Davidson Plaza will again be activated during the Downtown Night Market with games, a water feature and more on July 14.

From 4-8 p.m., the Building Active Communities Initiative group will bring the space to life as a demonstration project of their effort to bring a water feature and other components to a downtown space.

They’re using Davidson Plaza again this year during the market to show what can be done with an active space and that if such a space exists, it will draw people and activity to the area.

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Kim Skornogoski, who’s with the BACI group and works for United Way of Cascade County, said that they’ve identified three priority spaces for such a project outside of Davidson Plaza.

Two of them are privately owned and one is a city park property.

She said they’ve worked with Cushing Terrell over the last year and the firm will have concept drawings on display during Friday’s demonstration.

“What they’ve come back with is really amazing,” Skornogoski said.

She said the firm has done research into what will work here in terms of weather, the community and looked at what works in other communities.

“We hear over and over again from our community that they want to have a water feature,” Skornogoski said. “It could really transform how the community uses downtown.”

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Part of the group’s initiative is looking at changing environments to change behavior. They want to bring more people downtown and increase activity, particularly physical activity, she said.

“If we create a lively downtown, it attracts young people and business,” Skornogoski said.

The group has a number of community partners for the project, including the Downtown Great Falls Association, Park and Recreation, Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, NeighborWorks Great Falls.

More activity downtown can also reduce criminal activity, she said, which has also been shown with the downtown mural project.

It also supports business development, she said.

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“If more people walking downtown, they’re more likely to see that cool window display and go into a store,” Skornogoski said.

After collecting more community feedback during the demonstration, Skornogoski said they’ll move into talking to property owners about the options and then develop a fundraising campaign.

Take the survey here.