Oak Harbor Main Street Association

About

Oak Harbor Main Street

Mission: Oak Harbor Main Street Association actively promotes a vibrant, historic waterfront community.

Downtown Oak Harbor is naturally blessed with beautiful panoramic views of the Puget Sound, the Olympic & Cascade Mountains, and our namesake Garry Oak tree grove. 

​In 2015, Oak Harbor Main Street Association (OHMSA) was created and later, officially designated as a Washington State Main Street. Our team, consisting mostly of volunteers, is proud of the progress downtown that has happened over just a few short years. OHMSA uses the Main Street Approach to guide our work. District boundaries follow City code designations running up City Beach Road to Barrington, across Barrington down on Ireland St, through the middle of the block to Midway Ave, and down to the waterfront.

Oak Harbor Main Street Association (OHMSA) was formed when a small group of like-minded individuals came together with the vision to make our historic downtown a place where the community and tourists alike want to come and explore, shop, and dine. The WA Main Street Program was designed to help revitalize historic downtown districts and we are happy to be one of 36 WA Main Street Communities.

OHMSA, founded in 2016, is working on projects that beautify the downtown. We have developed events to draw visitors downtown.

Since our historic downtown is not visible from the highway that passes through town. One of the goals and problems is to figure out a way to get people to turn off the highway and discover what our historic downtown has to offer.

Since OHMSA was established, we have higher occupancy rate and more unique shops. We are developing a marketing plan to help advertise businesses in the district and therefore help increase the bottom line for our small mom and pop businesses.

Click to read about our Accomplishments!

Our Team

Cheryl Grehan

Executive Director

[email protected]

    A little about me: I first landed in Oak Harbor back in 1996 with the Navy. My very supportive husband and I fell in love with this place and raised two amazing humans here.

    I've always been passionate about our community. I spent some time at the Chamber of Commerce, helping to plan events and make things run smoothly. I've also volunteered at tons of local events, from the Music Fest to the Gravity Races to Dia de Fiesta – I love getting involved!

    Oak Harbor is more than just a place to live – it's where I've grown, built connections, and made incredible memories. I'm proud to be an Oak Harborite and excited for what the future holds for us.

    Teresa Besaw

    Marketing Coordinator

    [email protected]

      Oak Harbor Main Street Marketing Coordinator, Teresa Besaw, is a true Whidbey Island native. A Navy Brat, born on the Seaplane base and raised in Oak Harbor. Being a native of Whidbey, Teresa really enjoys promoting the beauty of the island and all the fun events taking place here year-round. Teresa brings 34 years of graphic design, marketing, and event planning to the Oak Harbor Main Street organization.

      Teresa believes Main Street is important because we are trying to preserve downtown and remind people what is great about downtown Oak Harbor.  We want to keep the history while improving downtown so that it will last forever.

      Teresa is married to Navy Veteran Jim Besaw and the proud mother of 3 children, 4 stepchildren, and a grandmother of 9.