The city of Cornelia and a husband and wife entrepreneurial team are being recognized for their innovative partnership in developing a favorite local hangout. The Georgia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus (GACVB) and Georgia Trend magazine awarded a TravelBlazer award to Cornelia for Fenders Alley. The outdoor dining and event venue on Irvin Street is the result of a partnership between the city and Fenders owners Jay and Melissa Reeder.
The TravelBlazer award recognizes the role partnerships play in developing tourist destinations. Cornelia is one of only five cities in the state with collaborative projects being honored this year. The award spotlights how, in just two short years, Fenders Alley has become a popular destination for locals and tourists.
“The visitor has so many different interests across market segments. We know the traveler wants unique experiences and they want to enjoy a destination the way a local does,” says GACVB Executive Director Jay Markwalter.
A successful partnership
Fenders Alley opened for special events in late 2020 and full-time in the spring of 2021. The Reeders built the Alley as an extension of Fenders Diner – a ’50s-style diner the couple bought from Bradley and Sherry Cook. The Cooks closed the restaurant and put it up for sale early in the pandemic.
“I knew it would be a draw and a great asset to the community,” Jay Reeder told Georgia Trend. “With the pandemic, without any idea of how long it would last, having an outdoor dining space was a critical part of designing the restaurant.”
The Reeders leased and eventually bought the parking lot next to the diner from the Cornelia Downtown Development Authority. They turned the parking lot into an outdoor gathering space and, as part of the arrangement, developed an adjacent public green space.
Fenders Alley features an outdoor seating area, bar, giant video wall for sporting events, concert quality sound system, and stage. Jay Reeder says they designed it to be “an outdoor destination with great food and drinks where people come to just hang out.”
Fenders Alley is now a central part of Cornelia’s entertainment district. The city council established the district in 2019 to allow for open containers and sidewalk cafes in a designated area.
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‘Quite an honor’
In 2021, the Georgia Downtown Association recognized the public/private partnership that developed Fenders Alley with a statewide “Best Placemaking” award.
“It’s humbling and an honor to be told that out of all the hospitality venues in the State of Georgia, Fenders Alley, in Cornelia Georgia, has been recognized as one of the best by two different state-wide organizations in our first two years of operation,” Reeder tells Now Habersham.
“It’s quite an honor to be the recipient of this award so soon after the opening of Fenders Alley,” adds Cornelia Community Development Director Jessie Owensby. “Our partnership with the Reeder family has been creative and innovative, and I think that people around the state are intrigued by what we’ve been able to achieve through collaboration and determination.”
The four other Georgia locales to receive 2022 TravelBlazer awards are Savannah, Forsyth, Jackson, and Thomasville. Those cities range in population from 4,000 to 150,000. Cornelia is the second smallest among them. Cornelia is also the only city in North Georgia to receive this year’s TravelBlazer award; the other recipients are located in central or south Georgia.
“The success of our businesses equals success in our community, and that is the goal. It’s not really about the awards; it’s what we did to earn them,” says Owensby, who has received other accolades and awards during her time with the city. She credits three guiding principles for the city’s success. “It’s innovation – not saying ‘no,’ just saying ‘how’; collaboration – willingness to work with many different groups of people to achieve a common goal; and dedication to our small business owners and our small business owners to us.”
That collaborative approach continues to fuel the economic engine of Habersham County’s largest city. And for entrepreneurs like the Reeders, it’s an approach that is working.
The Reeders, who also own Community Brew & Tap steakhouse in Cornelia and an Alpaca farm and retail shop in Clarkesville, are actively working on rehabilitating additional office and retail space in downtown Cornelia. And, Jay Reeder says, they’re starting to plan a potential new restaurant in Clarkesville.
