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Founded 05-05-05

DBDA Receives $6,000 Grant From ARC For Boone Gateway

Story by Sam Calhoun

The Downtown Boone Development Association (DBDA) recently received a $6,000 grant award from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) for the Appalachian Gateway Communities Initiative: Natural and Cultural Heritage Tourism Development Grant Competition. Thirty-six proposals requesting almost $400,000 in grant funds were submitted from communities and organizations located in eight Appalachian states. A total of $80,000 was awarded to eight grant recipients, including the DBDA.

The DBDA is using the award to design and construct a downtown Boone gateway that will be located at the corner of Poplar Grove Extension and Highway 421. The project is part of the DBDA Public Art Program.

“This was a collaborative effort of many people,” said Mary Baker, DBDA project coordinator for the gateway project, “that took more than a month to complete. This is an amazing achievement—not only for the DBDA and all who helped, but also for the Town of Boone. This will help the Town of Boone be recognized as a regional gateway to the Appalachians and help our community be a focal point in the Appalachian region as a natural and cultural heritage center.”

The gateway project property belongs to Watauga County and will be leased to the DBDA Public Art Program. The gateway site design will incorporate landscaping features such as native trees and shrubbery, an extended walking path and commissioned public artwork that reflects Boone’s natural and cultural heritage, said Baker.

The final design will be created through the collaborative efforts of a landscape architect and an artist and will receive final approval from the Public Art Committee before being installed.

“We’re happy to see this move forward. A lot of different groups have been involved in making this come to fruition,” said Baker. “We are looking forward to taking the next steps in terms of designing the gateway area and creating a collaboration between a landscape architect and an artist to construct a heritage-based gateway into downtown Boone.”

The Public Art Program is a community program designed to incorporate unique public artwork within the downtown Boone streetscape. A public committee made up of employees of the Town of Boone, High Country Host, the Boone Chamber of Commerce, the Boone Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Watauga County Arts Council, members of the media and the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, as well as local business owners and community members, has helped develop and oversee the program.

In addition to the gateway project, several other major projects are underway including a sculpture display area by town hall.

The ARC’s grant competition is part of an effort to promote asset-based economic development in Appalachia and include the arts in tourism development projects. To be eligible under the Appalachian Gateway Communities Initiative: Natural and Cultural Heritage Tourism Development grant category, a community must be a gateway community bordering state and/or national parks, wildlife refuges, forests, historic sites, wilderness areas and/or other public lands.

For more information, call Baker at 828-262-4532.