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Downtown standouts honored
Jim McNally photo
Arnold Watt (left) and Jan Woodside are pictured at Monday’s Downtown Statesville Development Corporation meeting.
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Published: June 30, 2009
The Downtown Statesville Development Corporation handed out a number of awards and selected new board members at its annual meeting Monday at the Second Fret Coffeehouse and Music Hall.
Outgoing Chairman Arnold Watt said board members were inspired to develop awards for downtown businesses after attending the North Carolina Main Street Conference, which was at the Statesville Civic Center in January.
"We had people from a lot of communities from around the state who said, 'You folks have something special here,' " Watt said.
He said that in the same way the Main Street program recognizes different communities in a variety of different categories, DSDC should honor it own downtown business owners.
Those winners were:
- Brian Buchauer and Bob Dooley were named Volunteer of the Year and Board Member of the Year, respectively.
- Donna and Marion Karr took home the Outstanding Building Rehabilitation or Preservation Project for their effort in sprucing up 105 E. Broad St.
- Maestro's Cafe owner Ken Brendle won the Design Improvement of the Year for adding outside dining to the restaurant.
- Outstanding Downtown Investors were John and LeAnda Barnard for tearing down the old Western Auto Building — which Watt called a "white elephant" — and erecting the Bernard-Lippard Building at 140 N. Center St.
n Outstanding Business of the Year went to Carolina Mountain Sports and its owner Richard Griggs.
Watt said the West Broad Street store, with its "unique products and specialized classes," was recognized because it "best embodies the essence of a Main Street business."
The Statesville Police Department also was presented the Downtown Shining Star Award for the department's "unending assistance in solving issues that arise in downtown Statesville."
Watt said his year as chairman of the DSDC board went by quickly.
"And that means we did a lot of good things," he said.
DSDC Executive Director Marin Tomlin pointed out some of those things.
Tomlin said the board's promotions committee had its hand in 20 different downtown events, including: the Crossroad Criterium Bicycle Race; Holiday Open House; two art crawls; and the Piedmont HealthCare Friday After Five Summer Concert Series.
Tomlin thanked the crowd, most of whom were downtown business owners.
"I believe we are all here because we want to make downtown Statesville even better than it is today," she said.
"And that's why our future is so encouraging, because everything we do contributes to the improvement of downtown."
Incoming Chairwoman Jan Woodside said she was inspired by what she has seen as great improvement to downtown Statesville during the past three decades.
"I've watched Statesville grow for over 30 years. I remember when almost every building downtown was empty. Then I saw the spark to change ... and have watched it grow," Woodside said. "And I want to continue to see it strive and grow and am very excited to be a part of it."
The six new board members voted in at Monday's meeting were: LeAnda Bernard; Melanie Cole; Kim Dellinger; Anita Johnson; Donna Karr; and Michael Keith.
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