Florence Restaurant Week 2016 Charity Nomination Phase

Contact: Molly Austin or Teryl Shields FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tel. 256-760-9648

Email: info@florencemainstreet.org

FLORENCE RESTAURANT WEEK 2016 CHARITY NOMINATION PHASEFlorence Main Street

Florence, AL – September 14th – Between Sept 15th and October 13th, Florence Main Street wants you to nominate your favorite charity for the opportunity to win a $5,000 check. Last year during Florence Restaurant Week, Presenting Sponsor McDaniel Window & Door owner Mike McDaniel presented the $5000 winning charity check to Shoals Sav-A-Life and he’s looking forward to making another charity very happy this year.  “Presenting the $5000 check to Shoals Sav-A-Life was not only an honor, but a privilege for myself and staff. It was exciting to see our local businesses thriving, while our community came together to raise awareness for so many wonderful charities. McDaniel Window & Door is excited to be the Presenting Sponsor again for 2016 Florence Restaurant Week, and I personally challenge all our local businesses to get involved and support this great event,” said owner, Mike McDaniel.  Selected from the community’s nominations, five charities will be placed on a ballot for guests dining at participating restaurants to vote on during Florence Restaurant Week in October. Thursday, Sept 15th through Thursday, October 13th, nominate your favorite charity and tell us why they deserve this prize.  (To be considered, a charity must be a designated 501c(3) organization and have an office in the Shoals.) The three most nominated charities will automatically be included on the ballot, and Florence Main Street will choose two wild-card charities based on input from our Presenting Sponsor, number of nominations, impact on our community, and other factors. Shoals Sav-A-Life will be excluded from this years’ nomination phase because they were the winners of Florence Restaurant Week 2015. You can nominate your favorite charity four ways. Florence Main Street will have a poll on our Facebook page, on McDaniel Window & Door’s Facebook page, and on our website (www.dineoutflorence.com) or you can mail in your nomination. If you choose to mail in a nomination please include these items: Your First and Last Name

Your Email address

Name of CharityWhy you are nominating the charity?

Name of Executive Director at the charity.

Contact info for the charity. (Address & Phone Number)

Then, from October 21st - 30th, Florence Main Street will host Florence Restaurant Week 2016. Ballots will be available at participating restaurants.  Every time you eat at a participating restaurant during Florence Restaurant Week, you will have the opportunity to vote for one of our five local charities. Every time you eat, you get to vote! Florence Restaurant Week is not only a showcase of our best local eateries, but it will also help to shine the light on some of our best local charities. The charity with the most votes at the end of the week will walk away with a check for $5,000 that will be used to do good work right here in the Shoals.  

Mark your calendars now for FLORENCE RESTAURANT WEEK–October 21st - 30th, 2016! And please, help us do good where it counts by nominating YOUR favorite charity today!Florence Main Street is a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization dedicated to working with business owners, community leaders, and residents toward the common goal of revitalizing Downtown Florence, culturally and economically. For more information about us or any of these efforts, please contact Florence Main Street at 256-760-9648 or info@florencemainstreet.org

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We have a WINNER!

We are pleased to announce that the winner of our Downtown Bacon Crawl T-Shirt contest is Mr. David Sims.Congratulations, David!T-shirts will be available for purchase through our website by clicking on the Downtown Bacon Crawl button to the right at a discounted price beginning August 1st until August 14th.

