Marblehead Coronavirus Recovery Tour Set For Tuesday

MARBLEHEAD, MA —A walking tour of downtown Marblehead will be held Tuesday afternoon as part of the town's Local Rapid Recovery Program from the coronavirus health crisis.

Marblehead was one of 125 communities across the state selected for the program, which was designed to assist in supporting and revitalizing local businesses from the impacts of the yearlong pandemic.

The walking tour begins at 3 p.m. at the Chamber of Commerce information booth at Pleasant, Essex and Bassett streets, and will include a discussion of the issues facing the town and its small businesses as the COVID-19 crisis wanes.

Marblehead is sharing in the $9.5 million of state aid to help the 125 communities build locally-driven, actionable strategies to revive struggling areas and businesses. The focus of the plan will be short-term strategies aimed at providing an immediate impact.

Marblehead's goals are to help businesses with online options, initiate a "shop local" program, develop permanent and better designed outdoor dining and shopping, address facade improvement and reduce empty storefronts.

The town is partnering with local stakeholders, the Chamber of Commerce, the business community and Innes Associates, a plan facilitator, to manage the process.

Those who cannot attend the tour are also invited to provide feedback here.

Residents looking for more information can contact Town Planner Rebecca Curran Cutting at 781-631-0000.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)