Downtown Dallas hosted its second annual Downtown First Awards on Tuesday, January 23rd. The ceremony was created to celebrate and recognize businesses and community members who think downtown first and continuously strive to make it a more vibrant and better place.
Dinner was provided to those who attended and was served under the beautiful lights at the courtyard outside of the historic courthouse. After eating delicious burgers from Renegade Chef and dessert from Cakes and Whatnot, attendees moved to the historic Dallas Theater for the awards ceremony.
The beginning of the ceremony highlighted Downtown Dallas' accomplishments from 2023 including:
Introducing new events:
Downtown Dallas hosted more than 50,000 people in downtown Dallas at events
5.2K people at Fourth of July
4.6K at Dogs Day Out/August Food Truck Friday
168 Volunteer Hours
The Downtown Development Authority awarded Prime Real Estate Partners with a $5,000 façade grant program check for the renovations at 206 Main Street
Helene Jones of Tin Bucket Mercantile receiving the Main Street Hero award at the Georgia Downtown Conference August 2023
Main Street Manager Shannon Gordon and business owner Lexi Stephen hosting education sessions at the Georgia Downtown Conference
Vintage Wine Bar and Kitsch and Color receiving Best of Georgia from the Georgia Business Journal
Dog clean up stations being installed in downtown - sponsored by Boho + Bark
Raised $1,700 for downtown business grants through Pumpkin Fest
Increased Facebook following 82.5%
Sold $1,700 Downtown Dollars during the holiday season
Main Street Manager Shannon Gordon made a few announcements of exciting things happening in downtown Dallas in 2024 including:
Business openings:
Ginny Bird at 206 Main Street
The Exchange at Dallas at 210 Main Street
Dallas Grill on Main at 214 Main Street
Launching a new grant for downtown businesses through the Downtown Development Authority
Introducing the new Downtown Ambassador Program
Starting quarterly downtown business owner meetings
The 2023 downtown Dallas sponsors were recognized for their support of Downtown Dallas. Sponsors include: Fat Trout Golf Carts (not pictured), Pro Air Tech (not pictured), Unique Piece Furniture (not pictured), Boyd Monk Realtor, First National Community Bank (Jennifer Hunton & Alex Crenshaw), Go Energy Financial (not pictured), Gina Wade Real Estate, and AVW Offroad (not pictured).
Nominations were made for the winners of the awards from the business owners and property owners in downtown Dallas. The winners include:
Kitsch & Color for the Taylor Swift Listening Party - Outstanding Promotional Event
Sutton Tate - Outstanding Marketing Efforts
Prime Real Estate Partners - Outstanding Brick and Mortar Rehab
Tin Bucket Mercantile - Golden Broom Award
Hopp Frogg Music - New Business Spotlight (not pictured)
Kelly Grant - Community Builder
Paulding County School District Fine Arts - Outstanding Special Project for Holiday Window Decorating
Annmarie Burnette - Standout Volunteer
First Baptist Church Dallas, GA - Standout Volunteer
Lexi Stephen from Boho + Bark - Entrepreneur of the Year
Downtown Dallas looks forward to another successful year in downtown and thanks everyone for attending the event to show their support of the downtown businesses and community.
For those interested in sponsoring downtown Dallas events, please reach out to Shannon Gordon at sgordon@dallas-ga.gov or 770-443-8110 extension 1213. If you're interested in becoming a 2024 Downtown Dallas Ambassador, please visit our website mydallasga.com/ambassadors.