$2,500 each. That is the size of the grants, and it is not going to transform Old Town Eureka overnight. But for eight small businesses that just received facade improvement awards through the Eureka Main Street Program, it is enough to make a visible difference.

The program announced the recipients last week after reviewing 23 applications for its 2026 spring cycle. The $20,000 in total funding comes from a combination of city economic development funds and a matching grant from the California Main Street Alliance. Each recipient commits to completing the work within 90 days and providing before-and-after documentation.

The eight businesses span a four-block stretch of Second and Third Streets in the Old Town district:

Humboldt Herbals, a tea and tincture shop on Second Street, will replace its faded awning and repaint its storefront in deep green and cream. The current facade has not been updated since 2014.

Good Relations Bar, at the corner of Second and F, plans to install new exterior lighting and refinish its front door, which owner Mick Davila described as “held together by paint and stubbornness at this point.”

Eureka Books will use its grant toward window restoration on its historic 1890s building. The shop’s bay windows have been a landmark for decades, but the frames need structural work.

The remaining five recipients include a vintage clothing store, a tattoo parlor, a ceramics studio, a restaurant, and a cannabis dispensary on Third Street. The dispensary, Emerald Humboldt, will use the funds to replace signage that was damaged in a December storm.

Eureka Main Street coordinator Liz Berger said the program prioritizes businesses that are locally owned and have been operating for at least two years. Chain retailers and franchises are not eligible.

“We got 23 applications for eight spots,” Berger said. “That tells me people care about what this district looks like. They want to invest. They just need a push.”

The facade program is part of a broader Main Street revitalization strategy that the city adopted in 2023. Old Town Eureka has a complicated history. The waterfront district experienced a building boom in the late 1800s, decades of neglect in the mid-20th century, and a partial revival starting in the 1990s that brought galleries, restaurants, and specialty retail back to the area. Today, the district is roughly 70 percent occupied, up from a low of about 55 percent in 2018.

Vacancies remain concentrated on Third Street between D and F, where three storefronts have been empty for more than two years. Berger said the Main Street Program is working with property owners on those spaces, but acknowledged that commercial rents in the area ($1.10 to $1.50 per square foot) create a narrow margin for new tenants.

“It’s not that rents are too high for Eureka,” she said. “It’s that the buildings need work, and landlords don’t want to invest in improvements without a signed lease. Tenants don’t want to sign a lease on a building that needs work. The facade grants help break that cycle, at least on the outside.”

The program has awarded 31 grants since its inception in 2023, totaling $77,500. Berger said a follow-up survey of previous recipients found that 26 of 31 are still operating at the same location, a retention rate of 84 percent.

The next application cycle opens in August. Details are posted at eurekamainstreet.org.