Mount Airy recently was redesignated as an active Main Street community, part of the national Main Street Program that is administered by the N.C. 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 Office of Urban Development Director Liz Parham.
Mount Airy was designated as a N.C. Main Street community in 1988. After just a few years, however, the city decided to implement its own unique “Mayberry” economic development strategy and discontinue its 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. N.C. 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.