- News

FOLEY – Efforts to improve downtown Foley received several state awards recognizing the work to preserve and promote the city’s historic center.

Foley Main Street, the city’s downtown improvement organization, took major awards at the recent Main Street Alabama state conference. Awards presented to Foley included the Award of Excellence in Placemaking and Wayfinding, the Excellence in Historic Rehabilitation Award and the Alabama Main Street Reinvestment Award.

Darrelyn Dunmore, Foley Main Street executive director, said the city’s support for downtown efforts made the awards possible. Foley Main Street representatives shared the awards with the Foley City Council and municipal officials at the Sept. 2 council meeting.
“We would like to present this award to the city of Foley, on behalf of the teamwork that we have all done and what they have done to help make this work,” Dunmore said.

Mayor Ralph Hellmich said Main Street supporters are bringing business and improvements to downtown Foley.

“I just want to say that our Main Street board and Darrelyn work really, really hard every day,” Hellmich said. “We've had around 20  to 24 businesses over the past few years relocate downtown. Darrelyn told me, not long ago, her biggest problem now is that she doesn't have any empty buildings to fill.”

The placemaking award recognized work to create information signs directing visitors to downtown locations. Efforts began in 2020 when the city provided funding for the project.

“We were tasked with making signs designed to define, enhance and create a sense of place in a specific location,” she said. “Unlike standard business signs that display a name or logo, place-making signs contribute to an area's identity and character, making spaces more welcome, navigable and visually appealing with the goal of visually defining the borders of and the interior of the downtown.”