NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — North Adams has been named one of five finalists for a half-million dollar downtown boost.

 

The announcement was made early Thursday morning on Facebook Live by the Small Business Revolution initiative. More than two dozen supporters were at the Holiday Inn to cheer the results.

 

"I am speechless," said Benjamin Lamb, the president of the City Council who spearheaded the effort with the city's event coordinator Suzy Helme. "This was excellent, especially in a snow emergency. This place was so excited to see this happen.

 

We were all here for camaraderie — or commiseration."

 

The results were announced in New York City by Amanda Brinkman, chief brand and communications officer for Deluxe Corp., which is sponsoring the initiative designed to help small downtown businesses thrive. Brinkman and her crew were here last month to visit the city, part of a whirlwind 10-day tour of eight semi-finalists across the country who were culled from 14,000 nominations. 

 

North Adams, the smallest city in Massachusetts, is the only New England community to make the cut. 

 

"The exposure is wonderful, just being one of the five finalists and the exposure this will give the city, we're cranked up,"  said Mayor Richard Alcombright. "The benefits it would bring to the city, the small businesses of the city and the downtown corridor."   

 

The next round to determine the winner all comes down to voting, with the community accumulating the most online votes to be featured in Season 2 of The Small Business Revolution's video series with a chance for makeovers, technical help and downtown upgrades worth up to $500,000.

 

"The game plan going forward will be to push everyone they know to vote, vote, vote," said Helme as the team immediately began, well, voting as soon as the results were announced. 

 

Anyone can vote for any of the communities making the final round beginning today and ending at 9 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16. 

 

That's only a week so North Adams is urging everyone to share the link to the voting page, found here. You can only vote once a day but you can vote once on every digital device and every brower. If you're running Firefox and Chrome, you can vote once on each browser; you can vote on your phone, your laptop, your tablet, your watch, your desktop. 

 

Getting more exposure will be key to winning. "We have to take advantage of everyone we know," said Lamb. 

 

"We have a team and we've been planning what our connections will be," Helme said. "It's all going to be about voting for the next week and a half then we'll relax and enjoy Winterfest before they announce the winner on Feb. 22."

 

Bright Ideas Brewing, for example, is sharing with its patrons and connections - some of whom have more than a million twitter followers, said the brewery's Erik Kerns.

 

The five finalists are North Adams, Bristol Borough, Pa.; Georgetown, S.C.; Kingsburg, Calif.; and Red Wing, Minn.

 

Keith Bona, a city councilor and operator of Berkshire Emporium, thought the city's biggest rival is Bristol Borough because its proximity to Philadelphia could generate vote. Still, he noted that North Adams has several million potential voters within 100 miles. 

 

If selected, North Adams could get the same boost that Wabash, Ind., received as the first season winner last year. Brinkman has kept in touch with the citizens there and said during her January visit she's had "great reports" from the businesses they'd worked with.  Harry's Old Kettle Pub & Grill, for example, which SBR helped turn into the owner's dream restaurant, has been pulling in patrons from Chigaco — four hours away. 

 

Brinkman was clear that SBR can't be the only solution for small downtowns; that energy really has to come from the community. SBR's goal is to give them a little push to help them take off. 

 

The support's been clear here in North Adams, just be the number of people and business owners who have shared stories and videos about #MyNorthAdams for the Small Business Revolution Facebook. And community support was big factor in selecting the finalists. 

 

The morning did get off to a rocky start. A snowstorm was hitting the region, a cable was working to show the event on the projector, and the 7 a.m. live feed was about 20 minutes late in starting. And when it did, only the audio was coming through. 

 

Becky Miner of Miner Combat was watching her own phone as the first few communities were announced, each one causing a sigh in the group. Then Miner whooped as she got the news seconds before everyone else. The room burst into cheers.  

 

"This is just a testament to so many great things going in the city and the folks who are taking hold and taking root here," said Alcombright. "We're seeing a new group of people growing in the city and pulling things together in new and different ways."