Great American Main Street Semifinalist
What is GAMSA?
The Great American Main Street Award program recognizes communities exemplifying the use of the Main Street Approach to revitalize commercial districts. Winners are selected from a nationwide pool of applicants by a jury of Main Street professionals and leaders in the fields of community economic development and historic preservation. Since the award’s inception in 1995, over 110 Main Street programs have been honored as GAMSA communities
- Main Street America
Main Street America leads a movement committed to strengthening communities through preservation-based economic development in older and historic downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts. For more than 40 years, Main Street America has provided a practical, adaptable, and impactful framework for community-driven, comprehensive revitalization through the Main Street Approach. Our network of more than 1,600 neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, share both a commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development.
“We are honored and humbled to be chosen as a semi-finalist for the Great American Main Street award. This award exemplifies the hard work of so many within our community. We have seen vision become reality and naysayers become believers time and time again, and we will continue to push for all that is possible. This nomination is about our town and building on the sense of place and experience right here at home. Being able to put Wytheville in the spotlight and keep our community relevant and forward-thinking is my number goal as the director.”
Why is this significant?
Since 1995, only 112 of over 2000 Main Street programs have been acknowledged as GAMSA-winning communities.
This has been a hard-won, community-driven effort requiring vision, thousands of volunteer hours from community members, and millions of dollars from public-private investment in creating a strong community we can all be proud to call home.
This is Downtown Wytheville’s 10th anniversary (having officially been designated a Main Street America/Virginia Main Street accredited organization in 2014).
As Main Street America Vice President Matt Wagner said, “The pace at which Downtown Wytheville has achieved revitalization success through public and private investments is second to none throughout the nation.”
Since 2014, we’ve seen a dramatic transformation of downtown with previously abandoned buildings gaining new life, many new transformative businesses, a revitalization of public amenities for Wytheville residents and tourists, a new social scene, and a renewal of community pride.
We achieved this as a community through the hard work of countless individuals, and GAMSA recognizes all this hard work and introduces a new Wytheville to the rest of America.
When will the winners be announced?
The 2025 Great American Main Street Award ceremony will be held at the 2025 Main Street Now Conference in Philadelphia, PA on April 7th, 2025 with 3 of these 8 semi-finalists being announced as winners.
10 Years of Downtown Wytheville Transformations
In honor of Downtown Wytheville’s 10th Anniversary & GAMSA Semifinalist Selection, we’ll be highlighting some of the dramatic transformations seen in the last decade. Ten years is both a long and short time and it can be easy to forget how far downtown has come in just these past few years.
We will highlight before and after photos of projects along with the stories and people behind the transformations including:
Downtown Streetscape Upgrades
Creation of the Heritage Walk
Rehabilitation of abandoned buildings into cornerstone businesses
Bolling Wilson Hotel
7 Dogs Brewpub
Moon Dog Brick Oven
Seven Sisters Brewery
Creation of the indoor/outdoor Farmers Market & Pavilion
Revitalization of The Millwald Theatre
& many other points of the journey Wytheville has made into a more vibrant, walkable, and prosperous community
We’ll also share a little bit about where we’re heading in the next 10 years, so stay tuned over the next few months because the mission is never truly complete in growing and maintaining a sense of community.