City of Monroe recognized at 2021 Georgia Downtown Conference

ATLANTA – During the Annual Awards Ceremony of the Georgia Downtown Conference, the Georgia Downtown Association recognized the City of Monroe with two Awards of Excellence for Premier Partner and Best Façade Rehabilitation.

Nominated by Downtown Monroe, the first award received was for Monroe Walton Center for the Arts (MWCA) as the Premier Partner. The MWCA has been a part of Monroe’s downtown since 1993 and has now grown significantly increasing sales tenfold and growing membership over 60% in one year. This amazing center provides an opportunity for all citizens of Monroe to experience the arts including the physicality of their beautiful garden with painted sidewalks, sculptures, and fountain. This important organization supports monthly art shows providing local artists an opportunity to display their works and be awarded for their outstanding efforts. The artist market, a retail store open daily, also provides local artisans a low-cost opportunity to market and sell merchandise to sustain themselves as artists.

The second award was for John’s Supermarket Renovation in the category of Best Façade Rehabilitation. This rehabilitation project transformed a car-centric development into a walkable downtown-scaled supermarket. This project extends the downtown form, encourages walkability between downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, and helps preserve and expand a vital local business. The addition of apartments make this project particularly unique and worthy of recognition.

Based in Atlanta, the Georgia Downtown Association is a non-profit association that promotes the economic redevelopment of Georgia’s downtowns through public awareness, governmental relations and education.