Downtown event Friday to celebrate Clinton’s ‘TN Main Street’ status
A special event this coming Friday afternoon on Market Street will celebrate Clinton’s recent designation as a Tennessee Main Street Community.
The festivities begin with an official “ribbon cutting” ceremony at 4:15 p.m. at the new Maude W. Brown Park at Market Street and Freddie Fagan Way, conducted by the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce.
That will be followed by an evening of activities that include a cornhole tournament at 5:30 p.m., live music with the Seals Family Band beginning at 6 p.m., a kids’ watermelon-eating contest at 6:30 p.m., and the passing out of T-shirts, frisbees and cups with the Historic Downtown Clinton logo at the park, according to Katherine Birkbeck, program director for the Historic Downtown Clinton Merchants Association.
Market Street will be shut down from 4 to 10 p.m. for the activities, and Hoskins Drug Store will be serving root beer floats in the park.
Food trucks also will be on the street, and The Garden on Market will be open from 5 to 10 p.m., while the Clinton FARM Market will operate on Commerce Street from 3 to 6 p.m.
The cornhole tournament is being sponsored by the Clinton Rotary Club, with some of the proceeds going to the Clinton Education Foundation’s teachers’ supply depot, Birkbeck said.
Clinton’s official Main Street accreditation was announced last month by the state Department of Economic and Community Development, putting Clinton in an elite group of cities in the state to have achieved that status.
“We’re one of now 42 cities to qualify, out of about 312 cities statewide,” said Rick Meredith, president of the Anderson County Chamber.
Meredith and the chamber staff worked with City Manager Roger Houck and other city officials to submit the 200-page application in early May to seek the Main Street status,
The state program is part of Main Street America, a nationwide effort administered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which certifies Main Street communities across the nation.
ECD Commissioner Bob Rolfe announced that Clinton, Clifton and Centerville had been granted Tennessee Main Street accreditation. Clinton is the only community in Anderson County to make it into the program so far.
“At the heart of every vibrant Tennessee city is a thriving downtown district,” Rolfe said in his announcement. “The Tennessee Main Street program is an integral part of our rural and community development efforts, and we are eager to partner with Clifton, Centerville and Clinton as they develop sustainable revitalization efforts in their downtowns.”
The program “provides training, support and grant opportunities to assist in downtown revitalization efforts,” the announcement said. “Each selected areas of their downtown centers where the program will focus on historic preservation, community events and economic vitality.”
Meredith said Clinton’s focus for its downtown center are Main and Market streets, the heart of historic downtown Clinton.
The program will allow Clinton to compete for state ECD grants to improve and preserve the Main and Market street areas.
Birkbeck, owner of The Spindle Tree on Market Street, led a steering committee of about 25 people to help prepare for the Main Street program recognition, Meredith said.
City Manager Roger Houck said the effort show “the commitment” of the city and community organizations “to revitalization of the downtown area.”