Toccoa Holds Main Street Awards

The Toccoa Main Street program honors businesses and individuals for their efforts downtown.

Thursday, Toccoa held its annual Main Street Awards Reception at the Schaefer Center.

Main Street Toccoa Events Coordinator Sharon Crosby said the awards reception allows them to recognize people for their hard work over the last year.

“Each one of these winners was chosen because of their contribution to our downtown this past year,” said Crosby. “We have had a lot going on. We have had several new businesses open. We have had several do renovation work on their buildings.”

Award winners for this year were as follows:

  • Downtown Awareness Award: Details Salon 73
  • Outstanding Community Service Partners: North Georgia Technical College and the Toccoa Rotary Club, Interact Club, and Leadership Toccoa-Stephens County
  • Best Adaptive Reuse: [ash-ling] booksellers
  • Best Historic Rehabilitation: Acree Family Partnership for Sinclair Gas Station
  • Best Historic Renovation: Feral
  • Dedicated Downtowners: Rick and Letha Phillips
  • Best Interior: Tugart Properties, LLC for Rhythm Academy Dance Studio
  • Downtown Anchor Award: 1st Franklin Financial Corporation

Crosby said the awards reception also lets the Main Street program thank its many volunteers and committee members.

“We could not do anything without them,” said Crosby.

Also, Main Street Toccoa marked its 25-year milestone at Thursday’s awards reception.

Crosby said it is quite a milestone to mark.

“I think one of the things 25 years shows is the validity of the Main Street program,” said Crosby. “Their four-point approach works and if you use them, it works to restore downtowns.”

To mark 25 years, Main Street Toccoa recognized past members of the city’s Downtown Development Authority and played a brief video highlighting changes in downtown Toccoa over the last 25 years.