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Historic video tours of Wetumpka to be online this week

In an effort to keep residents informed, educated and entertained for the next few weeks, Main Street Wetumpka announced plans to detail Wetumpka’s historic downtown in a series of videos. Main Street Wetumpka executive director Jenny Stubbs said the idea came about after she recently found a hand-drawn map from 1972 by local artist Austin R. Martin in the back of a book. “I’ve never seen the book or map before but because I have delved into the history of Wetumpka the past four years, people have sent me odds and ends,” she said.

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Spend Local Safely: Five Ways You Can Support Your Main Street Businesses During the Coronavirus

The new coronavirus is first and foremost a threat to the health of millions of Americans. Thousands of suspected cases have been confirmed with countless others yet to be tested, putting an unprecedented strain on health care professionals and hospitals. But the effects of COVID-19 are being felt just as acutely by small businesses. Across the country, main street corridors packed with historic buildings stand silent, as the customers who typically flock to these places wisely stay home. The results are exactly what you’d expect: Without their primary source of revenue, local shops and businesses must make difficult decisions about whether to lay off workers, or even close permanently. The National Trust's Main Street America program is seeking to minimize the blow by guiding Main Street communities through the crisis. “The impact of COVID-19 on small businesses and local economies is already significant and appears likely to become even more extensive,” says Matthew Wagner, vice president of revitalization programs at Main Street America.

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‘Everybody is making a sacrifice’: How one Alabama main street is coping

Only 12 weeks ago when the coronavirus was getting a ripple of news in faraway China, Gadsden’s Back Forty Beer Co. was projecting 15 percent growth for 2020. But within the last week, the dominoes started falling. Now owner Jason Wilson is looking at a loss of about 65 percent of his revenue due to the social distancing measures in place for containing the virus. At the same time, the brewery’s taproom and kitchen are seeing all-time highs in takeout orders and to-go beer sales from community support.

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Jasper is becoming one of Alabama’s best towns for trails and outdoor recreation

Once a coal-driven community, Jasper has been hard at work rebranding the identity of its small town. The city wants to embrace a culture of health and sustainability and capitalize on a different resource: the great outdoors. Its vision is to become a recreational destination and trail town, along the lines of a “mini” Asheville, North Carolina. Jasper has a wealth of wilderness areas nearby like William B. Bankhead National Forest, Walker County Lake and Lewis Smith Lake, so all that’s required is turning ideas into action. One of the big players at the helm is Jasper Main Street. The town received its designation as an Alabama Main Street Community in June 2015 and, ever since, it has been a big force behind a massive revitalization. Jenny Short, president of Jasper Main Street and a Jasper native, says becoming a Main Street Community was a game-changer that the town embraced wholeheartedly.

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New owner of old pool hall property shares restoration plans

COLUMBIANA – The dilapidated property known as the old pool hall on South Main Street in downtown Columbiana is undergoing much-needed restoration. Since purchasing the property in February, Eagle Construction Products and Eagle Framing owner Rob McLeroy and his team have started what they are calling phase one of the restoration process: removing dangerous materials from the inside of the roughly 4,320-square-foot building, demolishing the damaged roof and floors, and stabilizing the building’s four sides, including the brick front façade on Main Street.

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