Foley Downtown Improvements Win State Award

FOLEY – Improvements to downtown Foley have won more recognition with the latest state award announced recently.

The Main Street Alabama Award of Excellence recognizes recent projects to improve the downtown area. Foley Main Street, the downtown improvement organization, received the award at the state group’s annual meeting.

Foley Main Street members presented the award for municipal planning to the city at the Sept. 16 Foley City Council meeting. Darrelyn Dunmore, executive director of Foley Main Street, said the award recognizes city projects, including the addition to the Perry Wilbourne Antique Rose Trail, which have improved the downtown area.

“Because of your completion of the Willbourne Rose Trail and all the work that the city has done, we were able to get this award,” Dunmore told council members. “So we're presenting it to the city, because the city is the lead on this. They are the ones that did the work.”

Mayor Ralph Hellmich said Main Street and the local merchants have made major improvements in Foley’s historic downtown.

“It's the businesses and the owners downtown. They are as important a partner as the city is,” he told Dunmore. ”Our City Council fully supports Main Street, but I think that we need to make sure that you get credit for being the driving force behind a lot of it.”

Dunmore said Foley has received 11 awards in the last five years for downtown improvements. 
“It's not Main Street that’s doing the work. We keep track of the projects and show all the investment and the partnerships that it takes to make downtown special,” she said. “As you can see, the city of Foley is on almost every single one of the awards as the lead or as a partner.”

“There are a lot of the Main Street programs that don't get the support like we get from the city. So it's wonderful to have this team Foley and have all the people working together,” she added.

Dunmore said Foley Main Street has begun its Third Thursday event, which will include music, special offers and treats taking place downtown between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.