2025 Main Street Awards
- Excellence in Planning and Public Space – Athens Farmers Market at Doug Gates Park Renovation. Athens Main Street received recognition for the transformational $800,000 revitalization of the Athens Farmers Market at Doug Gates Park. This multi-phase project expanded vendor space, improved accessibility with ADA-compliant walkways, introduced the county’s first porous asphalt for watershed protection, and added vibrant public art and landscaping. The marquee feature, a new entertainment and education pavilion with a performance stage and youth programming space, has already become a hub for community gatherings. By blending functionality, sustainability, and creativity, the project not only enhanced access to fresh food and supported small businesses but also created a welcoming public space that reflects Athens’ growth and strengthens the heart of downtown.
- Excellence in Volunteer Development – Athens Main Street Hype Team. Designed to expand volunteer engagement and strengthen community connection, the Hype Team combines hospitality with digital storytelling. Volunteers complete orientation in Main Street education, social media best practices, and event hospitality, then commit to serving at least four events annually while creating original content to promote downtown. With 25 diverse members, the Hype Team has added energy and visibility to events like Fridays After Five, broadened Athens Main Street’s digital reach, and given passionate community members a meaningful way to give back.
- Excellence in Business Development – Business Interruption Grants – Athens Main Street was honored for its swift and impactful response to the EF-1 tornado that struck downtown on December 28, 2024. Recognizing the severe financial strain on local businesses, the Business Storm Relief Fund sought to provide meaningful business interruption grants. Through the generosity of community-minded companies and more than 60 individual donors, $21,250 was raised, which was distributed in full to four downtown businesses most affected by the storm.
- Hero Award – City of Athens Public Works – The City of Athens Public Works was chosen for their tireless support, from significant in-kind contributions to downtown projects, to keeping events spotless, to responding first in times of crisis, all of which show their deep commitment to our community. Public Works is truly the backbone of a vibrant, safe, and thriving downtown Athens.
Other Awards…
2024 Excellence in Business Development – Restaurant Boom – In 2019, the Athens Main Street Board designated adding more restaurants downtown as its top priority. This goal aligned with the City of Athens 2040 Comprehensive Master Plan, Main Street Alabama’s Board Refresh Research, and Real Estate Redevelopment findings, all identifying a significant leakage of restaurant business to surrounding counties. After four years of efforts to improve the business environment, the downtown has seen the opening of five independent upscale restaurants since October 2023.
2024 Excellence in Promotion – Fridays After Five 2.0 – Fridays After Five takes place outside the Limestone County Courthouse in the heart of Athens’ Main Street District. This event draws over 4,000 attendees to enjoy free live entertainment, extended shopping hours, and delicious food from local restaurants and food trucks on the last Friday of April, May, June, and July.
2024 Excellent in Fundraising – Investor Recognition – Athens Main Street wanted to increase the visibility of supporters and encourage others to become supporters, increase fundraising dollars, and promote business at the same time. The program has seen a 100% increase in business investors and a 30% increase in stakeholders.
2024 Excellence in Building Design – Old Black Bear Brewing Company decided to expand its brewing operation and open a second location in Athens, the first for the community. They purchased an abandoned, dilapidated warehouse off the downtown square and hired a local architecture firm, AMBL Studios, to solidify their dreams for the space.
2024 Reinvestment Award – The awards were given in recognition of Main Street Alabama programs that have reached major milestones in their district revitalization efforts. Economic impact numbers reported monthly by each local program were used in the calculation of this recognition. Athens Main Street’s district reinvestment of over $40 million was recognized.
2024 Athens Main Street Hero Award – Tiffany Pack – “In addition to contributing her time and considerable marketing talent as a Promotion Committee member, Tiffany and Dream Key Real Estate sponsored several of our events, making it possible to promote our retailers widely and uniquely feature our restaurants,” said Athens Main Street Promotions Committee Chair Michelle Williamson
2023 Limestone County Nonprofit of the Year named by the Athens Limestone County Chamber of Commerce
2023 Excellence in Marketing – Athens Main Street Brand Ambassadors – The Athens Main Street brand ambassadors, led by Devin Simmons and Blake Williams, have spent the year capturing unique and authentic experiences downtown. Through their efforts, they showcased merchants, restaurants, and events and suggested unique experiences only downtown insiders know about. The ambassadors comprise high school students, parents, young professionals, and business owners. Also, one of the keys to the program is that an ambassador represents all areas of Limestone County.
