Mainstreet Uptown Butte, Inc., is a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit program incorporated in June 1999 and affiliated with The National Main Street Center. and the Montana State Main Street program. In 2000, the Butte Uptown Association, representing Uptown merchants since 1970, merged with Mainstreet Uptown Butte.

In 1977, in response to the flight of businesses from historic town centers, the National Trust for Historic Preservation created pilot Main Street programs to use historic preservation as an economic development tool. Since then, the approach has proven successful in small towns and urban neighborhoods from Washington State to New York City. The program has a track record in more than 1,200 communities across the country.

The key to the success of the Main Street program is that community revitalization does not rely on any one action, be it an anchor store, a new streetscape, or that one special event that will draw thousands of visitors.  The program uses a sustained approach guided by four major points to guide preservation and economic rejuvenation efforts.

The Main Street approach to downtown (or Uptown as the case may be) revitalization is based on four major points: Design, Promotion, Organization, and Economic Restructuring.

DESIGN focuses on enhancing the physical appearance of buildings, streetlights, window displays, parking areas, signs, sidewalks, promotional materials and other elements that convey a visual message about Uptown Butte.

PROMOTION involves marketing Uptown's most attractive qualities to shoppers, investors, new businesses, tourists and others. Effective promotion creates a positive image through retail promotional activity, special events and ongoing programs to build positive perceptions of the district.

ORGANIZATION is the work of building a consensus and cooperation among the stakeholders in the district. Many individuals and organizations in the community have a stake in the district's economic viability:

ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING strengthens the existing economic base while diversifying it. Our economic restructuring goals are to help existing Uptown businesses expand, recruit new businesses to augment the existing business base, convert unused space into productive properties, and sharpen the competitiveness of Uptown merchants.

By strengthening the Uptown's economy, communities are able to support ongoing use of historic commercial buildings, preserving unique community assets.

The comprehensive nature of Main Street's approach is the key to its success. By integrating the four areas into a practical management strategy, the Main Street approach produces fundamental changes in the economic base, putting historic commercial buildings to productive use again.

Mainstreet Uptown Butte's Board of Directors provides oversight and guidance for Butte's Main Street program.  The board of directors includes community volunteers with expertise in economic development, design, promotions and fund-raising.  Other directors are small business owners and understand the challenges facing independent businesses.

Also in 2007, Everett coordinated the successful effort to have Butte host the National Folk Festival in 2008-2010 -- the first time this national festival was held west of the Mississippi since the 1960s. As a result, in 2010, Butte was recognized by the Montana Toursim Advisory Council as the Montana Tourism Community of the Year and the National Folk Festival was recognized as the Tourism Event of the Year for 2009. Everett continues to lead Mainstreet to develop this asset for Butte through the planning and implementation of the successor event, the Montana Folk Festival July 8-10, 2011 and the second presentation on July 13-15, 2012.

Everett is responsible for implementing Butte's Main Street program to take advantage of historic buildings and other resources to stimulate the local economy by creative reuse of the built environment.

Butte has great potential to benefit from the program's resources and experience around the country. Butte has more than 4,000 historic buildings in its historic zone, probably more structures than any other national historic landmark district in the country.

In his tenure as Executive Director since 2002, Everett has helped coordinate the lighting of eight headframes, the planting of nearly 700 new street trees, and the painting of more than 35 historical facades in Uptown Butte through Mainstreet's High Impact Paint Program.