Photo: Brett Jenkins (left) and Syndee Isbell (right) display the first-place plaque for the Downtown Gadsden, Inc., events Shamrockin’ With My Gnomies and St. Patrick’s Pub Crawl in the Excellence in Business Promotion category.(Courtesy of DGI)
09-01-2022
Downtown Gadsden, Inc., received several awards during Main Street Alabama’s ninth annual Awards of Excellence banquet on August 18 in Opelika.
Main Street Alabama President and State Coordinator Mary Helmer Wirth and Assistant State Coordinator Trisha Black honored projects and individuals that made significant impacts in their respective communities.
Selected as winners from Downtown Gadsden, Inc. nominations were Syndee Isbell in the Main Street Hero category, Shamrockin’ With My Gnomies and St. Patrick’s Pub Crawl in the Excellence in Business Promotion category; Hometown Hospitality with Alabama Extension team in the Excellence in Public/Private Partnerships category; Plaid Friday in the Excellence in Promotion category; and Times Square on Locust in the Excellence in Adaptive Reuse category.
“On behalf of our Alabama Extension team, we are incredibly honored and humbled to be recognized by Alabama Main Street for this exciting project,” said Etowah County Extension Coordinator and DGI Board member Eric Wright. “Alabama Extension is grateful to have partners such as Downtown Gadsden, Inc., a Main Street program. Without partnerships with great organizations like these, it would be much more difficult for the extension to make the kinds of positive impacts we strive to achieve through our work.”
The Awards of Excellence Banquet is a highlight of LAB, a three-day conference that bolsters the efforts of communities participating in the nationally acclaimed Main Street program or those communities interested in district revitalization. Alabama Municipal Electric Authority sponsored the event.
“These local Main Street programs represent small rural cities as well as larger, more urban communities,” said Wirth. “The diversity of these communities makes each one unique, each are working within their own capacity to improve, reinvigorate and revitalize their downtown or neighborhood commercial districts. We were inspired by local success stories and by the businesses, organizations and individuals who are dedicated to making their communities the best they can be.”