2023 Excellence in Business Promotion – Inaugural Athens Main Street Boutique Crawl – 18 downtown Athens clothing and gift boutique owners opened their doors to welcome patrons into their shops for major specials and sweet surprises during the inaugural Athens Main Street Boutique Crawl. The clothing boutiques had new Spring clothing lines out and the gift boutiques had new items to refresh homes after the long winter. For each purchase over $20 made the day of the Boutique Crawl, patrons could enter a chance to win a $500 Shopping Spree downtown sponsored by Tiffany Pack and Dream Key Real Estate. The link to enter was created with SurveyMonkey and a QR Code. Photos of sales receipts were uploaded, and the total was just over $30,000 in sales for one day!
2023 Excellence in Building Design (non-historic) – Market & Monroe – Market & Monroe is an adaptive reuse project in downtown Athens that revitalized a long-abandoned pool hall into a premiere event venue. Danny and Sandra Whitfield were among the first movers to embrace the revitalization of this neglected downtown building in quite some time. Market data produced by the Athens 2040 comprehensive plan showed that the downtown area is primed for such a venture, and the late 1800s structure is now one of the first to receive such treatment. The owners worked with a local architecture firm, AMBL Studios, to rehab the building into a modernized event venue. They underwent a complete gut rehab of the structure and space and a complete teardown and restoration of the storefront façade to address the failing structural members and restore the original historic detailing that had long been covered up. Acquisition, design, and construction put the total cost of this project at approximately $1 million.
2023 Reinvestment Award – The awards were given in recognition of Main Street Alabama programs that have reached major milestones in their district revitalization efforts. Athens Main Street’s economic impact numbers reported monthly were used to calculate this recognition. Athens Main Street’s district reinvestment of over $30 million was recognized.
2023 Athens Main Street Hero Award – Michelle Williamson – “Michelle Williamson embodies the quote “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” She is the Marketing & Community Relations Director of one of the busiest and most well-respected engineering firms. In addition, she and her husband own and operate a logistics company. As a volunteer, there is no one who gives more of her time than Michelle. She is a long-time Athens Main Street Board Member, chairs the Promotion Committee, and volunteers for every event. She also plays key roles in over a dozen or more other non-profit activities in the community.”
2022 Excellence in Placemaking – A blighted alley in the heart of downtown Athens was transformed into Merchants Alley where people can relax, listen to live musical performances, and enjoy ever-changing art. A celebration of music through art, the alley features five different art components; the Playing the Sound of the Wind mural pays homage to the annual Tennessee Valley Fiddler’s Convention. Across the alley is a portrait of Brittany Howard, a Limestone County native and Grammy winner. Other components include murals to be discovered behind doors painted by local college students, selfie spots, and children’s art windows. Athens Main Street’s Design Committee members were the recipients of this award. The committee included Tere Richardson, Trisha Black, Denise Williams, Brad Mallette, and Gary Van Wagnen.
2022 Excellence in Design – The Optimal Geo Renovation was an adaptive reuse project that converted a set of historic 1930s downtown buildings into a modern commercial workspace for a growing Downtown Athens business. The project enhanced the buildings’ overall performance, quality, & aesthetics by opening up the space, creating multiple indoor/outdoor common areas, restoring original openings to bring natural light deep into the space, bringing the site & buildings up to current code & energy performance standards, and thoroughly modernized the sites’ utilities. AMBL Studios’ Brad Mallette was the recipient of this award.
2022 Excellence in Promotion – Merchants Alley Happy Hour Music Series occurs every Friday night, April 1 to July 29, 2022, and September 2 to November 18 in the newly renovated alleyway on Jefferson Street from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. This gives patrons a great start to their weekend. Each Friday, there is a new performer – allowing for various musical acts. Patrons are encouraged to come early and shop at local merchants and grab a drink in an Entertainment District cup to enjoy. At the same time, you listen to great local music and then stay downtown for a fantastic dinner at one of our local restaurants. Athens Main Street’s Promotion Committee was the recipient of this award. The committee included the Event Chair, Jen Baxter, Andrew Dollar, Blake Williams, Devin Simmons, Michelle Williamson, Letisha Brinkley, Amy Higginbotham, and Tere Richardson.
2022 Excellence in Marketing – Downtown with Devin Videos. The Downtown with Devin marketing effort was formed during an Athens Main Street Promotions Committee meeting. Devin Simmons serves on the committee, and we wanted to highlight his passion and energy for our downtown district. The video series aimed to attract a younger, diverse audience to historic downtown Athens to shop and dine. Blake Williams produced the videos featuring Devin Simmons.
