Foley Main Street and the City of Foley came home from Enterprise with three honors from the 13th annual Main Street Alabama Awards of Excellence banquet — and one of them went to the public works crew.
The awards were formally presented at the Foley City Council meeting Sept. 8. The banquet was sponsored by Energy Southeast and the Alabama Black Belt National Heritage Area.
A 15-Year Vision, Finished Under Budget
The City of Foley received the Public Space Improvements Award of Excellence for its East Jessamine Street Improvement Project, described as a cornerstone of downtown revitalization and the culmination of a 15-year vision for a more walkable, connected community.
The project used a “complete street” design — an approach that treats a roadway as shared space for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists rather than as a channel for cars alone. In practice that means the sidewalk, the crossing and the lane width are designed together instead of the sidewalk being whatever is left over.
The result creates a new gateway to downtown while connecting City Hall, the library and Riviera Utilities with Heritage Park and the pedestrian bridge over Alabama 59.
Design features include symmetrical walkways centered on the Centennial Clock Tower, decorative lighting and traditional brick architecture. Traffic-calming measures were built in as well, including mid-block crossings and context-sensitive lane widths intended to improve resident safety.
Narrower lanes are a deliberate safety tool: drivers slow down in response to a tighter visual corridor, without a sign or an officer required.
The project was completed in May 2025 and came in under its $524,965 budget, even after adjustments made to accommodate local business owners — a combination that rarely survives a construction project on an active commercial street.
Teaching Soft Skills to Downtown Workers
Foley Main Street received the Business Development Award of Excellence for Downtown Forward Skills for Success, a program built around three workshops led by staff from Auburn University’s School of Business.
The workshops gave Downtown Foley small businesses and their employees personalized, small-group assistance focused on soft skills and professional development. The premise was that personal development feeds business outcomes — job growth, customer loyalty and stronger reputations.
The three workshops drew 90 attendees. Each was offered twice, once in the morning and once in the evening, so workers on different schedules could attend.
The logistics deserve their own mention, because they are the reason the attendance number exists. Foley Main Street partnered with First Foley Baptist Church to provide babysitting and used downtown restaurants to provide breakfasts and dinners.
Free child care and a meal are what turn a professional development offering from something a small-business employee would like to attend into something they can. Programs that skip those details routinely draw a fraction of the turnout and conclude that interest was low.
Every attendee received a copy of “This Is Day One: A Practical Guide to Leadership That Matters” by Drew Dudley, which presents leadership as a daily practice rooted in personal values rather than a role reserved for people with titles.
Dudley’s “Leading with Lollipops” concept holds that people may not control what they have to accomplish on a given day, but they are always in control of who they are — a framing suited to an audience of employees rather than executives.
The Public Works Award
Foley’s local Main Street Hero recognition went to Darrell Russell and the City of Foley Public Works team for their work and impact on Foley Main Street and the broader community.
The team was recognized at the Toast to Heroes Reception, sponsored by Regions Bank, ahead of the banquet.
Foley Main Street said the Public Works team is integral to downtown’s success and has helped turn the organization’s concepts into reality through its partnership with the group. Street closures, event setup, sidewalk repair, holiday installations and cleanup after a festival are all public works functions, and a downtown organization without a cooperative public works department spends most of its energy on logistics rather than programming.
Wes Abrams, president of Foley Main Street, singled out something other than workmanship.
“What truly sets the Foley Public Works team apart is not just their workmanship, but their character,” Abrams said. “Their positive attitude makes them a joy to work with for business owners as well as Foley Main Street. By combining pride with a genuine commitment to public service, the City of Foley Public Works team has earned our Community Leader Award.”
Two Resolutions From Montgomery
State Rep. Frances Holk-Jones surprised the group by presenting two Alabama House of Representatives resolutions — one honoring Russell and the City of Foley Public Works Department for their Hometown Hero recognition, and one honoring Foley Main Street for its national accreditation.
National accreditation is not automatic. Main Street programs are evaluated against performance standards covering organizational capacity, planning, reporting and community engagement, and accreditation has to be maintained rather than earned once.
What Main Street Alabama Is
Main Street Alabama President and State Coordinator Mary Helmer Wirth spoke to the broader program at the banquet.
“The night was a wonderful reminder of why this work matters,” Wirth said in a news release. “It is an honor for me to present the awards and seeing the pride each community has in its Main Street district was truly inspiring. Our local Main Street programs are doing meaningful work across Alabama, and the Main Street Four-Point Approach continues to help communities build on what makes them special while preserving the places that tell their story.”
Main Street Alabama is a nonprofit focused on public-private partnerships, community engagement and strategies that create jobs, encourage investment, attract visitors and spur growth in core commercial districts. It works from the history, culture and attributes of individual communities rather than applying a uniform template.
The organization has 36 designated and 34 network communities across the state.
Foley Main Street is a nonprofit dedicated to economic vitality, historic preservation and community development in Downtown Foley. Through partnerships, events and business support initiatives, it works to strengthen the downtown district, promote local businesses and improve the community experience for residents and visitors.
The Pattern in the Three Awards
Taken together, the honors describe a downtown strategy that is not about a single project.
One award went to physical infrastructure — a street rebuilt to connect civic buildings to a park. One went to human capital — training the people who work in the shops that line it. One went to the crew that maintains it.
Downtown revitalization efforts frequently deliver the first and neglect the other two. Foley was recognized for all three in the same evening.