EDBA working to bring new look, new life to downtown Elizabethton

By Greg Miller
STAR STAFF
gmiller@starhq.com

   Elizabethton Downtown Business Association (EDBA) is working hard to bring a new look and new life into downtown Elizabethton, according to John Bunn, EDBA president.
   Plans include revitalizing the canopies and planters throughout downtown. New fixtures will be purchased for the canopy lights, which is "more of a coach lamp style of fixture," according to Bunn.
   Elizabethton will have a totally changed image. "We'll have new plantings as we finish our planters that will be on each corner down through town," remarked Bunn, who along with his wife, Lisa, owns The Coffee Company.
   "New trees will be installed. The Agriculture Extension Agency is working with us to determine the best trees to put in that won't overgrow the town, but will be attractive for the downtown, and flowers will be put in. The planters themselves will actually have areas where people can sit on."
   Carter County Bank is providing the funds for one planter and several lights. Donations have come in from several individuals for the lights. "There are some businesses that have said that they will pay for the light in front of their business or maybe even a planter, but we're talking about 20 planters," Bunn said. "We're talking about 100 lights. We're talking about a project that's probably in the neighborhood of $50,000-$60,000 by the time it's completed, to refurbish this one three-block area of downtown.
   "Our hopes are that we can go into E Street as we finish this part of the project and look at doing the same style of look over there. The city would have to help us a little bit by projecting the corners out so we could put planters there, and eventually we would maybe have to put a pole-style light with the electric company that matches the style of lights that are on the awnings. We hope to bring everything in this area together one day, even moving across the bridge that's being repaired now into the older area of the actual town."
   The downtown area will be "a classic, old downtown," Bunn said. "I think we are a classic, old downtown that has so many advantages. With the old town look, with the old town shops, we've got a tremendous amount to market."
   Bunn believes the new look will produce positive results for downtown Elizabethton, drawing both tourists and a diversity of merchants to the area.
   April through October, EDBA and the Carter County Car Club will sponsor weekly car shows downtown. "The downtown merchants will probably have one Saturday night a month that they are all open," Bunn said. "Other than that, they will choose whether to be open on the other events. Every Saturday night in downtown Elizabethton, we'll have the old car shows. The few that we had last year, we had a great response."
   Elizabethton City Manager Charles Stahl and the city's police and fire departments are doing their part to make the shows a success, according to Bunn. The car shows will begin at about 5:30 p.m. or 6 p.m. and will end at about 9 p.m.