Mebane, Thomasville honored for downtown efforts

Two Triad-area cities are being rewarded for their downtown revitalization efforts.

The state Department of Commerce has announced that Mebane has been named a North Carolina Main Street Community. 

The distinction means that the city on the border of Alamance and Orange counties will engage in a four-part revitalization process developed by the National Main Street Center. Mebane will be able to apply for private and public sector grants for improvements, says Barbara Hollerand, executive director of the nonprofit Downtown Mebane Development Corporation.

“It’s a network too that you’re really becoming a part of, so you have access to your peers at 1,200 other communities across the country,” she says.

Mebane was one of two North Carolina cities honored with the Main Street designation, along with Zebulon in Wake County.

Thomasville leaders want the “Chair City” to be among the next to join them.

Zack R., who asked that we just use the initial of his last name, is playing a piano outside of a record store on Main Street. Other places downtown have also put out the instrument for anyone who wants to stop and tickle the ivories.

“I was here last week and this was the best-sounding one,” he says.

Tammy Joyce is the director of downtown economic development for the city. She credits the nonprofit People Achieving Community Enhancement (PACE) for its efforts to bring people together to improve Thomasville.

Joyce says the downtown has many things going for it, including locally based shops and a train line that runs parallel to Main Street. But she says there are still too many storefronts that are underused that could be places that attract visitors.

“And that's what’s going to make it vibrant," she says. "When people start seeing those buildings being changed and cleaned up and activity in and out, that’s just going to be a catalyst. Once that happens, then other people are going to want to be here.”

Thomasville has been named a Downtown Associate Community, which puts it on a pathway to becoming a North Carolina Main Street Community in two years.