John Dersham, President of Dekalb Tourism, is excited about the prospects. He says it comes with “redevelopment, economic development, tourism development, and lots of visitors, lots of new jobs, and lots of influx of money into our community.”
Fort Payne is nestled between Sand Mountain and Lookout Mountain, with many of its historic buildings from the 1800s still intact. Those aspects make it an appealing addition to the Main Street Alabama Communities, says President and State Coordinator of Main Street Alabama, Mary Helmer.
“Not that there isn’t work too, because that’s why we’re here, but the street-scaping is pretty decent, there’s some really good bones to work with here, and great businesses as well,” says Helmer.
County officials agree that Fort Payne’s future looks promising. “Dollars and jobs, because for every empty building, you have a new owner, you’ve got a new staff of people working in that building, and you have people coming from the community and from outside to go spend their money there. It’s a win-win,” adds Dersham.
Senator Steve Livingston was also pleased with the opportunity. “Our economic development people are seeing more and more prospects, I think things are going to happen, but if we get a few jobs back into our small towns, it sure does make our mental attitude a lot better, and we have a lot better positive attitude about positive things coming in the future.”
