DDA of Lincolnton Receives Three NC Main Street Awards

(L to R): Secretary of Commerce J. Keith Crisco, Collins, Brinson, and Assistant Secretary of Commerce Cleveland Simpson. Photo by Garry E. Hodges.

The Downtown Development Association of Lincolnton has been honored with three 2008 Main Street Awards from the North Carolina Main Street Center. The awards were presented at the Annual North Carolina Main Street Awards Dinner, held in Statesville, NC on January 29, 2009. Awards were presented in 13 categories representing each area of the Main Street Four Point Approach: Organization, Design, Economic Restructuring, and Promotion. Buddy Collins Past-Chair of DDA and Main Street Champion, and Lynn Brinson, Business & Community Development Assistant, accepted the awards for Best Innovation, Best Downtown Special Event and Best Promotional Item: Graphics on behalf of the organization. NC Secretary of Commerce J. Keith Crisco, Assistant Secretary of Commerce Cleveland Simpson, Main Street Assistant Coordinator Teresa Watts and Office of Urban Development Director Liz Parham presented the awards.

"High-tech Hobnobbing: Downtown Lincolnton's Social Networking Initiative" was recognized with the award for Best Innovation. The project involved creating profiles on various social networking sites, including Facebook (visit Hog Happenin' on Facebook here), MySpace, and BikerOrNot.com; posting to Craigslist; establishing a Downtown Development blog, and creating "Video Business Highlights" of downtown businesses that are hosted on YouTube. A unique aspect of the project is that each facet was managed by a different DDA volunteer or staffperson.

DDA also received the Best Downtown Special Event recognition for "Independents Days: Celebrating Downtown Lincolnton's Locally Owned Independent Businesses." The event was held July 1-14, 2008 and included the "Shop Local Challenge" that encouraged citizens to shop locally first and keep track of items that were not available for purchase in downtown, and the "Find Your Independents Scavenger Hunt" in which participants searched for unique items that could be purchased in downtown's locally owned businesses. Businesses participating in the scavenger hunt donated prizes that were awarded to a participant whose completed game card was drawn at random.

In promoting the 2008 Lincolnton Hog Happenin', DDA introduced a new concept in promotional items with a pocket-sized flyer measuring slightly larger than a business card. The flyer contained information about the event in a convenient distribution size, which proved useful as event organizers and volunteers handed out thousands of the cards at barbeque and motorcycle events across the southeast. Conceptualized and designed by DDA, this "Hog Happenin' Pocket Promoter" was recognized by the NC Main Street Program as Best Promotional Item: Graphics.

"Communities across the state have had great success restoring their downtown business districts to their former prominence as a center of economic, social and cultural activity," said Crisco. "The NC Department of Commerce provides technical assistance, but it is the local community that leads this transformation, and those that have excelled at this important endeavor deserve to be recognized."

DDA's recent recognitions are nothing new for the organization. It received the Best Downtown Special Event award in 2002 for Hog Happenin' and again in 2005 for Upstairs Downtown: RS Reinhardt Loft, as well as the award for Best Economic Development Incentive Plan with the City of Lincolnton for the Substantial Building Rehabilitation Grant.