One of Tere Richardson's former board members used to describe downtown Athens in the 1980s like this: on a Friday at five o'clock, he could throw a rock anywhere on the square and not hit anything except maybe a stray dog.
This past Friday, 5,000 people were down there.
They were eating in the restaurants, shopping in the shops, standing shoulder to shoulder around the square for Fridays After Five - in a city of about 35,000 people. I have been to one of those nights myself, the one with the Velcro Pygmies, and I remember standing there thinking, how is this happening here?
Tere, the executive director of Athens Main Street, has an answer, and it is not a flashy one. "We're an overnight success that's 20 years in the making," she told me.
On Episode 120 of Unexpected Adventures in North Alabama, Tere joined me along with Mary M. Wirth, president and state coordinator of Main Street Alabama, to talk about how a downtown actually comes back to life - and why the answer has almost nothing to do with chasing visitors.
The Alley That Went From $30,000 to $200,000
If you have been downtown lately, you have walked through Merchants Alley. A violin painted several stories tall. A tribute board to Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes. Student artwork in the doors and windowpanes. An archway that reads Stars Fell on Alabama over bricks salvaged from 1919.
It started as a derelict alley with a $30,000 budget. It ended up a $200,000 project.
"Not because of overages," Tere said. "But as we started to do things, the public would come to me and say, 'I want to be involved in this. This is really cool.'" So they kept expanding. The theme became music, and the centerpiece mural honors the Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention, in its 54th year this October. The Brittany Howard tribute was painted live during a Fridays After Five - two cases of spray paint, about six hours. Tere's challenge to you is to go look at it and try to believe that.
The alley has since won an Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects' North Alabama chapter. But the part that matters most for planning a visit is that Athens does not just have the alley, it programs it. Every Friday in spring, and again in September and October, a musician plays Merchants Alley from 5:30 to 7:00. Fifty to seventy people show up, listen, and walk straight into a restaurant.
"It's a way to get people's weekend started," Tere said, "but also keep them downtown and keep the dollars downtown."
Sixteen Restaurants in Thirty-Four Months
That is the whole strategy in one sentence, and the numbers behind it are startling.
Downtown Athens has opened 16 restaurants in the last 34 months. All independent. About a dozen upscale, with another opening in September. "I think restaurant activity proves vibrancy," Tere said. People come down for a good meal, notice the shops on the way in, and decide to come back.
Mary, who cheerfully described herself as a nerd about this, pulled Athens' reinvestment figures for the conversation. Over 20 years, downtown Athens has seen about $13 million in public dollars invested, and nearly $40 million in private. "We love the public side," she said, "but this is really impressive." Her mother's phrase for that ratio: cooking with Crisco.
Every designated Alabama program reports its economic impact monthly, and Mary was direct about why. "It can't always be about how we feel and how it looks. You still have to have numbers that back up how you're feeling, and the storytelling that you're doing."
Tourists Want What the Locals Want
Here is the line from this episode I have not been able to stop thinking about.
I asked how a downtown stays authentic instead of generic, and Mary started with recruitment. Towns want to import businesses, she said, and that instinct is backwards. "It's difficult to recruit somebody who doesn't have an investment in the community to a district that's struggling already. You’ve got to work with the people who love you, and those are the people that are already there."
And then, about visitors:
"It's great to have visitors. We've got lovely tourism in Alabama. Everybody should come. It's wonderful. You’ve got to have stuff for the locals. Sometimes when we get all excited about bringing in tourists, we need to remember: tourists want what the locals want. If you have stuff that's cool for the locals, tourists are going to like that too."
Athens did not build a downtown for tourists. It built one for the 35,000 people who live there. That is exactly why it is worth the drive.
More Than Party Planners
Mary's favorite misconception is that Main Street organizations are the after-prom planning committee. The work runs on four points: promotion, where not everything needs a street closure. Chocolate Walk, the Boutique Crawl, Summer Sippin' and Sip and Cider all exist to get people through shop doors; design, meaning walkability, shade, and making a visual impression within three to seven seconds; organization, the board and the funding and "getting people singing out of the same songbook"; and economic vitality, which largely means helping merchants see that the restaurant down the street doing well is good for them too.
"You want to say, 'I'm going downtown to eat,'" Mary said, "not that I'm going downtown for one thing."
What Is Coming Next
Two things Athens is working toward, both of which will change a visit. The first is people living downtown: upper-story apartments and well-done mixed-use infill, which also puts eyes on the street and keeps a district alive around the clock.
The second is a hotel. One of Tere's own downtown neighbors is renovating the building she works in into a boutique hotel, with one side of the rooms overlooking Merchants Alley. The demand is already loud. "I field calls weekly from people saying, 'I want to come downtown. I want to eat, and I want to shop. Is there a place walkable?' Well, no, not right now, but just hang on. We're getting it."
Also underway: a street mural at Five Points, near the renovated Athens Farmers Market, funded by a Main Street Alabama grant and painted by Adam Stevenson - the muralist behind the fiddle hands in Merchants Alley, and a past guest on this podcast.
What Surprised Them Most
I close every episode the same way. For Mary, after 27 years, it is the generosity of the work; she tells new directors they are part of a family now, and she means it. "We get to change the world just a little bit," she said. For Tere, a former project manager in Big Six consulting, it was discovering her old skill set was exactly the right one. "Building that vibrancy is just like a wave. Once you get it going, then you will have a great support system."
Plan Your Trip to Downtown Athens
Come on a Friday. The Merchants Alley Happy Hour series runs 5:30 to 7:00 on Fridays in September and October with live music, then a walk to dinner. Fridays After Five is the bigger one, four times a year, and it takes over the square. Build the rest around that: the Athens Farmers Market, up 60% since its renovation; Sip and Cider during the holidays; Chocolate Walk in February. And 16 new restaurants to work through, none of which you will find anywhere else.
Visit athensmainstreet.org for the calendar, and follow Athens Main Street on Facebook and Instagram. For Main Street communities across the state, including Florence, Decatur, Athens, Russellville, Scottsboro, Fort Payne, Madison and South Huntsville up here, visit mainstreetalabama.org.
Listen to the Full Conversation
There is more in the episode than I could fit here: how Athens "breadcrumbs" visitors into the district before they reach the square, the grassroots pub crawl Tere refused to plan but agreed to promote, and what happens when 32 businesses each invent a summer cocktail and let the whole town vote by cell phone.
Listen to Episode 120 with Tere Richardson and Mary M. Wirth on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Main Street Alabama also has its own show, the Sweet Home Towns Podcast. I have been a guest, and so has Tere.
All links are in the show notes. Start on a Friday at 5:30 in Merchants Alley and let the evening take it from there.
