“Invest in the community.” Those words of family advice are what keeps Serena Kringen fighting the good fight to bring the Yellowstone Mercantile building back to Sidney.
The Yellowstone Mercantile building project has been awarded a $50,000 grant through the Montana Main Street Program which was established in 2005 and currently serves 35 communities in Montana. It is a collaborative effort between the Community Development Division and the Montana Office of Tourism at the Montana Department of Commerce. The program provides services and assistance to communities wanting to enhance economic vitality while maintaining local historic integrity. The program offers technical assistance and expertise to member communities and awards competitive grant funding to communities actively working on downtown revitalization, economic development and historic preservation. They also help facilitate project tracking to gauge project success which can be compared against other projects in communities throughout the state. A few of the towns participating in the program with projects completed or in the works include Roundup, Great Falls, Lewistown, Kalispell, Glasgow, Glendive, Baker and Ekalaka. More information on the Montana Main Street Program can be found at https://comdev.mt.gov/Programs-and-Boards/Montana-Main-Street-Program.
At first, Kringen was going to remodel in phases, but now she’s decided to remodel the whole building and then open. The first to open will be a coffee shop featuring Wild Calf Coffee from Bainville. There will be a small menu for people to order food.
They are also working hard to refinish the event venue area. Customers may rent the event venue out. Pop in businesses will also be welcome to set up for a morning or afternoon.
Currently, she is in the process of redoing the store side that is opposite from the Sidney School’s administration building. This will be the coffee shop. The project list includes putting new floor in the kitchen, gutting the kitchen, restoring all the brick and continuing to work on the hardwood floor.
“Kali Godfrey at the Sidney Chamber has been so helpful during this process. I can’t thank her enough,” said Kringen. There has not been an opening date set yet.
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