Covington Designated as Tennessee Main Street Community

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development
Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter announced today that Covington is the newest community
to join the Tennessee Main Street Program.

Covington is the county seat of Tipton County in West Tennessee and joins 46 other Tennessee
Main Street communities that are accredited through the state program and Main Street
America, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

“Tennessee’s rural and community development efforts are bolstered by the Main Street
Program. Covington is the latest of many great towns and cities across our great state to join
the program, and we can’t wait to see the revitalization efforts downtown,” Commissioner
McWhorter said.

The Main Street Program provides training, support and grant opportunities to assist in
downtown revitalization efforts. The program will focus on adaptive reuse of historic
commercial buildings for community events and economic vitality.

“TNECD is excited to welcome Covington to the Main Street America network,” Tennessee Main
Street Program Director Kim Parks said. “They successfully completed the Tennessee
Downtowns program with a downtown branding and marketing project as well as a wayfinding
signage program. This allows them to take the next steps to grow businesses, preserve
buildings, and develop community pride in their downtown district.”

The Tennessee Main Street Program requires communities to illustrate a commitment from
local government and other local organizations, have an adequate organizational budget, hire a
dedicated program manager, have a strong historic preservation ethic and a collection of
historic commercial buildings and a walkable district.

Accredited Tennessee Main Street communities are spread across the state and include
Athens, Bolivar, Bristol, Brownsville, Centerville, Cleveland, Clifton, Clinton, Collierville, Columbia,
Cookeville, Dayton, Dyersburg, Elizabethton, Etowah, Fayetteville, Franklin, Gallatin, Greeneville,
Halls, Humboldt, Jackson, Johnson City, Jonesborough, Kingsport, Lawrenceburg, Lebanon,
Lewisburg, Livingston, Madisonville, Maryville, McKenzie, McMinnville, Morristown, Mount
Pleasant, Murfreesboro, Paris, Pulaski, Ripley, Rogersville, Savannah, Sevierville, Sweetwater,
Tiptonville, Union City and Winchester.

About the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development
The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development’s mission is to develop
strategies that help make Tennessee the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs.
To grow and strengthen Tennessee, the department seeks to attract new corporate investment
to the state and works with Tennessee companies to facilitate expansion and economic growth.
Find us on the web: tnecd.com. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Like us on
Facebook. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
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