Crossville designated as Tennessee’s 48th Main Street Community.
Crossville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce Director of Tourism PJ Barnes said it is exciting to receive the designation, as it is one of the highest honors a city can receive. Barnes said not only does the designation recognize Crossville’s commitment to improving the downtown area, but it also furthers the mission of Downtown Crossville and the Main Street Advisory Board.
“Give us more opportunities for funding and events, and more state and nationwide support, and money that is going to directly affect, not only our downtown, but also our downtown business owners and our community as a whole,” Barnes said.
Barnes said the designation not only puts Crossville at the top of the list for tourism grants but also allows the city to apply for much larger grants. Barnes said one large grant in mind is the state’s $500,000 Downtown Improvement Grant, which is intended to help downtown business owners.
“It’s a matching grant to help their stores and to help enhance their stores,” Barnes said. “If they need something, then the DIG grant, there’s a pretty good chance they will help cover that. So not only is it, you know, just good for the community and the people walking downtown, but also very specifically, it is going to allow our downtown business owners to have a whole new pool of funding that was not really available before.”
Barnes said downtown Crossville currently only has three vacant spaces. Barnes said that is a testament to the great work that the organizations, city, and county are doing to support the downtown area. Barnes said it is important to support the downtown area, as it is the lifeblood of Crossville and Cumberland County.
“We want to support all of our business owners, but especially in downtown because we do have so many things going on down here,” Barnes said. “And we want this to be lively. We want this to be, you know, a place where events can happen and people want to go. And whenever people come to Crossville, and they come to downtown, it kind of speaks to Cumberland County as a whole.”
Barnes said it was a community effort to receive the designation. Barnes said the designation is a huge community group win.
The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development makes the designation.
