The Downtown Camas Association and Journey Community Church in Camas will receive the Washington Main Street Program’s Community Partnership award for their work on bringing activities and energy downtown following conversion of a long-neglected building into a church that offers a wide range of community-wide events.
The award is based on a collaboration between the downtown association and the church that dates to 2009, when Journey set out to convert what was once a JC Penney department store into a church. Journey’s members worked from the beginning to support the Downtown Camas Association through sponsorship, volunteer activities, and community use of church space. When the church purchased an adjacent building in 2014, it leased space to a bakery and dance studio, two businesses that contribute to the downtown’s vitality.
The two organizations were set to receive the award today at the RevitalizeWA conference in Chelan. The Main Street Program that sponsors the conference and awards is affiliated with the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation.
