IGH, NC -- Mount Airy has recently been redesignated as an active Main Street community, part of the national Main Street Program that is administered by the NC Department of Commerce’s Office of Urban Development.
“The North Carolina Main Street Center staff is looking forward to working with the Mount Airy leadership to help them develop a comprehensive Main Street program that will improve the commercial district and attract increased foot traffic to downtown,” said Liz Parham, director of the Office of Urban Development.
Mount Airy was designated as a North Carolina Main Street community in 1988. After just a few years, however, the city decided to implement their own unique “Mayberry” economic development strategy and discontinue their participation in the Main Street program. With shifts in the economy and a desire to pursue a broader economic strategy that will carry Mount Airy into the next decade, the city recently applied for Main Street reinstatement.
With Mount Airy’s redesignation, there are 59 active Main Street communities and 39 active Small Town Main Street communities in North Carolina that are successfully following the principles of the National Main Street Center’s Four-Point Approach® to downtown revitalization. North Carolina Main Street communities have experienced $1.9 billion in public and private investment and a net gain of more than 17,000 jobs since the inception of the program in 1980.