Pop-ups have spurred the hope of survival for the community of Greenville, CA after the town was leveled by the 2021 Dixie Fire. The grit, ingenuity, and perseverance of people who lost everything inspired the development of The Spot Business District. And a town with little to no services, food, or stores now has a business district that will be the catalyst for more. The Spot opened in August 2022, just a year after the Dixie Fire raged through four counties burning just under 1,000,000 acres. The opening for the district and its businesses has energized the entire area. The services offered there have been welcomed by locals, people from other rural towns in the county, as well as those commuting along highway 89 to other destinations.
The trend of Pop-Ups started about 10 years ago mostly in urban areas. It began mainly with food trucks arriving at a large office complex or a construction site where there was limited access to food.
Not the case for Greenville.
Coming soon to The Spot is the Greenville Strong Fitness Center.
Residents from Greenville were hesitant to rebuild because there were no businesses. Businesses felt the same way – if there was no community how would their stores stay open. Rebuilding the town would take years and millions of dollars so the short-term goal was to figure out how to encourage and inspire people to want to come-back.
The idea of Pop-Ups came from business owners, led by Cassie Barr of Indian Head Properties, and the Plumas County Economic Development team as an option for the economic rebuild of Greenville.
Start-Up Funding From Dixie Fire Roundtable
The Almanor Foundation Wildfire Relief Fund and four other funding partners, funded a $78,700 grant, managed by the Sierra Institute, to develop infrastructure for The Spot. Plumas County was supportive and made sure the properties were zoned for commercial space; and PG&E assisted by installing electrical at no cost to get businesses up and operating.
Parcels of Property on Pine Street Create The Spot
The “Baby Way” visits The Spot. The Way Station, an historic bar and grill, was destroyed in the fire. The hope is to rebuild with original building bricks.
It was the good fortune for those who wanted to develop The Spot that there were opportunities on Pine Street. Rachel Goings, owner of Valley Grind had property at one end. Cassie Barr, with a lot on the other, purchased another next to it and then arranged to lease a third property creating one large area consisting of three properties. This put the majority of businesses on those three parcels, which includes a community gathering area with Rachael’s Valley Grind at one end and Cassie’s three parcels next to it.
Adding to this, Samantha Prior, owner of Crush-A-Bowl, purchased a property at the other end of the Pine Street. Wanda Carpenter arranged to use land owned by the Chamber of Commerce for her Hawt Dogs next to Samantha. This made a nearly continuous string of businesses from one end of Pine Street to the other end . . . thus The Spot. And, the district continues to develop with weekly meetings to refine, address challenges, and seek opportunities to further develop businesses.
The Rebuild
Greenville has a three-part plan for rebuilding, which began with Phase 0, also funded by the Dixie Fire Roundtable that includes The Almanor Foundation. Phase 1 funding is now being negotiated and will be executed with professionals experienced in disaster restorations.. The hope is that it will return as vital as it was before the fire and even better, both for residents and businesses.
Community Support
As we watched the horror of Greenville burning, many in our community donated time and money to assist with the immediate aftermath, and have now become ‘shoppers’ at The Spot. There is no doubt that the community and “Greenville Strong” has lived up to their new moniker. To continue to support the economic recovery of Greenville, donate to the Almanor Foundation Wildfire Relief Fund.
