Community invited to forum on Moultonborough Village

MOULTONBOROUGH — Community members are invited to a forum on Moultonborough Village to be held Tuesday, Oct. 29, 6-8 p.m. in the Moultonborough Academy cafeteria. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m., and light refreshments will be available. The forum will present findings from the First Impressions program, where Moultonborough and Derry were matched to conduct an assessment of their downtown areas.

Over the summer, a team of community volunteers participated in the University of New Hampshire’s First Impressions program, traveling to Derry in mid-August to identify assets and opportunities. The look and feel of the downtown area can influence the decisions of potential residents, visitors, and businesses.

The First Impressions exercise assesses downtown points of interest, public facilities, sidewalks, crosswalks and trails, streets and transportation, waste and recycling, community art, displays and signage, downtown entrances, landscaping, lighting, seating, business and park amenities. Volunteers complete visits to the other community and document their findings, later formalized in a printed report.

Moultonborough’s Community Development Advisory Committee is sponsoring the program, with chair Charlie Fritz serving as the contact for UNH’s Community & Economic Development team. Celeste Burns is the chair of Moultonborough’s steering committee for First Impressions, with participating community volunteers Cristina Ashjian, Corrie Bernow, Kath Blake, Ron Burton, Heidi Kremser, Diane MacArthur, Shane Pouliot, Blythe Sterling, and Tom Wardrop.

Potential outcomes of UNH’s First Impressions program include improving visual appeal, strengthening marketing and promotion, and enriching the climate of the downtown for new business, residents and visitors, while also increasing the number of volunteers in the community. For more information, visit extension.unh.edu/tags/first-impressions.