By SHERRY DIGMON
News Publisher
Atmore entities received five awards at the Main Street Alabama tenth annual Awards of Excellence banquet Thursday, August 17, in Huntsville, with more than 150 community leaders attending.
The program recognized winners in the categories of Adaptive Reuse, Preservation, Historic Rehabilitation, Fundraising, Public / Private Partnerships, Business Development, Economic Impact, Promotion, Business Promotion, Marketing, Tourism, Volunteer Development, Placemaking, Design Development, Non-Historic Building Design, Reinvestment, and Planning & Public Space.
Main Street Alabama’s President and State Coordinator Mary Helmer Wirth and Assistant State Coordinator Trisha Black recognized projects and individuals who made significant contributions to their communities. Shinora Redmond, Main Street Atmore executive director, and Brandon Beachy, with Main Street Atmore, were on hand to honor the Atmore recipients.
Atmore entities received the following Awards of Excellence:
- Excellence In Fundraising – Celebrity Waiter; award accepted by Brandy Giger, coordinator of the event for several years
- Excellence in Public / Private Partnership – American Legion Pollinator Garden; award accepted by American Legion Post 90 Adjutant Paul Chason
- Excellence in Historic Rehabilitation – Pride of Atmore “Save the Strand” Project; award accepted by Foster Kizer, former Pride executive director, and Susan Hayes, board member
- Excellence in Business Development – Façade Incentive Program – Main Street Atmore; award accepted by Shinora Redmond and Brandon Beachy
- Excellence in Reinvestment – the cities of Atmore, Scottsboro, and Elba were honored in this category. More than $1 million was invested in Atmore, not including the Strand renovation.
Local Main Street programs also selected a Main Street Hero that honored an individual, business or organization that made an outstanding contribution to their program and was recognized at the Toast to Heroes Reception sponsored by Regions Bank prior to the banquet.
Atmore Hero was David’s Catfish House – Terrence Breckenridge.
The event was sponsored by Alabama Municipal Electric Authority and Alfa Companies.
Main Street Alabama is a non-profit organization focusing on bringing jobs, dollars and people back to Alabama’s historic communities. Economic development is at the heart of their efforts to revitalize downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts.