Milton making a comeback; town flourishing with businesses and tourism

"I can wait and try to play catch-up, or I can be here when it explodes," said Mugs and Stitches store owner Gwen Palmer.

It was a leap of faith decision store owner Gwen Palmer says after she decided to open up not one, but two stores in a town that at the time didn't have the best reputation.

"I remember driving to this particular retail space and it being empty. And the one next door, and the one next door. People would come in, and they'd be good businesses, but there wasn't enough business for them to stay," said Palmer.

During the great recession in the late 2000's Milton was hit hard and struggled to keep business and tourism going in the town.

"When Milton experienced the economic downturn like many municipalities did, a lot of storefronts were vacant downtown," said town manager Kristy Rogers.

"A lot of the places were closed, the strip mall was here but you had things coming and going," said resident Allison Sangree.

But almost a decade later, what was once considered ghost town is now on its way to becoming one of the top destination spots in the first state.

"It's just lovely, it's I think the best kept secret," said Sangree.

Officials say since the economy's improved, stores have opened up and down the block and are thriving with business. Other initiatives such as the Milton theatre expansion, yearly festivals, family friendly programs and more are helping to revitalize the area.

"They're putting a lot of money into the theater, there just now today shoring up the library, they have beautiful flowers outside, there really taking beautiful care of this town," said Palmer.

And store owners say in a couple of years Milton will be the prime place to be. And they're glad they believed in a town when no one else did.

"We saw our opportunity knock and we wanted to be a part of the growth that we thought would be coming and it sure did," said The Mercantile owner Lisa Falzarano.

Officials also say they've got another big project on their plate that they hope will draw even more* people to the area and revitalize the town.

Rogers says they're putting all of their focus now into the rails to trails initiative. The project is designed to connect people in the downtown area of Milton to other places in the region. Rogers says she hopes the new project will create opportunities for physical activity, improving the health and well being of area residents.
 

"We are looking for the rails to trails program to kick off maybe next year that will expand the area that we already have in the area for a pedestrian use, for biking and walking and connectability, we really feel that will draw numerous interest of people to Milton," said Rogers.

There's no set date on when the rails to trail program will be available, but officials hope to have everything completed over the next two years.