the empty downtown storefront windows decorated. Stuck Electric has since taken over the bridge lighting, the downtown snowflake Christmas lights and of course getting Santa on top of the bridge. We sponsor the neighborhood Christmas light competition for the City. It has been well received, with many
more ballots and votes than we had ever imagined. Every year it gets bigger.
Sheridan Murals
We commissioned the beautiful mural on the wall outside the Monroe Event Center. It has been very well received by the public. It is the first of many murals we intend to have painted around Sheridan. We are already discussing our next mural project and would like input.
Main Street Grant
Thanks to the hard work of our group president, Tkeisha Wydro, working with the City and the developers, we were able to obtain a $200,000 grant from Oregon Main Street for the Heider Building restoration. That money will assist the team that’s working on the building to be able to continue to work on the remodel. In coordination with the Sheridan Museum of History and the oversight of Oregon Main Street, we can be assured that the building will be as close to its original look as possible. It will definitely improve the ambiance of our downtown! We are working with the builders to keep progress moving. There are specific milestones that have to be met before any of the grant money is distributed. As of May 2023, because the first milestone has not been met, none of the money has been given. We’re hopeful with the successful completion of the Heider Building, we will be able to receive more grants to continue revitalizing Sheridan.
Monthly Meetings
We meet on the first Thursday of each month (currently in the Monroe Center). We would love everyone to attend our meetings. We discuss all of our projects and we need your input and ideas! Since we are an all-volunteer group, we also appreciate any donations anyone is willing to give. It’s thanks to donations that we are able to fund our projects.