To anyone passing through downtown Butler, the city's challenges are clearly evident. But the city's strengths, if not as immediately visible, also are significant.

A Nov. 12 meeting on the future of the city's Main Street district attracted about 100 people interested in learning about the direction the city is moving — and how to be a part of that revitalization journey.

With a downtown whose vitality peaked decades ago, just letting nature take its course is not a viable plan. Instead, a Main Street program has been developed to look at the city's needs through four perspectives — design, organization, promotions and economic restructuring. Committees covering those four areas of interest made presentations at last week's meeting.

Out of those committee presentations, two things became clear.

First, more work than most people realize has been done. In conjunction with the committee work, Becky Smith, Butler's newly hired Main Street manager, will work at assisting the committees and help with implementation efforts.

And second, a small group of people cannot do what's necessary without help from others. Several speakers commented on the fact that the Main Street group wants and needs more input from the public.

It's helpful to get a diversity of views about the best way to revitalize the downtown. And more people participating will mean more people becoming emotionally or psychologically invested in the process. And that sort of buy-in is an important ingredient making the revitalization effort a success.

Beyond more participation in the vision or planning stages, several speakers also noted the need for more volunteers to help. Nearly everyone with a stake in the future of downtown should find a way to support the work being done by the Butler Downtown revitalization initiative, the four committees operating under it, and Smith.

One of the goals of the design committee, headed by Jonathan Dreher, is to have more continuity among the building facades on Main Street. Creating a more unified look would add to the visual appeal of Main Street.

That program does not have to start from scratch because there already are a fair number of historically authentic or well-done period facades on Main Street buildings.

Additional buildings retain historical design elements that can be highlighted. But other storefronts were "remuddled" at some point, and will require more work to return them to a look that fits with other facades.

However, attractive storefronts will not be enough to revitalize Main Street. Store owners and operators need to develop solid business models and feature products or services that will attract customers.

And attracting customers, or potential customers, is an area where scheduled events and activities can help, by bringing people into Butler. This theme was addressed by one of the committee reports at last week's meeting.

That idea of bringing people into the city had been part of the appeal of a refurbished and active Penn Theater that might host a variety of events from film viewings, stage productions and musical theater, to bring more people into the downtown. And an ownership change with the Penn Theater is essential before any progress can be made on that front.

The committee working on economic restructuring is looking at the pros and cons of doing business downtown. The group also is looking at potential tax incentives to spark renewed interest in development, and that's a good approach.

One potential spark already is on the drawing boards in the form of the 14,000-square-foot Rite Aid store slated to be a cornerstone of the Center City Project, which is designed to eventually feature a small convention center, a hotel and a mix of retail spaces.

Walking through the downtown or driving along Main Street can give the impression that nothing much is happening. But last week's meeting revealed that a small group of volunteers, along with a few paid professionals, is working hard to envision — and implement — a new future for downtown.

They deserve support and cooperation to help get Butler moving in a positive and sustainable direction.