Becoming A Main Street City (again)

In 1997, the City of Monticello was designated an accredited Better Hometown city by the state of Georgia’s Department of Community Affairs.

The focus of the program was to promote the state’s cities and small towns as noteworthy tourist destinations aimed at increasing tourism dollars for the state and for the local communities.

Monticello’s program was highly successful and became the ‘poster child’ of what a small town could do for itself, all by itself, to increase the amount of tourist dollars coming into the community.

Some of the projects that helped put us on the map included the Market Festival on the Square; the Bicentennial Celebration; restoration of the Bearlax Mural; the Hot Air Balloon & Jazz Fest; the Santa & Mrs. Claus Children’s Christmas Parade; the My Cousin Vinny bus tours; The Brown Bag Lunch Concerts; the Catfish ‘n Blues Fest; the Deer Stand Derby and many others.

The program hosted touring groups that included several Chinese delegations interested in visiting our farms; Simply Southern Bus Tours as well as Better Hometown/Mainstreet Regional Meetings and Historic Commission Conferences.

Better Hometown was also instrumental in pulling together a coalition that included the City of Monticello, Downtown Development Authority, Chamber of Commerce and the Department of Community Affairs in the creation of The Red Clay Galleria & Café, a downtown antique shopping center and restaurant.

What made all of this work? The program had determined creative, bold leadership and savvy supporters who knew how to capture the many grants available to towns willing to use what they had to make something appealing and attractive to others as well as everybody in the community.

At the height of the program there were no empty buildings on the Square. The Red Clay Galleria was the meeting place for friends and family needing a mid point to gather whether traveling North, West, East or South.

I took you on that little memory journey because it is time for a “revival.” We must change (again) our image and the look of our downtown Square. We must become vibrant and inviting (again). I applaud our steadfast merchants who have truly weathered the storm and remained in place to do what they can to service the community.

We have another chance to get the billion dollar tourism industry working with us to get our piece of the action. Covington is cashing in, and they’re just right up the street….

Let’s pull together as a community and accept and make the changes we need to so that we can survive and grow.

All of the programs through the Department of Community Affairs are now called MainStreet Programs. I have been asked to assist in getting us back on track and I have accepted the challenge. I’ll drive if all of you will help with the sight seeing.

There are a host of projects I know we can do to get started without breaking the bank and I will share them with you as we move ahead in our mission to give life to the Monticello Mainstreet Program. Let’s do it!