MAIN STREET NEWS

A once-bustling post office and federal building in downtown Sanford is now a dining destination for a popular local restaurant.

‘Tis the Season was a Hallmark-inspired Holiday Season festival where the community flocked to Main Street in Laurinburg to enjoy the arts,

The Downtown Goldsboro Development Corporation maintains an innovative partnership with the Miller School of Entrepreneurship at East Caroli

The Clay County Courthouse was built in 1888 (pronounced eighteen-eighty-eight) in the middle of the town of Hayesville.

The historic Cammack Building located at 133 East Davis Street in downtown Burlington has gained new life as a public-private meeting space

2018 Best Outdoor Space Improvement Wilson, NC Watch Video HERE! The Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park was a collaborative effort to create a catalytic project with three overarching goals: One - To conserve and display the original collection of Vollis Simpson’s massive kinetic sculptures in their home county. Two - To create a beautiful community living room in the Heart of Historic Wilson, and Three – To be an economic driver that would re-brand downtown Wilson and sp

2018 Best Outdoor Space Improvement Sanford, NC Watch Video HERE! In 2014 the City of Sanford Appearance Commission began to explore the idea of developing a mural trail in Historic Downtown Sanford. The murals would have to be historically appropriate, illustrating Sanford’s past. Four years later, five murals were completed. The murals tell the stories of: Howard Auman, an all-star Tobacco State League pitcher for the Sanford Spinners; Herb Thomas, NASCAR’s first tw

2018 Best Outdoor Space Improvement Mount Airy, NC Watch Video HERE! The Whittling Wall is a public art project located on West Oak Street in downtown Mount Airy. It features eight brick sculptures of local icons who helped shape Mount Airy’s history and culture. Featured on the wall are: The Whittler, representing the history of the wall; Tommy Jarrell, a legendary fiddle player; Fred Cockerham, a renowned banjo player; Ralph Epperson, founder of radio station WPAQ Ra

2018 Best Historic Rehabilitation Project Goldsboro, NC Watch Video HERE! The two-story building located on the corner of North Center Street and Mulberry Street was built in 1896 to serve as Goldsboro’s first hospital. For decades, the building was neglected and suffered severe decay. David and Bethany Perry, experienced downtown Goldsboro developers, purchased the building with plans to redevelop it for 100% occupancy. After a $470,000 rehabilitation investment, the

2018 Best Historic Rehabilitation Project Elkin, NC Watch Video HERE! In 1941 the Reeves Theater, located at 129 West Main Street, opened as a state-of-the-art cinema. Remodeled and renamed the Elk Twin in the 1970s the theater operated until 1994 A badly leaking roof virtually destroyed the interior and caused the theater to close. Over the next twenty years, various actions were taken to stabilize the building and prevent further decay and potential demolition. In 2

Small Town Main Street Wilkesboro , NC Watch Video HERE! In 2017 Dale and Michelle Isom purchased the 1915 historic Federal Building in downtown Wilkesboro, with the goal of creating a regional community and event center. The project evolved into an effort to preserve Appalachian heritage through the development of an artisan center, a farm-to-table café, and an event venue. The Blue Ridge Artisan Center opened in the summer of 2018 and features a wide selection of Nort

2018 Best Business Retention, Expansion or Recruitment Effort Brevard , NC Watch Video HERE! Heart of Brevard completed a retail leakage study and identified an opportunity to add outdoor oriented retail in downtown. The Main Street economic committee set a goal to recruit that type of business or to help an existing business expand into this area. As communication with existing business owners was carried out over that year, the organization learned of interest that D

2018 Best Endangered Properties Rescue Effort Elkin , NC Watch Video HERE! The building at 115 North Main Street was constructed prior to 1915, and in 1920 granite blocks from the Mount Airy quarry were added to its front facade. By 1997, the Town of Elkin acquired the then-condemned building in hopes of renovating it, but the interior had been severely damaged by a fire and had deteriorated due to weather. The building was gutted, leaving the front facade and two expose

2018 Best Infill Building Project Brevard , NC Watch Video HERE! The corner of South Broad Street and East Jordan Street in downtown Brevard was a vacant lot that once housed a former gas station. The building was demolished twenty years ago and the lot had occasionally been used since for parking. With growing demand for additional square footage in downtown, Mike Domokur purchased the lot with plans to construct a four-story building, adding 21,000 square feet of resid

