Downtown merchants, car club will sponsor cruise-in

By Rozella Hardin
STAR STAFF
rhardin@starhq.com
   The Elizabethton Downtown Business Association (EDBA) in conjunction with the Carter County Car Club will sponsor a cruise-in downtown on the evening of Aug. 1, when downtown businesses will remain open until 8 p.m. or later.
   Elk Avenue will be closed from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. for the cruise-in. The cruise-in is one of many promotions the EDBA hopes to sponsor in coming months in an effort to bring people downtown.
   John Huber told merchants attending the association's meeting Friday morning that the Beautification Committee hoped to have something more concrete to present to the group at the next meeting concerning a recommendation toward lighting, planters, benches and new trash receptacles for the downtown area.
   Also, merchants okayed a suggestion by President John Bunn to request the City to place temporary signs on 19-E, Broad Street and other strategic entrances into the city, directing people to the downtown while the Elk Avenue and Covered Bridges remain closed for repairs. "It would be very beneficial to downtown businesses," said Pat Green, owner of Duck Crossing Antiques.
   Merchants also discussed a Web site for the association, which would link with the Chamber of Commerce, City of Elizabethton, and Elizabethton STAR Web sites. All downtown businesses would be listed on the Web site. The Web site was wholeheartedly recommended by Bunn, who said he was amazed at what a Web site had done for his business.
   Also, discussed was the selling of afghans featuring historical sites in the city and county for a fundraising project. The afghans were sold several years by the Main Street organization and proved to be a good fundraiser said Loretta Pierce, treasurer for the EDBA.
   "We still have people asking for them," she said.
   The EDBA will meet again at 8 a.m. on Aug. 1 at The Coffee Company.