Each year, Main Street South Carolina recognizes members' achievements and successes in downtown revitalization.
2026 Award Recipients
Excellence on Main Street Award
Downtown Florence – Pine Street Townhomes
Florence’s restoration of its historic core has seen the recruitment of valuable commercial tenants, but its aim of achieving 18 hours of daily foot traffic required greater focus on housing. The Downtown Florence 2030 Master Plan set a goal of 1,000 new housing units within a decade, including quality affordable, missing middle and market-rate housing at multiple price points and types. The Pine Street Townhomes, which contribute to this goal, help anchor the downtown’s eastern boundary providing housing for working professionals, especially targeted to district healthcare employees; and serving as a bridge to neighborhoods in the east targeted for further revitalization.
The developer Urban Development Services led the project, spending $2 million with support from the SC Community Loan Fund. The City of Florence helped assemble the necessary land parcels over several years and provided a conditional grant of $200,000, reimbursed upon completion of construction. The Downtown Florence Main Street program provided promotional support, and the City of Florence provided downpayment assistance for first-time homebuyers through its Community Services program.
The units have a scale and appearance appropriate for its location among surrounding historic neighborhoods. The project will be the first phase of a master-planned development of townhomes and duplex properties, including owner-occupied units and rental units. When completed, the overall development will have 35 new housing units and a value of more than $10 million. Because the project serves as a proof of concept, it has helped attract other small-scale developers to the market.
Contact Hannah Davis at hdavis@cityofflorencesc.gov or 843.678.5912.
Inspiration Awards
Outstanding Promotion
Main Street Fountain Inn – Christmas INN Our Town
Christmas INN Our Town has brought horse-drawn carriage rides to the downtown for more than 35 years. The event has grown into a full month of business-supporting activities for residents and visitors. In 2025, the city and Main Street Fountain Inn sought to reimagine the program using a planning committee of longtime event partners, business owners and community members, to use cohesive seasonal promotion to help extend existing holiday visits and sustain foot traffic throughout December.
Working with many community partners and city departments, Main Street Fountain Inn hosted 17 events and marketed 71 activities under the Christmas INN Our Town umbrella, creating a shared brand and consistent messaging. Planning began in March, a teaser campaign began in July and full marketing efforts began in early November. Funding came from the city, sponsorships, in-kind support and event revenue, and the efforts ultimately attracted more than 129,000 visitors to downtown.
Contact Amanda Benfield at Amanda.benfield@fountaininn.org or 864.871.2405.
Gaines Jontz Rehabilitation
Downtown Lancaster – The Marshall Building
The eight-unit, 7,500-square-foot building at 123 S. White St. in Lancaster — dating to 1950 — housed mostly service businesses throughout its history, and had fallen into disrepair. It was mostly vacant by 2021 when Greg Gregory bought it for revitalization.
Gregory employed architects to establish a unifying theme to the haphazardly modified storefronts of the building, and had the building gutted, with all-new plumbing, electrical, air and interiors. Renovations cost $765,000 in addition to the $135,000 property cost. He also commissioned a mural by artist Lance Turner. This artwork specifies that the correct pronunciation of the city’s name is “Lank KISS stir” — a point of pride among native residents.
The project to bring new life to White Street generated excitement, with all seven available spaces leased within a few weeks of becoming available. The building now houses preexisting businesses, new startups and a nonprofit.
Contact Alize Thomas at athomas@lancastercitysc.com or 839.213.2878.
Master Merchant
Downtown Florence – Colton Cauthen, Jack’s Books
In October 2024, Colton Cauthen opened Jack’s Books — who identified a viable opportunity to fill a market gap and establish Florence’s only independent bookstore — with assistance from the tenant up-fit grant of the Downtown Florence Main Street program. Within a year, he made the shop to not only be a must-see local destination, but one that has national attention as well, with highlights in USA Today and state travel influencer blogs.
In addition to growing his foot traffic by 200% and establishing a robust e-commerce business, he worked to bolster the overall downtown economy as well. He has collaborated with other merchants, created engagement opportunities and events for customers, supported local organizations and developed a unique line of merchandise connecting the customer base to his brand and the downtown as a whole. Cauthen was also selected as the only South Carolina business to participate in Main Street America’s virtual business accelerator.
Contact Hannah Davis at hdavis@cityofflorencesc.gov or 843.678.5912.
Outstanding Special Project
Downtown Florence – Reimagining Walkability: An Innovative Approach to Assessing District Corridors
As Francis Marion University launched a new occupational therapy doctorate program, it sought out Florence’s Main Street program for downtown engagement opportunities for these students. These groups joined with the SC Department of Public Health’s Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Prevention Section to study walkability and accessibility in the downtown district’s corridors in an 18-month initiative.
After training, the students studied a 17-block area of the downtown. They created and presented tangible recommendations for pedestrian safety improvements, accessibility, vibrancy and connectivity — especially for vulnerable populations — to city and university leadership. Because the city has been planning its streetscape design projects, the walkability study and recommendations could meaningfully contribute to the community’s built environment. The project has become a permanent part of the curriculum for the occupational therapy students, and has come at a time when more cities are focusing on inclusive urban design, quality of life and public health outcomes.
Contact Hannah Davis at hdavis@cityofflorencesc.gov or 843.678.5912.
Outstanding Partnership
Main Street Manning – Manning Lions Club
On the 11 federal holidays taking place throughout the year, such as Memorial Day, Independence Day or Labor Day, Main Street Manning has placed United States flags on display along sidewalks in its downtown. As it doubled the number of flags, it sought a community partner to help with this, and the timing coincided with a push by the Manning Lions Club to find new ways to enhance its community engagement.
For several years now, the Lions Club has provided the labor to set out about 80 flags each holiday — a critical boost for the Main Street staff to make the patriotic displays possible. Main Street Manning provides the flags, flagpoles and storage space. The value of the Lions Club’s volunteer hours in this project amounts to $1,670 annually, and totaling about $5,000 since the partnership’s beginning.
Contact Carrie Trebil at ctrebil@cityofmanning.org or 803.433.5132.
Outstanding Service
Main Street Manning – Jesse and Anna Surette
Manning natives who have chosen to stay in their hometown, Jesse and Anna Surette are early-career professionals who find many ways to give back to the community and support its development. Jesse is a downtown merchant, as a financial advisor with Edward Jones, and has provided financial workshops to small business owners and city employees; while Anna is the communications director for Laurence Manning Academy.
The couple often volunteers at or attends events in Manning. They offer their services as photographers to Main Street Manning, and Anna often shares her design talents for various logo designs. They served as committee members for the Farm to Table Dinner, where Anna prepared the tomato pies on the menu. In 2025 alone, they contributed 35 volunteer hours just to Main Street Manning, on top of their many hours volunteered with other community groups.
Contact Carrie Trebil at ctrebil@cityofmanning.org or 803.433.5132.