Starting the Main Street Program

Getting Started

In the beginning of the Main Street program in Morganton, staff knew they had a lot of work to do. The downtown commercial district had become stagnant. There was no downtown landscaping, and many of the sidewalks were cracked and broken. Public parking was limited and there were few efforts to advertise and market businesses downtown. The Main Street Department started applying the program’s four-point approach of organization, design, promotion and economic restructuring. The goal was to bring business, employment and economic activity into downtown while maintaining the character and charm of downtown Morganton.

Main Street staff started working to get façades painted, put up awnings and start landscaping the streets and sidewalks. Main Street then started working to promote the downtown shopping district through advertising and sidewalk sales, and Main Street held a festival in downtown to promote awareness of downtown businesses; that festival would branch off and become the Historic Morganton Festival, Inc., now in its 4th decade!

Thousand of people fill the streets of downtown Morganton during the annual Historic Morganton Festival. The festival is held every year on the weekend after labor day.