Elisabeth Grove, Peak to Peak.
On March 14, 2018, Downtown Colorado, Inc. (DCI) announced that a nomination for the Governor’s Awards for Downtown Excellence, submitted for Katrina Harms, Town of Nederland, was selected as a winner of the Downtowner of the Year. The Governor’s Awards for Downtown Excellence celebrate the amazing projects and people that are committed to economic and community revitalization in Colorado.
Here is what the judges had to say:
“For seventeen years, Katrina Harms has called Nederland home. She has demonstrated incredible dedication to community building in Nederland and for ten years took on leadership roles with the Chamber of Commerce and the Nederland Downtown Development Authority (NDDA) as well as worked on two Economic Development Task Forces. As a DDA with limited resources, the role of the NDDA Board President is a working role. In Katrina’s time on the NDDA board, she helped craft a Master Plan and assisted with a Special Election that passed a $2.3 million debt authorization. As Katrina steps down from the NDDA Board of Directors in 2018, the Town of Nederland is very grateful for all of her efforts.”
Katrina was formally presented with an award at the Governor’s Awards for Downtown Excellence Ceremony on Friday, April 13 at the Rembrandt Yard Art Gallery & Event Center in Boulder, CO. The ceremony was held during DCI’s IN THE GAME, Annual Vibrant Downtowns Conference which is attended by representatives of towns and cities from all over Colorado.
“To all the small towns struggling with similar issues, don’t give up, and don’t give in,” Katrina said in her acceptance speech. “Nederland will change, but I hope that in 10 years visitors are still falling in love, and locals are still in love, with Nederland. I hope that Nederland will continue to be unique, eclectic, and colorful.”
“We are absolutely thrilled with the quality of nominations this year, and offer our congratulations to everyone who submitted nominations,” said Katherine Correll, Executive Director, Downtown Colorado, Inc. “Colorado communities, large and small, from the Western Slope to the Front Range to the Eastern Plains, continue to demonstrate amazing creativity, dedication to the public good and resilience in the face of obstacles.”
DCI is a statewide nonprofit organization that provides a strategic methodology for revitalizing the local economy in Colorado’s communities. DCI has worked with Katrina and the Nederland DDA since 2014 with technical assistance and resources to help with capacity building and the Master Plan.
