By STEVEN CALHOUN/Staff Writer

Main Street Alabama is conducting a community survey for the Downtown Montevallo Market Study Project.

The goal of the survey is to collect input from the community on what types of businesses or products people would like to see in downtown Montevallo.

“What we hope to do with it as Main Street is take the analysis and learn what we can do to help our current businesses,” Montevallo Main Street director Sarah Hogan said.

According to Steve Gilbert, executive director of the Montevallo Chamber of Commerce, the survey will allow the Chamber to recruit new businesses and give existing businesses valuable information about what their customers are looking for.

City officials hope to gather input from a wide variety of voices, both in the community and outside of Montevallo.

“Our population is so diverse, we want to make sure we are getting input from all of our different constituencies,” Hogan said. “We still want to catch people who just may drive through and never stop because we want to know what’s going to … get more consumers shopping, enjoying, eating downtown Montevallo.”

A business survey also is being conducted. According to Hogan, Tennessee-based Downtown Professionals Network will create a market analysis from the surveys and give the report to Montevallo Main Street.

There will be a public meeting in Montevallo on June 28 to discuss the findings.

The survey is available online at surveymonkey.com/r/montevallo-al.

Hogan said there would be a booth where people can take the survey at the Arts Festival on April 22. The day of the festival will be the last day to take the survey.