 After announcing that the Purple Fern was the winner of the Destination Downtown Contest, the Brainerd Lakes Chamber of Commerce is calling the contest a success. The contest allowed small businesses or business ideas to compete for a chance to win a prize pack, which included the business moving into a storefront in Downtown Brainerd. There are 49 applications at all and according to Chamber President Matt Killian, it shows the business excitement in the downtown area. Destination Downtown was all about trying to create a new narrative, a new sense of energy and positivity for Downtown Brainerd. And I think after this contest and looking back over the last six months, we feel like we really accomplished that. While there has not been a determination as to whether the contest will come back in 2018, Killian says that he and the chamber have learned a lot about the Brainerd business community through the process. There is a lot of positive energy and momentum downtown. There's a lot of people who care deeply for the community and want to see it succeed. So the rumors of the Brainerd's downtown demise were greatly exaggerated. We have a lot of people that are looking at that as a potential business destination. And that's really what we were after the whole time. The Purple Fern was announced as the winner at the chamber's celebration of excellence last month. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.