NILES — A host of colorful, chairs, benches and picnic tables in shades of candy apple red, blue, green and orange have found a home in downtown Niles.

In the days to come, the furniture will be placed outside and occupy the sidewalks in front of storefronts along Main Street, downtown side streets and near the Hunt Sculpture in Riverfront Park.

City officials purchased the outside lounge wear after obtaining funds through the Michigan Realtors Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper grant. The application was a collaborative effort between Community Development Director Sanya Vitale; Community Development Assistant Leigh Jones; History Director Christina Arseneau and Niles Main Street Director Lisa Croteau, as part of the Main Street Sit, Stay and Play 2018 Place Making project in Niles.

Through the grant and a donation from Paul Crouch of Cressy & Everett Real Estate, about $3,600 was obtained for the furniture in April.

Since Wednesday, Croteau has been hard at work assembling the furniture with the goal to have it built and setup by May 31.

“The thing I love about this furniture is that it is colorful, so it is going to draw your eye to the street,” Croteau said.

Croteau said the aim of the grant was to create something that could be done “quickly and cheaply” to brighten their community.

“It’s to try and create places for people to gather,” Croteau said. “It will give people another reason to come to [downtown], with the planter contest going on and the beautiful businesses that we have and now a wonderful place to sit and enjoy.”

With a number of new restaurants and stores finding a home in downtown Niles within the last year or two, Croteau and her fellow grant writers saw an opportunity to make the downtown more inviting by giving local businesses customers a chance to sit and relax. The timing was ideal, with warm summer weather having recently arrived in the area.

Croteau, a self-proclaimed bargain hunter extraordinaire, found a variety of furniture with the grant proceeds, including rockers, tables and chairs for adults and children and some furniture that can be transitioned from a bench to picnic table. So far, she has purchased about 23 seats and there are still some funds left to buy more.

“We will see where we could use something else,” Croteau said. “With the money that is left, I think we can get three or four more [seats].”

The plan is to eventually have some of the table tops painted with board games. Black and white rocks will be used for chess or checkers. The idea is to have the pieces stored inside local businesses and available for people to check out, while they are enjoying an ice cream from Paris Soda Co., a smoothie from Healthy Habits or a slice of pizza from Pizza Transit or any other local business in the downtown corridor.

At this time Croteau said it has not been decided whether the furniture will remain outdoors during the winter. While it was being built, Bryan Williams, Brass Eye business owner, permitted the furniture to be stored inside the former Woolworth’s building, which is under construction with plans to be transformed into a brewery.

Croteau commended the teamwork of city entities for helping the project to come together. She said the group was inspired to apply for the grant after attending a Main Street conference earlier in the year in Howell, Michigan.

“It was a collaboration between the four of us,” Croteau said. “Everybody put their ideas in the pot and it came out good.”