ROCHELLE — The City of Rochelle presented a $1,169.15 check Wednesday to 926 Custom Embroidery Owners Heidi Bratko and Dana Theiss as part of its facade grant program. 

The program covers half the cost of any improvements made to business fronts in town. The embroidery shop is the most recent recipient. Bratko and Theiss said improvements included painting the brick and a new copper sign. 

"We went from just blending in to making this pop out a little bit more,” Bratko said. “The brick used to be like the color red and brown. We wanted to stand out. We went with the copper sign. Our building is so pushed back, we wanted to pop out. We're just happy to be downtown and we think it's starting to come alive.”

Theiss said the lettering of the sign is a thicker metal and will have an antique look over time. 

“We appreciate the city and everything it's done helping us out with this,” Theiss said. “It's been awesome."

Mayor John Bearrows attended the check presentation and said he’s thankful to have the business in the community and praised it for how it supports other businesses in town. The money for the facade grants for businesses in the downtown area comes out of the downtown TIF fund. 

“They affect every business in town and we're very happy to have them here,” Bearrows said. “This check today is possible only because of our very aggressive city manager and staff that came up with the program and our very supportive city council that passed this program to make this happen. We're just extremely excited to have them here and have them as part of the community."