WELCOME

Welcome to the November 2020 edition of Living on Main Street, a visitor’s guide to Downtown Toccoa. To be quite honest, we weren’t entirely sure if we’d be publishing our annual magazine this year, what with the global pandemic we’re still dealing with, along with everything else that 2020 has decided to spring upon us.

What we’ve found, however, is that 2020 has helped us to see what’s really important. Downtown Toccoa’s business and property owners struggled earlier this year, but the district has come back stronger than ever.

We’ve got more restaurants, storefronts, retail businesses, and services now than when this year began, and our streets are as busy as ever (with social distancing still in place, of course). We say all of this to emphasize that things haven’t changed too much downtown, and what has changed, we’d argue, has made us all stronger. That’s why you’re seeing this magazine this year. It may be in your hands a bit later than usual, but we like to think that it’s reflective of the stalwart spirit of Downtown.

The heart and soul of our community has never been more focused and our family has never been closer. So come and visit us downtown. See what we have to offer.

Welcome from Clint & Staff

WELCOME TO DOWNTOWN TOCCOA

DDA Chairman, Mr. Clint Sanders

We’re very pleased to be able to present our publication to you this year, and we’re excited that this year’s magazine features some really great stories and spotlights on the people, places, and events that make Downtown Toccoa a special place.

I’m proud to lead the Toccoa Downtown Development Authority. Our board has the privilege to spearhead economic development efforts in the downtown district, as well as provide grant and loan opportunities to downtown business and property owners.

Downtown Toccoa is a remarkable place, and we hope you’ll see the hard work we do daily to make it the capstone of our great community.

WELCOME TO MAIN STREET

Main Street Manager, Mr. Christian Hamilton

When we published our magazine last October, we had no idea that this year would see the cancellation of the 2020 Toast of Toccoa and the 2020 Harvest Festival. At the same time, we’ve adapted to facilitate the needs of our downtown business and property owners and community’s residents.

Our Ida Cox Music Series, originally scheduled to run from June through August this year began a month later and ended in September. In place of the Harvest Festival, we held two very successful small events, our inaugural Downtown Toccoa Sip-nStroll and Pumpkin Daze, a family-oriented Fall event.

We’ve also worked with the DDA to implement policies and complete goals to directly benefit our downtown. These include: • Pivoting FY20 Façade Grant funding to provide 26 $250 “Bridge-the-Gap” micro-grants directly to our downtown business owners.

• Assisting at least 14 downtown business owners to receive Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), EIDL

Advances, and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)

Loan funding. • Expanding the capabilities of the Currahee Street

Beautification Grant program to assist other properties off Currahee Street on a case-by-case basis that reflect the goals of downtown beautification efforts consistent with the Toccoa City Commission’s

Comprehensive Plan goals. • Designing Downtown Streetscape Improvements that we hope to implement in the near future. • And more!

Main Street Toccoa isn’t just about events. We’re an economic support structure for our downtown community, and that especially means supporting our businesses in unprecedented times like during the COVID-19 Stay-at-Home mandate from the Governor. We are proud of our downtown community for weathering the storm, and we want you to know that Main Street Toccoa is in it for the long haul. Thanks for reading this year’s Living on Main Street publication.