2022 Main Street Hero Award – Doug Gates passed away on July 1, 2022. He was a tireless community servant. He served as an Athens Main Street Board Member for over ten years. Doug had a vision of what he wanted his beloved downtown to look like, and that was a bustling, thriving, fun place to eat, shop, work, and play. He worked for years to help make that happen, contributing his business sense and smarts to many downtown projects through Athens Main Street.
2021 Excellence in Public/Private Partnership – Downtown Outdoor Dining: Athens Main Street, the City of Athens, the Limestone County Commission, and Optimal Geo partnered to greatly increase outdoor dining in downtown Athens amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Given it became extremely popular, all four worked together to create a permanent, attractive, uniform look. This partnership provided restaurants with extra capacity when they needed it most. It also changed the look of downtown, making it more vibrant and active.
2021 Excellence in Economic Impact – The Square Arts & Entertainment District: Athens Main Street advocated for an entertainment district in downtown Athens with the Mayor, City Council, and downtown stakeholders. The goals for the district included drawing more foot traffic to downtown and increasing attendance at events. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, a third important goal surfaced, providing restaurants with a mechanism to recoup profits from the loss of alcohol sales due to patrons’ hesitancy to return to indoor dining. These goals, as well as proven data on increased property values in entertainment districts, made a convincing case for adoption.
2021 Excellence in Promotion – Brittany Howard Mural Live Art Event: This event was held downtown during Athens Main Street’s first Fridays After Five in May. Street Artist, ARCY, was commissioned to paint a tribute mural of Grammy award-winning, singer-songwriter Brittany Howard. Within six hours the mural was complete and ready to hang in Merchants Alley, upon completion of the renovation. The goal of this event was to heighten interest in the Merchants Alley Renovation Project, increase patrons for Fridays After Five & Singing on the Square, and increase reach to the 18-to-30-year-old demographic. The district retailers ran specials and stayed open late to provide shopping and browsing opportunities. Local restaurants ramped up staff in support of the increased crowds. A district architectural firm, AMBL Studios donated $2,000 to sponsor ARCY’s artist fee. A local real estate developer donated time to create the mural’s frame. Another local company donated time and trailer transportation to and from storage to the site on the Courthouse lawn for the Live Event. Blake Williams Communications oversaw promoting the live art event and Samuel Barker with Night Fish Productions produced a time-lapse video to document this historic event which can be viewed on the Athens Main Street YouTube channel.
2021 Peak Award for “Organization of the year” by Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourism Association
2020 Main Street Hero Brad Mallette: Mr. Mallette is a hardworking architect, a talented musician, and a passionate community volunteer. He comes to Athens via Los Angeles, where he gained a wealth of experience in commercial historic renovations. He is a member of the Athens Main Street Board of Directors, a member of the Merchants Alley Design team, serves on the City of Athens Planning Commission, and is an integral contributor to the Pryor Park Project.
2020 Excellence in Historic Preservation: The 1871 Limestone County Bell Restoration project restored the brass bell, that for more than 100 years, rang out from the dome atop the Limestone County Courthouse hourly to mark time for residents or alert them to important news and events. The bell was found tucked away in the attic of the courthouse during recent renovations where it had lain for the past 40 years. The bell hangs from the original red oak beams that held it in place in 1871. Funds were raised by the Limestone County Commission, Limestone County Historical Society, Athens-Limestone County Tourism Association, and the Frederick Martin family. Recently the bell house, which is home to the 1871 courthouse bell, and memorial benches were dedicated in honor of the late Judge David Lee Rosenau Jr. Rosenau remains the longest-serving judge in Limestone County history.
2020 Excellence in Fundraising: Athens Main Street saw the need to build a program of ongoing support at a higher level than basic business memberships. In addition, sought to solidify a base of influential advocates within the community. Over the last two years, over $25,000 was raised through the Athens Main Street Stakeholder Program. Passionate advocacy for Downtown and for Athens Main Street was one of the important outcomes of the Stakeholder Program. Additionally, Athens Main Street gained two excellent Board Members and a number of active committee members, all from the ranks of our Stakeholders.
2020 Community Award – Main Street Hero: Probably some of the biggest Downtown advocates in our community, the Black family contribute much of their time and talents to the betterment of our Main Street District. Shane Black has served as the Athens Main Street Board President for the past three years and as an active board member for a number of years prior, Trisha Black was the Director of the Spirit of Athens (which later became Athens Main Street) for eight years. Gayle Black (Shane’s Mother) serves as a Design Committee member with Athens Main Street and on the Athens Limestone Beautification Board. Service to our community is a Family Tradition in every sense of the term.
