Refresh Opelika Story By Wil Crews
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this following, [ADMA] is able to give these businesses more exposure through marketing on social media.” Opelika Main Street: Opelika Main Street is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1987 as an effort to revitalize the downtown area and turn it from, as Opelika Main Street Executive Director Ken Ward put it, “a sleepy, empty area, into a vibrant commerce and entertainment district.” The organization works with businesses to promote them, uses beautification efforts to maintain the downtown area and puts on events to promote the downtown area. Ward said that all of
See CORE, page 14
ain Street Alabama visited Opelika in July 2020 to review the state of the city’s downtown area and provide recommendations for a five-year plan to refresh Opelika. Main Street is a nonprofit organization that stresses public-private partnerships, broad community engagement and strategies that create jobs, spark new investments, attract visitors and spur growth. The organization sent a resource team that spent three days exploring Opelika’s main street and downtown; it presented its findings and recommendations in a press conference in July. Each member presented on one particular aspect of Main Street’s four-point approach to refreshing main streets across Alabama — organization, promotion, economic vitality and design. “Economic development in the context of historic preservation, that is Main Street,” said Jay Schlinsog, a member of the team from the Downtown Professionals Network. Main Street surveyed 75 citizens to determine the strengths and weaknesses of downtown Opelika. Citizens expressed strong support for Opelika’s bars, restaurants parking and the walkability of downtown. However, the city has a lack of diversity and accessibility, as well as empty and consolidated buildings, inconsistent business hours, closing too early and a lack of residential areas, citizens said. To positively address these weaknesses, and to reinforce the strengths, Main Street organized a general five-year plan. The plan envisions downtown Opelika with more diverse, independent, small retail businesses and restaurants, a market or grocery and more art and music related businesses. Main Street recommends more live music,
See OPELIKA, page 15
