Rebranding Old Town Elk Grove...on utility poles?
When does a street become a Main Street?
For many residents, that little part of town that the Union Pacific railroad splits, known as Old Town Elk Grove, is nothing more than the equivalent of Flyover Country. It is something you look at while you need to go visit someone on “that” side of town.
For others, it is an integral part of Elk Grove, reflecting a time when Elk Grove was a small town in southern Sacramento County. As such, many revere the district, designated as a special planning area, as something akin to a national treasure that should be preserved.
Whether you view the district as flyover country or a treasured heritage area, the city of Elk Grove has grappled for years with how to revive it.
More recently, the city has started rebranding Old Town as Historic Downtown Elk Grove and Main Street. We’re not sure whether residents will adopt these new names or stick with Old Town. After all, changing what locals call a place can be considerably more difficult than changing a sign.
Today, an Elk Grove News reader shared pictures of what appears to be the latest effort to rebrand Old Town — or is it Historic Downtown Elk Grove? — and the stretch of Elk Grove Boulevard from Highway 99 to Elk Grove-Florin Road as part of the Main Street makeover.
The city has placed large vertical stickers on utility poles along Elk Grove Boulevard proclaiming “MAIN STREET.” There is even a QR code, presumably for anyone who needs digital confirmation that they have, indeed, arrived on Main Street.
The effort raises an interesting question: When does a street become a Main Street?
Is it when restaurants and shops fill the sidewalks? When pedestrians stroll between locally owned businesses? When people deliberately go there rather than simply drive through?
Or is it when somebody applies a really big sticker to a utility pole?
Cities across America have spent decades trying to revive traditional downtowns, and Elk Grove has wrestled with Old Town since incorporation. There are no easy answers.
Perhaps “Main Street” will eventually stick — both figuratively and, judging from the photographs, literally.
So we wish the city luck.
Because if decades of redevelopment challenges can finally be overcome by a roll of vinyl stickers and a QR code, somebody at City Hall deserves a promotion — and the person holding the squeegee deserves a key to the city.
