Amanda Leather, pictured in a May announcement posted by Easton Main Street. (Photo courtesy of Easton Main Street)

What do an organic market manager, a bartender, a bar manager and a jiu-jitsu coach have in common?

They all work in downtown Easton, and they’re all employees of the month.

Three months ago, Easton Main Street Initiative unveiled its Employee of the Month program, which seeks to honor one person working in the Main Street district who contributes to the community in a significant way.

“Easton is just such a great place,” said Julie VanOsdol, Easton’s Main Street Initiative manager. “There’s so many people doing such hard work to make it a great place that we should be acknowledging them.”

VanOsdol said the idea for the program came from a member of the group’s economic vitality volunteer committee.

“Someone brought it up because they had actually seen another town’s main street program do some sort of employee appreciation thing,” she said. “And we were like, ‘What kind of spin can we put on this?’”

The committee reviews all employee nominations, which are open to public submission, to pick a candidate for each month. In addition to bragging rights, recipients receive a Downtown Easton gift card.

This month’s recipient was Amanda Leather, who works at Nature’s Way Market, a health food store. The Main Street website describes her as “an indispensable part of the store’s operation and soul.”

“Nature’s Way and many of the other small businesses in the city wouldn’t be here without the support of the amazing locals who choose to spend their dollars with us,” Leather wrote in an email. “It’s rewarding to be acknowledged for the hard work that goes into helping run a small business.”

Last month’s recipient, bartender Shawn Pail, is described on the website as a “genuine staple of the downtown Easton scene.” Pail, who’s been working at River Grille for 23 years, called the award a “nice little nod.”

“I don’t do many of the competitions or any of the spotlight stuff anymore,” Pail said. “I’ve been doing this forever. I leave that for the young kids making the names for themselves. But it was nice to be recognized.”

March’s employee of the month, Easton native Gabriel Ricker, program director and head coach at Renzo Gracie Easton, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu club, said he was pleased to be a recipient.

“When it happened, I was able to take a step back and be like, ‘Wow, that’s an honor,’” Ricker said. “That means that someone or multiple people in the community recognize what I do, and that’s got to stand for something.”

“A lot of time we work and we do things and we think that they don’t have an impact, and they do,” he said. “Every single thing that you do in your existence has such meaningful impact, and you never know.”

VanOsdol said she hopes to see the program grow in the future, perhaps by getting a sponsor so that employees would receive a more substantial award.

“I’m envisioning a time where at a city council meeting, there’s an official thing with a certificate and you shake hands with the mayor or whatever,” VanOsdol said. “I think that it could grow a lot into something that people are looking forward to each month.”