NewTown Macon celebrates 2024 Great American Main Street Award

"More and more people are hearing the secret that we've known for a long time," NewTown Macon Main Street Macon Manager Emily Hopkins said.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – NewTown Macon has won the 2024 Great American Main Street Award for excellence in downtown revitalization. The award recognizes the organization’s efforts in transforming its downtown area into a vibrant hub.

Leaders and community members gathered on Friday to celebrate the accomplishment.

“More and more people are hearing the secret that we’ve known for a long time,” NewTown Macon Main Street Macon Manager Emily Hopkins said. “That Macon is an incredible community where people can be a part of the change that’s happening and that they have a voice, and their dreams can come true right here in Macon.”

President and CEO of NewTown Macon, Josh Rogers, was excited to receive the award and praised the local community for their contribution.

“These businesses only exist right here,” he said. “It has become our secret sauce about how we get it done is we take our own people, and we invest in them the know-how and the cash for them to be able to fix a building and start a business.”

One of the businesses that benefited from the revitalization effort is ‘Total Fuze Spine & Pain’ in downtown Macon.

“You have to be the change that you want to see,” owner Dr. Anissa Jones of Total Fuze Spine & Pain said. “So I came back home to do that. And then two-fold I wanted people to know that this was not exclusive or an inclusive club that you had to join to be able to have property downtown Macon.”

NewTown Macon was one of three winners from a nationwide pool of applicants.