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Salisbury locals win big at N.C. Main Street Awards
Downtown Salisbury, Inc.

Salisbury locals win big at N.C. Main Street Awards

Salisbury’s Bell Tower Green Park, the Bankett Station project, and the entire Salisbury Parks and Recreation Department continue to celebrate their honors bestowed at the recent North Carolina Main Street Awards ceremony held last week in Statesville, N.C.

Bell Tower Green Park captured the award of merit in the Best Outdoor Space Improvement category. This three-and-a-half-acre Park, located in the middle of Downtown Salisbury, boasts green space with a main green, promenade garden, leisure garden, creative play space (natural playground), restroom pavilion, water wall, gazebo and bosque garden, colorful gardens, Wrenn House (future restaurant, separate project), stage, Bell Tower and garden, granite seat wall and a garden trellis.

The Bell Tower Green Park property was purchased in 2017 by a local non-profit and donated to the newly-formed Bell Tower Green, Inc. With this transfer of property, and an initial collection of private funds from 45 families, planning, design and fundraising began for the creation and implementation of the new park.

In “A History of Rowan County, North Carolina,” the author calls for a place “where the inhabitants might resort at will … and refresh themselves by breathing the pure air that comes whispering through the rustling leaves of the trees.” Early planning documents in the layout of Salisbury show a ‘town commons’ in the center of the city, and this vision has been carried through various generations of the City and Downtown Salisbury’s leadership.

According to the nomination form, “Bell Tower Green has brought new economic impact to Downtown through visitor dollars, larger festivals, and events and multiple ongoing concert series. The new green space brings people from Rowan County and those visiting together into a beautiful space.”

Bankett Station, at the corner of Innes and Lee Streets, won Best Infill Project. An infill project is a formerly vacant and under-utilized parcel within the existing urban area that has been reinvigorated. This corner property, developed by Downtown Properties LLC, Bogle Firm Architecture, and Ritchie Engineering, PC, is a seamless addition to Downtown Salisbury’s streetscape. Formerly, the corner housed a service station, next to two warehouse and automobile buildings, all of which had been vacant for some time and stood at the entrance to Downtown Salisbury.

In an effort to revitalize a crucial entrance to Downtown, Downtown Properties chose to carefully deconstruct the service station, with historic materials being saved for a future project, and design-build new construction in its place. The first floor houses the offices of HealthCare Management, while the second story has five apartments. This infill property is designed carefully to occupy a pivotal corner of Downtown Salisbury with intention, but while flowing with the existing historic architecture in the downtown.

The Salisbury Parks and Recreation Department was honored as one of 38 Main Street Champions throughout the N.C. Department of Commerce program. North Carolina Main Street Champions are recognized for their contributions to their Main Street programs and downtown districts. Since the recognition started in 2000, including this year’s honorees, 375 Champions have been honored by the state.

A staff of 12 full-time and 10 part-time Parks and Recreation employees maintain more than 29 properties and parks. Among those properties are Bell Tower Green, Graffiti Park and Gateway Park, all of which are located in Salisbury’s Downtown District.

Parks and Recreation manages all of these recreational spaces and their programs, including parades, festivals, events, concerts and movies nearly every weekend throughout the spring and summer, and at major holidays like Juneteenth, Pride, Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve. In one year, the staff put in over 1,300 hours serving on committees to enhance Downtown, and planning and assisting Downtown Salisbury with events such as Wine About Winter, College Night Out, and Holiday Night Out, just to name a few.

­­ “North Carolina’s most important asset is the people that live and work in their communities, and our Main Street program teaches our communities how to leverage this invaluable resource into positive economic change,” said N.C. Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders. 

“Champions are the heartbeat of rural North Carolina,” said Kenny Flowers, Assistant Secretary of Rural Economic Development at the N.C. Department of Commerce. “They don’t give up on their communities and keep fighting for new businesses, new jobs, and new investment.”

“Main Street Champions are passionate about their community and their downtown districts,” said Liz Parham, Director of the NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center at Commerce. “They are public officials, volunteers, community leaders and concerned citizens that are all working collaboratively for common goals within the context of their community’s economic development strategies”.

 

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Whom To Call

Public Safety Emergencies: 911

Non-Emergencies: (704) 638-5333 or (704) 216-8500

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Information

The City encourages the community to stay informed, practice good hygiene, be aware, and be prepared.

As a community we are in this together; stay calm and help each other by staying home if you are sick, check in on your neighbors, and continue to slow the spread of COVID-19 by using best practices.


Stay Informed
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Resources For Business

CDBG & COVID-19

Staff Liaison

Hannah Jacobson
(704) 638-5230
Hannah.Jacobson@salisburync.gov

Current COVID-19 Restrictions

Executive Order 185:

  • Lifts the Modified Stay at Home Order established under Executive Order 181
  • Still requires face coverings in all public indoor settings
  • Allows many businesses to operate at 50% capacity
  • Extends onsite service of alcohol until 11 p.m.
  • Lifts the 100-person cap on some businesses that were operating at 30% capacity
  • Allows some indoor businesses – including bars and taverns, indoor amusement parks, movie theaters and indoor sports arenas – to open at 30% capacity (with a cap of 250 people)
  • Allows larger indoor arenas with a capacity of more than 5,000 people to open at 15% capacity with no cap (as long as additional safety protocols in place)
  • Increases the indoor mass gathering limit to 25 people (the outdoor mass gathering limit remains at 50 people)

Each of these routes arrives and departs from the central Transfer Site on Depot St. Any bus you board can take you to the Transfer Site. Any member of the public may ride on the bus. The buses do not operate on holidays.

Please note that the last time listed for a stop indicates the last bus will be traveling to that location and no further transfers are available.


If you leave home, practice your Ws: Wear, Wait, Wash

Covid-19: What are the 3 w's for COVID-19? 1 Wear a cloth mask over your nose and mouth. 2 Wait 6 feet apart. Avoid close contact. 3 Wash your hands or use hand sanitizer.

Stay safe. When outside, stay at least 6 ft. apart.

Covid-19: social distancing in public parks and trails

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