News

Downtown Hendersonville honored as a 'Great Main Street'

Professional planners recognized Hendersonville for its 'Great Main Street' [CONTRIBUTED PHOTO]

By Bill Moss, Published: May 19, 2014

The North Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association has recognized downtown Hendersonville as a "Great Main Street" in the professionals' category of the 2014 Great Places in North Carolina awards program.

Hendersonville's nomination highlighted the many community events, historic quality and vibrancy of Main Street. It was the combination of existing vitality and proactive dedication of the town and community that led the Expert Panel to select Hendersonville's Main Street as a 2014 Great Main Street, the city said in a news release.

The awards are designed to help celebrate the great communities throughout the state and were given in both Professionals' and People's Choice categories. The professionals' category includes a detailed nomination process that requires in-depth descriptions of the work and partnerships that went into creating the main street. Every great main street has a story and this contest allows those involved to tell it.

"All of these 'Great Main Streets' are vibrant centers of commerce and community," said Ben Hitchings, president of APA-NC. "Through this program, we celebrate great places in our state and the local partnerships that have made these main streets a focal point for community life."

An expert panel selected three other North Carolina main streets for recognition in the Professionals' category. North Salem Street in Apex and Fourth Street in Winston-Salem were also named "Great Main Streets." Nash, Goldsboro, and Douglas streets in Wilson were named "Great Main Streets in the Making." In the People's Choice category, where the winners were chosen by popular vote in an online contest, Morganton's Union Street won "People's Choice: Great Main Street" and the Town Square in Burnsville was recognized as the "People's Choice: Great Public Place."

In addition to being featured on the greatplacesnc.org website and the NC Chapter of the American Planning Association website, winners are provided marketing materials to use in their business and economic development efforts, receive an award at a special presentation in their community, and will be recognized at the upcoming APA-NC Annual Conference in October. The program's goal is to celebrate Great Places in NC, recognize the hard work that went into creating them, and provide examples of successful places to the rest of the state. Building on the success of the previous two years' Great Places in North Carolina initiatives, APA-NC is pleased to recognize these great communities in North Carolina. To learn more about each of the selected communities, folks can visit www.greatplacesnc.org, where a photo gallery and list of the winners will be available.

The expert panel of judges includes George Chapman, former Planning Director, City of Raleigh; Ben Hitchings, Planning Director for the Town of Morrisville and APA-NC President; Mary Joan Pugh, Chief of Staff, North Carolina Zoo; Mary Newsom, Associate Director Urban and Regional Affairs, UNC Charlotte Institute of Urban and Regional Affairs; Sue Schwartz, Planning Director, City of Greensboro; Rodger Lentz, Planning Director, City of Wilson and member of the board of directors of the American Planning Association; H. DeWitt Blackwell, Jr., Executive Director, Western Piedmont Council of Governments; David W. Owens, Gladys Hall Coates Professor of Public Law; and, Ed Johnson, Safe Routes to School Coordinator, NCDOT Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation.