The city plans to use the funds for a renovation of Midland Square, the plaza located on Main Street between Tremont Street and 100 West. Tentative plans include an amphitheater at the south end for live entertainment, restrooms, landscaping and other improvements.

Tremonton Mayor Lyle Holmgren said city officials have been thinking of ways to improve the usefulness of Midland Square for some time.

“It doesn’t function very well as a park, but because of its location it makes a good gathering place, to bring more business to local merchants and so forth,” Holmgren said.

The decision to apply for the grant came through conversations with Eden Johnson, northern Utah rural outreach manager for the Go Utah Center for Rural Development.

Holmgren said the city applied for the grant unsure of what the result would be.

“We did our best and we weren’t sure, but when they said we were getting the full amount, we were thrilled,” he said. “They really liked the application.”

The Rural Communities Opportunity Grant offers up to $600,000 to cities in rural counties and smaller cities in more urban counties. The grant is competitive and requires a funding match based on a community’s population.

As part of the process, applicants are requires to justify the economic development need for the grant.

While some might not think of Midland Square as an engine for economic development, Holmgren said recent events, especially the farmer’s market that started last year, have shown that it can serve as a strong catalyst for the city’s downtown revitalization efforts.

“We learned from the farmer’s market, neighboring merchants were saying they’re seeing more traffic flow,” he said.

While the market is only six Saturdays a year, he said the renovation, especially the amphitheater component, can help bring more events that draw crowds to the park.

“The more you can bring people into the downtown area on a regular basis, it really starts to make a difference to the Main Street/downtown area,” Holmgren said. “If you can start bringing people in, it’ll be natural for businesses. If they see an opportunity to make money at it, they’ll come.”

He said the current plan is to have the project wrapped up sometime in mid-2024. It will include some landscaping changes, including the possible removal of a couple of trees.

He said several staffers including Assistant City Manager Marc Christensen, City Manager Shawn Warnke and Main Street Manager Sara Mohrman, who organized the effort to start the farmer’s market, were integral in securing the grant. He also thanked Box Elder County leaders, who abandoned their own efforts to secure the grant and threw their support behind the Tremonton application.

“I want to thank everyone involved in putting this grant together,” he said.