Porterdale has seen a lot of growth over the last year, and continues to head in an upward climb commercially with the addition of a new restaurant and other businesses on the horizon.
Sure, that has a lot to do with the historic mill town’s charm, but Porterdale can now also boast of another credential — a national designation of a Classic Main Street Community.
Porterdale was recognized as such at the Annual Georgia Main Street Luncheon Monday.
It was one of 17 communities to receive the designation for 2015.
“As Porterdale lives up to its designation as one of Georgia's Renaisance Cities, our becoming a part of the State's Main Street Program moves us forward toward our goal of welcoming new business and home buyers to our community,” Porterdale Mayor Arline Chapman said. “Our Main Street Director, Teri Haler, has done a great job here as well as networking with other cities who will inspire us to accomplish the greater tasks ahead.”
In the fall of 2013 the City of Porterdale was selected, out of 25 applicants, to participate in the largest Main Street Start-up class in the history of the Georgia Main Street Program. Throughout the following 14 months Porterdale has worked closely with the Office of Downtown Development at the Georgia Department of Community Affairs to prepare our community, downtown business owners, volunteers and elected officials for the journey ahead.
Through downtown development trainings, sessions of community visioning and capacity building activities the newly designated Main Street program is now ready to meet and exceed the guidelines for the 10 National Standards for Accreditation, as laid out by the National Main Street Center.
“In a town founded on hard work and progress, it has been so exciting to see the next major step moving forward with the creation of the Main Street Porterdale’s program,” Main Street Chair Logan Spencer said. “The dedication and work being put into the development and growth of Main Street is only the beginning of things to come.”
For more on this story see Sunday's print edition of The Covington News.