2019 Main Street Alabama Excellence in Planning and Public Space presented to the City of Athens in the Streetscape Improvements to the Square. The project included a number of improvements to the Square of Downtown Athens. Pedestrian safety and handicap accessibility were greatly improved through the addition of bulb-outs reducing the amount of time required to walk across traffic, ADA compliance sidewalk ramps and bumps, as well as new historically appropriate lamp posts that provide energy-efficient lighting for pedestrians. Additionally, the project included electrical boxes on all four corners of the Courthouse to provide power to festivals and events, green space was added to the sidewalks thru planting grass and shade trees.
2019 Main Street Alabama Excellence in Placemaking presented to Athens City Schools Pop-Up Park. An Athens City Schools program, housed in a historic building in our downtown, took the alley on as a part of their Project Based Learning curriculum during the Fall. Students designed a Fall themed backdrop to address the negatives of the space and highlight the positives. They installed string lights to make the space welcoming at night, sourced chairs to invite people to linger.
2019 Main Street Alabama Excellence in Building Design presented to building owner Wayne Kuykendall with the complete interior and exterior renovation of 109 South Marion Street. The project was begun in 2017 and conducted over two years. The project culminated with the expansion of Willow Cottage Antiques to the upstairs and rear of the building in June 2018.
2019 Main Street Alabama Excellence in Public and Private Partnerships presented to the Limestone County Commission for the several partnerships of public use of their properties but also work with organizations to provide improvements that enhance the experiences of Downtown.
2019 Main Street Alabama Community Award: Main Street Hero presented to Blake Williams. Blake has been a volunteer with Athens Main Street as our social media guru for over three years. Blake constantly challenges us to be thinking and planning for the next promotion activity.
2018 Main Street Alabama Excellence in Architectural Design Award presented to the Limestone County Archives.
2018 Main Street Alabama Excellence in Historic Preservation Award Excellence in Historic Preservation presented to The Judge James Horton Monument Committee.
2018 Main Street Alabama Community Award – Clements High School Key Club for volunteering at over 50+ Athens, Huntsville and Rogersville events, including events that support their high school and local elementary school.
2017 Main Street Alabama Excellence in Architectural Design – First Presbyterian Church won for the renovation of the former Goodyear store, circa 1953, into the Revival building on Washington Street.
2017 Main Street Alabama Excellence in Historic Preservation – The Limestone County Courthouse, circa 1918, won for the restoration project that addressed growth and safety needs while maintaining historic integrity.
2017 Main Street Alabama Excellence in Planning and Public Space Award – The Athens Street Department won for its pedestrian railroad crossing on Market Street where steps and a handicap accessible ramp were added.
2017 Main Street Alabama Community Award – The Athens Mayor’s Youth Commission won for engaging high school students in civic and community service programs.
2016 Main Street Alabama “Excellence in Fundraising” for the event A High Cotton Homecoming with Roger Murrah and Friends
2016 Main Street Alabama “Community Award” for Athens-Limestone Community Association
2016 Main Street Alabama “Excellence in Business Promotions” for Fridays After Five
2016 Main Street Alabama “Excellence in Public/Private Partnerships” for projects done with Lowe’s of Athens
2016 Main Street Alabama “Excellence in Architectural Design” for the City of Athens and its new City Hall
2015 Peak Award for “Organization of the year” by Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourism Association
2014 Main Street Alabama “Excellence in Promotion” for Athens Saturday Market
Received State Certification for Athens Saturday Market in 2014
2014 Main Street Alabama “Excellence in Fundraising” for Dinner in the Orchard event featuring Alabama Shakes
2014 Main Street Alabama “Excellence in Volunteer Development”
2014 Main Street Alabama “Excellence in Private/Public Partnerships” for work with H.C. Blake on High Cotton Arts
2014 Main Street Alabama “Excellence in Business Promotion” for Sippin’ Cider
2014 SOA Director, Trisha Black, Main Street Alabama Leadership Award
2013 Main Street Alabama “Excellence in Promotion” for Athens Grease Festival
2013 Main Street Alabama “Excellence in Public/Private Partnerships” for collaboration on downtown improvement projects with Athens Rotary
2013 Main Street Alabama “Excellence in Promotion” for Athens Grease Festival
2012 Athens Grease Festival Named “one of Alabama’s oddest festivals” by al.com
