Starkville Main Street Association organizers concluded the current fiscal year Thursday by recognizing numerous businesses’ commitment to the city’s economy and setting its sights on increasing the area’s ever-growing push to attract new tourists and sales tax collections.
SMSA, a sub-group of the Greater Starkville Development Partnership, held its annual awards ceremony Thursday and recognized five local businesses’ investments. The winners included Bank of Commerce for best re-investment over $10,000; Dan Camp’s Cotton District Parthenon and Savery House for best new development; Stinky Feet Athletics for best new business; Aspen Bay for merchant of the year; and LA Green for best creative window display.
SMSA’s Partner of the Year recipient, the Miss. Department of Transportation, has the biggest overall chance to change the face of Starkville’s economy after its Miss. Highway 182 resurfacing project changed the face of one of the town’s most important thoroughfares.
Announced in April 2013, the almost $2 million project completely overlaid the road’s surface within city limits, developed landscape islands and improved sidewalk access. Workers also went about re-pouring numerous driveways connecting various parcels to the highly used road.
Highway 182 — formerly U.S. Highway 82 — served as a primary two-lane highway through the state for decades. A portion of the road was widened to three lanes within Starkville. Even though the U.S. Highway 82 bypass was constructed, the road is still heavily used by local traffic.
When the project was announced last term, city leaders touted its ability to spark business seeding and overall economic redevelopment. The previous administration attempted to facilitate growth in the area by creating a redevelopment district, but aldermen nixed the idea before July 2013’s board changeover after speculating that the plan would drain tax dollars from the city’s coffers.
“Improving the surface and infrastructure of Highway 182 helps revitalization efforts in the area but more importantly improves the appearance of a major corridor and gateway into our community,” GSDP CEO Jennifer Gregory said. “Revitalization of the Highway 182 corridor has already begun by private investors and business owners, but there’s still much work to be done.”
Partnership officials also touted numerous successes in the past year, including record tourism tax receipts, its second annual Starkville Restaurant Week and the growing Starkville Community Market, which is maintained, organized and advertised by the group.
Launched in 2013, Restaurant Week targets out-of-town residents who live within a 60-mile radius — about an hour’s drive — and attempts to bring them to Starkville, show off the culinary scene and plant the seed for future trips.
Organizers added a charity competition, one in which voters help decide the recipient of cash donations, to help spur more local visits to Starkville’s restaurants after Mississippi State University’s spring break in March, a week where 2 percent food and beverage tax collections typically dip.
Restaurant Week organizers received nearly 10,500 votes for three charities — one for each appetizer purchased in the seven-day window.
In addition to increased exposure and word-of-mouth advertising, the event gained more participants in part to large crowds in town for MSU’s three-day baseball series against Vanderbilt University.
Starkville Community Market launched its first mid-week offering this year, helping visitors who cannot make it to the Saturday morning event find a light produce selection each Tuesday afternoon.
Jennifer Prather, the Partnership’s market manager and special events coordinator, previously said SCM almost doubled its amount of vendors and maintained about $4,000 in business each week.
SCM received Mississippi Magazine’s Best Farmers Market designation this summer. The Partnership was also recognized in the same publication for its wayfinding signage initiative.
“We’re very fortunate of all of our partners here in Starkville, from Main Street and Russell Street all the way to Highway 182 and Highway 12,” Gregory said. “It’s because of their continued support and investment in Starkville that our city continues to grow as an economic and tourist destination in Mississippi.”
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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