We talked to a local coffee house today to set up a series of singer/songwriter events for this coming spring and summer. We'll do one event a month and have our songwriter friends join us.
Jasper is the county seat. Over the years, businesses in the downtown area fled to be closer to the highway...to the mall.
But the downtown merchants who stayed have worked for years to revitalize the area. Those efforts were in vain...until a few years ago. The city put a lot of focus on main street and all of a sudden those efforts are paying off. Seventeen businesses opened downtown this past year. Microbreweries, restaurants, retail and a coffee house all opened for business.
Now when you go downtown it's harder to find a parking place. You can sit in the courthouse square and hear music on Friday and Saturday evenings. You can hear the clatter of dishes and silverware and smell pizza and fresh seafood. It's an exciting time here. And believe me, we are way overdue.
We'll start our events in April and they'll run through August. We are cranked.
After we talked to the owner of the coffee house, we headed over to the Bankhead House for the opening reception for the Smithsonian Waterways exhibit. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I had some pictures taken of the Sipsey Forks that they wanted to use in the displays.
When we got there at 2 p.m. the place was packed. We'll have to go back at a later time to have a chance to look at all the interactive elements of the display.
I was flattered they asked me to be a part of this event. Jilda snapped a picture of me by one of my photographs.
I hope your Friday has been a good one.
Jasper is the county seat. Over the years, businesses in the downtown area fled to be closer to the highway...to the mall.
But the downtown merchants who stayed have worked for years to revitalize the area. Those efforts were in vain...until a few years ago. The city put a lot of focus on main street and all of a sudden those efforts are paying off. Seventeen businesses opened downtown this past year. Microbreweries, restaurants, retail and a coffee house all opened for business.
Now when you go downtown it's harder to find a parking place. You can sit in the courthouse square and hear music on Friday and Saturday evenings. You can hear the clatter of dishes and silverware and smell pizza and fresh seafood. It's an exciting time here. And believe me, we are way overdue.
We'll start our events in April and they'll run through August. We are cranked.
After we talked to the owner of the coffee house, we headed over to the Bankhead House for the opening reception for the Smithsonian Waterways exhibit. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I had some pictures taken of the Sipsey Forks that they wanted to use in the displays.
When we got there at 2 p.m. the place was packed. We'll have to go back at a later time to have a chance to look at all the interactive elements of the display.
I was flattered they asked me to be a part of this event. Jilda snapped a picture of me by one of my photographs.
I hope your Friday has been a good one.
Happy dances.
ReplyDeleteSounds great. Our little town also 'reopened' but ours is mostly bars. We have become a bedroom for Charlotte.
ReplyDeleteBut it is still good to see cars parked so thick it is hard to find a parking place.
Glad to hear you and Jilda will have another outlet to display your talents.
It's taking some time for small towns to find their own niche after losing business to the big malls. Now the malls are in trouble with the on-line business, while small towns are coming back.
ReplyDeleteOur little town has gone down and down and little revitalization has been made. It seems worse all the time. The only thing drawing people at this time is that it is our county seat. It would be wonderful to see it comeback like yours has. I love the picture of the creek. Very nice to have your work displayed
ReplyDeleteIt's always nice to be invited to display your art....lovely photo by the way! Albuquerque had a nice area close to downtown that was ruined this past year by the ART project, which isn't art at all but short for Albuquerque rapid transit...wherein all the trees and other greenery were removed for these stupid buses when we already have bus transportation on Central. Some of my favorite businesses in the area closed down due to the long construction period. I'm glad to hear your town did it right.....
ReplyDeleteWhat a heady feeling, seeing your photo on display! Jasper's revitalization sounds nice, indeed. I'm gonna have to put that courthouse square on my List.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your photos being used! You take great pics. Our downtown has been working hard to come back to life also. We have some new businesses and a restaurant/brewery just opened last month. Hopefully it will be a trend all over small town America!
ReplyDelete