Sarah Hansen expects to become even better acquainted with Oak Harbor in the coming years.

What she sees taking place among civic and community leaders in the waterfront city these days is different than during past visits.

Hansen, coordinator for the Washington State Main Street program, came to Oak Harbor Thursday to talk about a program she anticipates she’ll see in the city’s near future.

About 100 guests at the Chamber of Commerce’s monthly luncheon learned the finer points about the program and more from Hansen, who was the chamber’s invited speaker.

“I’ve been up here a number of times to meet with people, and I think there’s been a few false starts, but there’s an interim board in place and the city and the chamber are so supportive, so I’m really encouraged by that,” Hansen said. “I think things are going to move forward.”

For the past year, Mayor Scott Dudley has worked to bring Main Street to Oak Harbor to benefit his city and help revitalize the community’s quiet, historic downtown.

More concrete steps were taken in October when a group of business owners and community members came together to form an interim board of directors and president, calling themselves the Oak Harbor Main Street Association.

The group was enticed by the program’s success stories in other communities with historic downtowns and in how it helped to draw tourism there.

Main Street, part of the state’s Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, helps communities by providing tools and guidance designed specifically to promote, preserve and embrace a city’s historic downtown core.

Washington has 113 communities participating in the program with Port Townsend, Mount Vernon and Port Angeles among 13 of the more notable examples that hold national certification.

“We’re super excited,” said restaurant owner Jason Tritt, who’s part of the interim Oak Harbor Main Street board. “Langley and Coupeville both have programs. All around us, there are programs that have been successful. We’ve got some great support behind us and I think we’ll be a super, super successful program. And I think the community will be behind us. The organization involves the whole community, not just the downtown.”

Since its first meeting in October, Oak Harbor’s interim Main Street group has chipped away at a list of mandatory requirements, including adopting its bylaws and articles of incorporation and identifying its boundaries within the city.

The Main Street boundaries will encompass Oak Harbor’s central business district, said Bob Severns, an Oak Harbor city councilman who also serves on the interim Main Street board.

Essentially, the boundaries will include Pioneer Way, Bayshore Drive and Barrington Drive from City Beach Street to Midway Boulevard, with some exceptions.

“I’m really excited about the possibilities with Main Street,” Severns said. “There’s a lot of learning to do, then we’ll have to convey that message out to the business community. There’s lots that we can do with this that we haven’t been able to do.”

It may be a year until Oak Harbor becomes an official Main Street community.

Margaret Livermore, Oak Harbor’s interim Main Street president, is spearheading the process of applying for 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. If the deadline to receive the application of Nov. 15 is missed, the group will have to wait another year for approval.

Livermore said she doesn’t anticipate that will happen.

“I have such beautiful visions of what downtown can look like — full and vibrant,” Livermore said. “I’m the eternal optimist. I just really want it to look the way and be a place for people to come and be proud of their city.”

Among the benefits Main Street offers to local business is a tax incentive program, where businesses may elect to designate a good portion of their business and occupation taxes into the city’s Main Street program.

“I think that it’s very important that we keep our tax dollars here locally, so we can spend it locally,” said Rhonda Severns, Oak Harbor’s interim Main Street vice president. “That’s a win-win for the whole community.

“The whole point is it brings tourism to the community,” Rhonda Severns added. “And then tourists go to Jack in the Box (and other restaurants) and eat lunch. The hotels fill up. One of our goals now is to get our committees together and then we start marketing to the community, letting them know what Main Street is and what their tax incentive would be and how they could benefit from this program.”

Former Oak Harbor Mayor Jim Slowik attended the luncheon and liked what he heard.

He remembers past unsuccessful attempts but believes this is the right time to make the move.

The Pioneer Way revitalization construction project happened under his watch and he sees Main Street as the natural next step in the progression.

“Was it brought up in the past? Yes, it was, but we were in the middle of so many projects,” said Slowik, mayor from 2007 to 2011. “We had done 20 projects in four years and the biggest one was downtown.

“So we thought we’d get through the downtown and then we’d look at the Main Street project. But this is a great project. It’s really perfectly set up for a town like Oak Harbor. What especially is important about the project is that it channels tax money back into the area that you’re trying to improve, so into the downtown, tax money can be channeled back. It’s the only program in the state of Washington that you can use to channel money back into your community, so that makes it a doubly good project.

“I’m really fully behind it, and I’m really glad Mayor Dudley has decided to move forward with it.”