NORWAY – Four downtown buildings are sporting improved facades. Credit a special grant opportunity.

Anne Campbell, project manager for Norway Downtown Revitalization, said the organization last year secured a $2,000 Maine Downtown Center grant for facade improvements. The resulting program just wound to a close this fall.

Program participants included L.F. Pike and Son, Charlie’s Entertainment and Ed’s Barber Shop, Campbell said. The owner of each building was asked to match a $500 grant with $500 of their own money for improvements.

Norway Downtown Revitalization’s design committee helped program participants pick historically appropriate colors for their buildings, Campbell said.

It may be some time before Norway Downtown Revitalization sponsors such a program again because the organization has other projects in the works, Campbell said.

The town also has been doling out grant money for building improvements, however. Debbie Wyman at the Norway town office said the town has been participating in its second facade improvement program in 10 years.

A $90,000 Community Development Block Grant has made the work possible, Wyman said. Exterior improvements to 13 local buildings are either in the works or pending, she said.

The properties include the Mooseland Tours building, the parsonage at the First Universalist Church, the Fair Share Co-op and L.F. Pike and Sons.