Apalachicola named Florida Main Street Program of the Month

The Florida Department of State has named Historic Apalachicola Main Street as the Florida Main Street Program of the Month for February.

Florida Main Street is a technical assistance program that helps preserve Florida's historic retail districts.

Apalachicola was designated a MainStreet community in August of 2011.

The designation qualified Apalachicola for three years of intensive training and technical assistance from the statewide Florida Main Street Program to support local revitalization and historic preservation efforts in the city’s commercial district.

It also required that Apalachicola hire a full-time downtown manager, establish a Main Street Board with representatives from the public and private sectors, and develop a local program to bring about revitalization of the traditional commercial core.

Since its designation as a Main Street community, Apalachicola has had 78 construction and rehabilitation projects totaling nearly one and a half million dollars.

Nine businesses have opened, creating 21 new jobs in the downtown area.

Volunteers have donated 965 hours of their time to meetings and events.

Currently over 40 cities in Florida take part in the program including Panama City, Marianna, Blountstown and Perry.

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