2018 Best Adaptive Reuse Project Wake Forest , NC Watch Video HERE! Amy and Brian Burkhardt purchased a 1940s one-story building located at 153 White Street in 2017 The building had served as a barber shop for more than fifty years. The Burkhardts renovated the building to house “Unwined on White,” an upscale wine and craft beer lounge, and a yoga studio. Their primary goal was to return the front façade to its original appearance. The interior renovation allowed for r

2018 Best Adaptive Reuse Project Shelby , NC Watch Video HERE! A local couple, Cliff and Angela Franklin, purchased the Historic Campbell building, located at 112 North Lafayette Street, which had been vacant for over a decade. They envisioned living on the top floor, creating a new event venue on the second floor, and securing a long-term tenant for the first floor of the 26,000 square foot building. Uptown Shelby Association connected the owners with Stacy and Travis W

2018 Best Adaptive Reuse Project Goldsboro , NC 109 East Ash Street was the site of a WPA project to build the Goldsboro Fire Department Headquarters in 1939. The historic building served the City until 1976. Forty years and numerous owners later, in 2016, David and Bethany Perry purchased the building and brought in David Maurer and Billy Brock to complete the design through the construction of the historic tax credit rehabilitation of the building . The 12,000 square

2018 Best Adaptive Reuse Project Fuquay- Varina , NC 128 South Fuquay Avenue served as the Town of Fuquay-Varina fire department for more than thirty years, followed by a variety of businesses until 2017. Anthony Adams purchased the building and partnered with Ben and Alex Somerville with the dream of opening a coffee shop. Cultivate Coffee is Fuquay-Varina’s first all-inclusive coffee shop with roasting capabilities, and it offers a coffee subscription service. The busi

2018 Best Economic Development Incentive Marion, NC Seeking to reverse the decline in local entrepreneurs and new small business start-ups, the Marion Business Association, the City of Marion, the McDowell Chamber of Commerce, and the McDowell Technical Community College Small Business Center initially partnered in 2016 to create the Growing Entrepreneurs Marion, or GEM program. Using the REAL Entrepreneurship curriculum, GEM offers an eight-class training program to tea

2018 Best Image-Building Campaign Lenoir, NC The TOGETHER WE CREATE Downtown Lenoir story-brand and comprehensive image-building campaign took a year to complete and required countless hours by a dedicated volunteer branding team. By telling the stories of entrepreneurs and innovators who embody downtown’s spirit of creativity and entrepreneurship, the campaign is aimed at attracting a target audience of like-minded people with goals of opening a business and investing in

2018 Best Retail Promotion Morganton, NC The F.A.B. Crawl, which stands for Food. Arts. Brews., was developed in the spring of 2018 to showcase downtown Morganton businesses. Initially discussed as a brewery crawl, it was decided that including restaurants and art-based businesses would support and expand the downtown economic development strategy that all of downtown is an arts incubator. Established as a quarterly event, the intent is to incentivize residents and v

2018 Best Downtown Special Event or Event Series Mocksville, NC Twas the Night Before Bed Race is a fun, wacky, and creative family-friendly event held on the third Friday in November each year in historic downtown Mocksville. Now in its sixth year, participating teams create beds according to specifications provided in the entry packet. Each team develops its own theme for the bed, such as running chickens, the Minions, or Hawaiian surfers. The racers compete in he

2018 Best Downtown Special Event or Event Series Lenoir, NC Lenoir’s Carolina Tattoo and Arts Gathering is special event that is designed to attract the creative class in an authentic and overwhelmingly creative way. The furniture industry initially brought the creative class to Lenoir, and now it is done through data centers such as Google. Lenoir’s new brand, “TOGETHER WE CREATE,” and the Tattoo and Arts Gathering illustrate Lenoir’s “WE CREATE” spirit. The Gathering

2018 Best Volunteer Recruitment, Training and Recognition Lenoir, NC The heart of any dynamic Main Street program is its people. Their enthusiasm should be fueled by training and guided by objectives. Lenoir’s “Be a Part of What Makes This Work” volunteer training and recognition program equips its dedicated people with the concepts and principles of the Main Street America Approach. The four-point approach, volunteer opportunities, and responsibilities are present