Click here for the Franklin Main Street Program Business Survey (PDF - 26kb) (Please print and mail to Town Hall)

Quilt Trails Project Comes to Macon County

HISTORY
There was never a grand plan for the single quilt square that Donna Sue Groves envisioned painting on the family barn in Adams County, Ohio, in 2001. It was just meant to be a gesture honoring her mother, Nina Maxine Groves, her rural heritage, and the five generations of her family that have shared a love of quilting.

Ms. Groves never imaged her idea would lead to colorful quilt patterns with names such as friendship star, bow tie, and brown goose appearing on more than 2,000 barns in 22 states. Most are located along what are now called quilt trails, which give nature lovers another reason to explore the countryside.

In North Carolina, the trail expanded into Mitchell and Yancey Counties. Over 100 quilt blocks have been installed in their downtowns and communities. Each block represents input from the building's occupants or owners, and each selection is linked to a story. The chosen pattern may have been a part of a family quilt, or it might reacall the history of the location, or it might be an artisitc favorite.

2009-MACON COUNTY JOINS PROJECT
This heritage tourism initiative is now in the formative stages in Macon County. Seed money from the project will come from both the Town of Franklin TDA and Macon County's TDC, both tourism development groups. For information on how you can become involved contact the Franklin Chamber of Commerce at 828-524-3161.

	The above photos are from the Town of Burnsville, North Carolina in Yancey County.

Shop at Home Initiative Underway in Franklin

Franklin businesses have joined together to breath new life into the Shop Franklin First initiative. Tony Angel Media has created a Shop Franklin First website which highlights all the retail shopping in Franklin. Businesses have the opportunity to post banner ads and coupons on the site to attract shoppers to their stores.

"In these economic times, it is more important than ever for residents of the area to suppport our local merchants," said Linda Schlott, Franklin Main Street Program Executive Director. "This website is a great start and we certainly hope merchants will support the project and utilize the site to it's fullest potential".

NC STEP Leadership Committee Tackles Economic Development

Franklin's participation in the NC STEP program continues to take shape as a leadership committee was recently formed. Membership of the commitee is comprised of business leaders, education leaders, economic development leaders and representatives from the Latino community and members at large from the community.

According to Linda Schlott, Main Street Program Executive Director, "This is a community based committee and not just downtown Franklin based." Committee members are: Paul Combs (NC STEP coach from Boone, NC), Linda Schlott, Denton Higdon, Virginia Crawford, Sissy Pattillo, Burma Keller, Carol Johnson, Stephen Baldwin, Chris Brouwer, Linda Harbuck, June Hernandez, Betty Huffman, Janet Greene, Vic Greene, Mike Grubermann, Ron Winecoff, Ed Shatley, Ronnie Haven, Emily Markham, Bo Bryant, Janet Gillespie, Jack Bennett, and Etta Bennett.

The Franklin Community Step Forward Committee held visioning session and discussed six topics relating to economic development and listted assets and limiting factors of each. Topics covered included: Retain & Expand Exisiting Businesses, Improve Local Linkages and Reduce Leakage of Income Out Of The Community, Creating New Businesses Through Supporting Entrepreneurship, Increase Earnings From Commuting to Work Outside of the Community, Capture More Unearned Dollars, and Attract More Outside Investment. The meetings will be held generally on the 4th Monday of each month at 5:30 in the cafeteria at Angel Medical Center. For additional information call 828-524-0476.

NC STEP To Boost Franklin Economy

Recently members of the community gathered to kickoff the North Carolina Small Town Economic Prosperity (NC STEP) program in Franklin.

While guests enjoyed a cookout, they learned more about the program and what it offers the Town of Franklin. NC STEP is a program of the NC Rural Center and encourages small town revitalization through services, educational opportunities and grants.

This first phase of Franklin's participation in the program is supported by a $30,000 grant. The second phase, implementation of projects the group chooses, will be supported by a $100,000 grant.

MASTER PLAN DEVELOPMENT WELL UNDERWAY

The Main Street Progam is working to transform Franklin’s downtown district. Main Street, however, is not the only target area. Six areas including Depot Street and the Highlands Road have been addressed in a preliminary master plan. The six subdistricts are temporarily termed the village, Main Street, medical park, industrial section (Depot Street), river gateway, and Highlands Boulevard.

A series of maps and graphics were available for public comment for several weeks following two public forums to engage the stakeholders within the Franklin Main Street Program District. The recommendations were utilized as guidelines in finetuning Franklin’s master plan.

A traffic study was done in the early planning stages of the master plan. Possible outcomes are converting Palmer and Main Streets to two-way capacity. The widening of Palmer Street is estimated to cost $2 million dollars.

The cost of the master plan is $196,000. “That’s for the physical plan itself,” said Linda Schlott, executive director of the Franklin Main Street Program, “not the implementation.” The traffic study was $50,000. “Entities are stepping up to the plate to help,” said Schlott, who said that the plan is nearly funded. “This is for 8.5 miles of street,” she added.

“We want something that showcases the heritage, pinpoints the location, speaks to the outdoor activities, and appeals to both tourists and residents alike.”

Franklin Mayor Joe Collins said it is exciting to see what is possible. “We have a lot of good options. It seems the town and the public are united in the desire to give the area a facelift.”

Macon County Commissioner Bob Simpson agreed that the planning stages look great. “The objective is to get people to stop in Franklin,” said Simpson. “No part of town is left out. This is economic development.”