Old Town Cape recognized with Great American Main Street Award

Old Town Cape recognized with Great American Main Street Award

Old Town Cape was presented with the Great American Main Street Award in Atlanta, Georgia on March 30. I was privileged and honored to attend the award ceremony presented by the National Main Street Center.

This national award was presented to Old Town Cape executive director Marla Mills. City council members Loretta Schneider, Joe Uzoaru, assistant city manager development services Molly Hood, Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce president John Mehner, along with a large group of Old Town Cape board members also attended and were a part of the ceremony.

Downtown has long been a passion of mine even though my career and business was located on the west side of Cape Girardeau. This passion and dedication to Old Town Cape grew deeper when I was elected mayor of our great city in 2010. Downtown success and revitalization is crucial to the continued success of our city as the regional hub of our broad multi state area.

This is a prestigious award given after close judging of the National Main Street Four Way Approach: organization, promotion, design and economic restructuring. Other criteria included commitment to historic preservation, implementation of model partnerships and strength in creating a more exciting place to live, work, play and visit.

The national judges certainly found all of the above criteria present and active in Old Town Cape. Bordered on the north by Isle Casino and on the south by the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus, there has been an amazing number of commercial, residential and restoration projects within our Old Town Cape area. These developments have totaled more than $6.5 million in investment and created nearly 100 new jobs. I believe in momentum and Old Town Cape certainly has achieved much excitement and momentum for future growth and development.

The above mentioned award, projects, growth and development has been made possible by many people under the leadership of Old Town Cape executive director Marla Mills. She is surrounded by a dedicated board of directors and many volunteers that work tirelessly on a continuing basis for improvement and growth in the downtown area.

This work was highlighted for me recently when I attended the annual Old Town Cape annual dinner and awards. The program listed more than 60 current investors who have given their money to support downtown development. This event drew a record crowd which confirms to me a growing interest in the downtown by business owners, residents and our entire community. The awards announced that evening were all given to hard working, dedicated citizens who devote many volunteer hours toward moving our downtown area toward continued growth and success.

The Business Excellence Award was given to Tom Higgins who has been involved since the beginning of Old Town Cape. The Adaptive Use Award went to Joe Usoaru who had the vision to purchase and repurpose the vacant Federal Building on Broadway. The Volunteer of the Year Award and the Charles L. Hutson Visionary Award went to Jim Maurer. There have been many of these awards given in past years -- all of which were well deserved.

My personal thanks and congratulations to everyone who has had a part through the years in building Old Town Cape to the point of receiving this national award.

Harry E. Rediger is the mayor of Cape Girardeau.