Toccoa Main Street Awards Celebrated

Toccoa honors a number of businesses and individuals at its annual Main Street Awards ceremony.

The yearly event last night at the Historic Ritz Theatre at the Schaefer Center in downtown Toccoa brought city officials, downtown business owners, and others together to look back at the last year in downtown.

Toccoa Main Street Events Coordinator Sharon Crosby said the city is pleased to recognize this year’s award winners for their contributions to downtown Toccoa. “ We have had a great year in 2017. We always like to recognize those that go over and beyond and recognize the work that they have done, and tonight was a perfect opportunity to do that.”

This year’s Main Street Award winners were:
Outstanding Community Service: The Courthouse Christmas Decoration Committee.

Main Street Renovation Award: Jimmy Harris and the Harris Building on the Corner of Sage and Doyle Streets.

Best Historic Exterior Renovation: Tony Andrews and the Andrews Building located on East Tugalo Street.

Special Recognition: Martin Women’s Club with seven homes part of the Spring Ramble.

Dedicated Downtowner: Downtown Flowers

Downtown Champion Award: Bryan Westmoreland

Best Interior: Southern Roots Salon

Volunteer of the Year: The Worsley Family

Meanwhile, Crosby said the Main Street Awards also provide the city a chance to thank the volunteers that make all of the events and activities in downtown happen. “We have three major volunteer committees that work throughout the year, and work to strengthen our downtown, so we wanted to get a chance to recognize them as well.”

Toccoa Main Street estimates that 2,659 volunteer hours for the numerous Toccoa Main Street events.

Also, Main Street Toccoa said there was a net gain of ten new businesses in Toccoa’s downtown district in 2017 that resulted in a net gain of 11 new jobs.

Goals for 2017 include the renovation of the balcony at the Historic Ritz Theatre and completion of Streetscape Six located next to WNEG.