Ark City going for the prize

The Arkansas City Chamber of Commerce is hoping to raise enough votes to win a $500,000 prize that is being offered by a unique TV show, Small Business Revolution, Main Street Productions.

The program picks a community each season to receive a makeover of main street businesses. The winner is determine by the number of votes received through the program’s website.

Chamber CEO Paisley Howerton said in early October, a link with information about the contest was shared on the Ark City Ask and Answered Facebook page. She said she saw it as a possible opportunity and everyone quickly started sharing the information.

“It looked like it would be awesome for Ark City to be part of that,” she said. “So we just shared it and nominated Ark City, of course.”

Howerton said people were being encouraged to visit the website and to vote for Ark City. Last Thursday, she discovered that the community might actually have a chance at winning.

“Kanyon Gingher called and said Nick Hernandez had told her we had enough nominations to be noticed by the show,” she said.