The Downtown Development Authority will soon get to look at what an entertainment district along the Main Street corridor might look like, a small area where certain rules will be somewhat relaxed for patrons of the area to encourage additional spending in downtown.

Director of Tourism and Economic Development Oscar Guzman came before the Cedartown City Commission this past Monday night, June 3, during the work session to present a general idea of what area of downtown the entertainment district would encompass, and how the concept will work.

In an area that would include a portion of Main Street from Sterling Holloway Place to Ware Street, and within that area (see map below) the city would allow relaxed rules for outdoor alcohol consumption, and the ability for businesses in the corridor to opt out from the Entertainment District program overall.

Guzman said the idea would be to promote the ability for license holders to sell to customers, who could then take their beverages with them while shopping in downtown. The goal is to encourage and cross-promote opportunities for sales between the various stores, entertainment venues like West Cinemas, Cedar Valley Chops and Action Room Billiards with others like Lost Raven Boutique or The Main Threads (as a for instance.)

In order to keep the system from being abused, license holders would get either special cups to distribute within their own locations, or would get stickers that would change out daily to ensure that whatever is being carried around is accounted for in sales within the Entertainment District.

Additionally, businesses within the preliminary (and future boundaries) will get the chance to opt out of allowing customers in with cups if they don’t wish to participate in the program, Guzman said.

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Guzman said the plan and the boundaries are still being worked out, but a forthcoming presentation to the Downtown Development Authority would provide some clarity on how the Entertainment District program will be utilized to promote business overall along the Main Street corridor.

The proposed corridor he brought on paper for Commissioners to look over during the work session is likely to get some revisions with the help of the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission, who are providing some assistance in the creation of the Entertainment District program, Guzman later noted. So the above map is not final.

Following the conversation, Commissioners gave him the go-ahead to move ahead with formalizing the program and presenting it to the Downtown Development Authority for further discussion and review.

The concept – popular in cities near like Rome and Cartersville, and far afield – has grown over the past decade as cities seek to bring people back into historic business districts that were previously bypassed due to the expansion of new opportunities around big box stores, and has since shifted back toward revivals of formerly depressed areas with entertainment venues as shopping habits have changed over the past three decades.

Cedartown officials have over the past two decades worked to revitalize the downtown area, starting with the Streetscape project that brought new sidewalks, tree plantings, safe street crossings and much more to the Main Street corridor.

Facade grants from the the Downtown Development Authority helped building owners to fix and refurbish historic business fronts, and economic incentives from the state drove investors to open up a variety of businesses in downtown Cedartown.

Major investments as well from the Morris family to creating the Cedartown Museum of Coca-Cola Memorabilia and the Doug Sanders Golf Museum have helped increase annual tourism opportunities as well, and business owners like Hal Floyd and others have created their own festival-style events to bring local and out-of-town shoppers to Polk County.

As the city works to increase and fix downtown parking, venues which have opened in the past few years are already here to help make the Entertainment District program a possibility as Cedar Valley Chops and Action Room Billiards bring in an evening crowd into downtown Cedartown, and Shanty Hair Salon hosting a variety of events and live performances alongside Cedar and Smoke attract chances for keeping an evening crowd viable.