RUMFORD – A riverfront trail and park, lights on the falls, a canoe race and murals displayed in storefronts.

These are a few of the projects in the works and close to reality, supported or led by the Downtown Revitalization Committee.

Other projects are for the long-term – assuring that all streets are marked with signs, removal or renovation of some of the multi-unit housing, and finding ways to get more people downtown.

The Downtown Revitalization Committee held its monthly meeting Monday afternoon. Progress has been significant in some areas.

An idea that started several years ago – re-establishing a park and trail along the Androscoggin River – is well on its way to completion.

Town Manager Jim Doar said hopes are to complete a major portion of the River Front Park by the end of November. Many of the trees that had obscured the view of the river have already been removed by the Public Works Department, and a trail is nearly finished between Morse Bridge and Veterans Bridge.

Doar said a $50,000 grant from the National Park Service, matched by an equal amount of in-kind work by the town and individuals, is helping to pay for the trail.

Years ago, a park stretched from Morse Bridge to what is now called the snow dump. The committee is aiming to restore a portion of that park.

He said wooden rails will shield walkers from the steep embankment into the river once the project is completed, and picnic tables will be set up along the way. Granite will mark the beginning of the trail head. Lighting will likely come in the future.

In other beautification projects, committee members Barbara Smith-Baker and Linda Dupill announced that several art murals are scheduled to be displayed in empty storefronts on Congress and Waldo streets.

The first has already been hung in the window of what was once a T-shirt shop, and others are scheduled to appear over the next few weeks by artist George Ramos, Mountain Valley High School art students and others.

The largest mural will be created by Sue Everett Stagner, who will paint the exterior side of the Sun Journal office building at 69 Congress St. The blank concrete wall has been exposed since Wardwell’s burned several years ago.

Other empty storefronts scheduled for mural art include the former Port-to-Port building and Family Dollar store on Congress Street, a former flower shop and the old Bouffard’s building on Waldo Street.

Joe Roberts, a member of the Downtown Revitalization Committee and River Valley Chamber of Commerce, announced a canoe and kayak race between the Rumford boat dock and the Hanover dock will be held Oct. 13.

The 9.5-mile race, with two classes for canoes and one class for kayaks, is sponsored by the chamber and will be known as the Fall Foliage River Run.

Doar said the plan follows one of the suggestions made in the town’s Comprehensive Plan to try to focus more on the river.

Other proposed projects include:

• lighting of the middle dam from Morse Bridge. Doar said hopes are to have the lighting in place by the end of September. Once that is done, he plans to work with Brookfield Power to try to get lights installed to illuminate Pennacook Falls.

• removing some of the trees along Route 108 that prevent motorists from seeing the town from the highway.

• expanding the soccer practice fields at Hosmer Field.

• establishing a nature trail that branches off from the walking trails at Hosmer Field.