Clarkesville Main Street received the Downtown Excellence-Organization of the Year award from the Georgia Downtown Conference. Pictured (l-r): Danny Bivins, Carl Vinson Institute of Government, Stephanie Aylworth (GDA Board President), Mary Beth Horton, Mayor Barrie Aycock, Deborah Kilgore. (PHOTO/GDA)
It’s been two years since fire gutted portions of the Clarkesville Square. Now the Clarkesville Main Street Program is being recognized for how it responded in the aftermath.
During the annual Awards Ceremony of the Georgia Downtown Conference, the Clarkesville Main Street Program was presented the Downtown Excellence-Organization of the Year award for the Main Street Master Plan, developed after the fire in 2014.
The ceremony was held March 9th at the Historic Morton Theatre in Athens.
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Clarkesville Mayor Barrie Aycock attended the ceremony and says she’s thrilled by the honor. “I think the main reason we received the award was that our Main Street organization has used this plan as the basis for our Program of Work this year, and has already completed several of the projects outlined in the plan.” Aycock adds, “Rather than putting it on a shelf, which is the fate of many of these documents, we are using it as a working plan to guide us in making Clarkesville a better place to live, work and play.”
The Downtown Master Plan was unveiled in February of 2015. It was the culmination of a six month long collaborative effort by the City of Clarkesville, Clarkesville Main Street and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at UGA.
Clarkesville Downtown Master Plan Presentation
As the premier event on downtown development and historic preservation in the state, the Georgia Downtown Conference promotes downtown and economic development through public awareness, governmental relations and education.
With over 50 applications received, competition for this year’s awards was fierce but a few outstanding projects stood out among the nominations. The community involvement and collaboration to develop the plan for downtown was impressive and this project was selected as the top entry in this category.