Florence Restaurant Week Charity Nomination Phase

FLORENCE RESTAURANT WEEK 2015 NOMINATION PHASEFlorence Main StreetFlorence, AL – March 25 – Between April 1 and April 24, Florence Main Street wants you to nominate your favorite charity for the opportunity to win a $5,000 check. Last year during Florence Restaurant Week, Presenting Sponsor McDaniel Window & Door owner Mike McDaniel presented the $5000 winning charity check to SafePlace, Inc and he’s looking forward to making another charity very happy this year.“Presenting the $5000 check to SafePlace was not only an honor, but a privilege for myself and staff. It was exciting to see our local businesses thriving, while our community came together to raise awareness for so many wonderful charities. McDaniel Window & Door is excited to be the Presenting Sponsor again for 2015 Florence Restaurant Week, and I personally challenge all our local businesses to get involved and support this great event,” said owner, Mike McDaniel.Selected from the community’s nominations, five charities will be placed on a ballot for guests dining at participating restaurants during Florence Restaurant Week in May. Tuesday, April 1 through Friday, April 24th, nominate your favorite charity and tell us why they deserve this prize.  (To be considered, a charity must be a designated 501c(3) organization with the state of Alabama and have an office in the Shoals.) The three most nominated charities will automatically be included on the ballot, and Florence Main Street will choose two wild-card charities based on input from our Presenting Sponsor, number of nominations, impact on our community, and other factors. SafePlace of the Shoals will be excluded from this years’ nomination phase because they were the winners of Florence Restaurant Week 2014.You can nominate your favorite charity four ways. Florence Main Street will have a poll on our Facebook page, on McDaniel Window & Door’s Facebook page, and on our website (www.dineoutflorence.com) or you can mail in your nomination. If you choose to mail in a nomination please include these items:Your First and Last NameYour Email addressName of CharityWhy you are nominating the charity?Name of Executive Director at the charity.Contact info for the charity. (Address & Phone Number)Then, from May 8-16, Florence Main Street will host Florence Restaurant Week 2015. Ballots will be available at participating restaurants.  Every time you eat at a participating restaurant during Florence Restaurant Week, you will have the opportunity to vote for one of our five local charities. Every time you eat, you get to vote! Florence Restaurant Week is not only a showcase of our best local eateries, but it will also help to shine the light on some of our best local charities. The charity with the most votes at the end of the week will walk away with a check for $5,000 that will be used to do good work right here in the Shoals.Mark your calendars now for FLORENCE RESTAURANT WEEK–May 8-16, 2015! And please, help us do good where it counts by nominating YOUR favorite charity today!Participating Restaurants: Bookmarks Coffee Shop (inside the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library), Sperry’s, Wildwood Tavern, The Pie Factory, Singin’ River Brewery, Rivertown Coffee Company, Flobama Music Hall, Odette, Imagine That Bakery & Café, Legends Steakhouse, On the Rocks, Trowbridges, City Hardware, Ricatoni’s Italian Grill and more.Make sure to join the Facebook event and invite your friends to follow along with all things about Restaurant Week. Click here!Florence Main Street, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated of working with business owners, community leaders, and residents toward the common goal of revitalizing Downtown Florence culturally and economically. For more information about us or any of these efforts, please contact Florence Main Street at 256-760-9648 or info@florencemainstreet.org ### 

Florence Foodies 2015

Do you love downtown Florence’s unique restaurants and the surprising and delicious menus you find there?  Florence Main Street is again shining the spotlight on Florence’s downtown dining revolution with the 2015 Florence Foodies series.  Florence Foodies is a unique social dining experience with an exclusive menu that features dishes not seen before on a restaurant’s regular year round menu.  Think ‘supper club’ at home grown restaurants with special menus and a rotating cast of new friends.  You’re going to want to be a part of this year long event!

Florence Main Street began the Florence Foodie series in 2013 featuring eight restaurants and it quickly exploded within the dining environment of the Shoals. The Foodies series restaurant hops to different downtown eateries each month from March thru November.  The 2015 Foodies schedule is amazing and a delicious experience is in store for attendees including new guest speakers and dishes to tantalize your taste buds!

“I think it’s safe to say that the Florence Foodies series was at the forefront of the local food scene.  Folks had their favorite places to dine but Foodies opened them up to so many more.  Our restaurants saw new faces become regular diners because of Foodies,” said Teryl Shields, Executive Director of Florence Main Street.

New for 2015 is a special event featuring Chef Alan Phillips of the Red Clay Epicurean. Chef Phillips, a native of the Shoals, graduated first in his class at Le Cordon Bleu California School of Culinary Arts. After working 10 years in the food industry in Los Angeles, he returned home to start his own company, where he takes the food cultures of the American South and puts his special twist on them. He is hosting the September Foodies special event featuring only products from Jack O’ Lantern Farms of downtown Florence. This will be the special foodie event of the year and is not to be missed.

“It was not hard to convince Chef Phillips to join the foodie program because he loves a challenge to wow people with different tastes and textures of food locals haven’t seen before. So naturally Chef Phillips jumped to the opportunity of working with Main Street. His mission with this event is to show why people should buy from the only hydroponic farm, Jack O’ Lantern Farm, in the shoals,” said Christina Dorough, Event Coordinator of Florence Main Street.The participating restaurants for the 2015 Florence Foodies series are Wildwood Tavern, Sperry’s Restaurant, City Hardware, Odette, Imagine That Bakery & Café, Dish Gourmet Café, The Pie Factory, and Rivertown Coffee Company.

Tickets for Florence Foodies will be available online for purchase at the Florence Main Street website, www.florencemainstreet.org/store/florence-foodies, including individual and full season tickets by Monday, January 16th.  The special event tickets will be available on July 1, 2015.

“Don't miss this fantastic opportunity to dine with the best and most creative chefs in downtown Florence.  This is a great opportunity to become aware of what's going on in our wonderful downtown restaurants.  As a Florence Foodie you will get sneak previews of dishes that may be included on the menus in the future.  The chefs go all out to display their creativity for the Florence Foodies and to WOW us with their new dishes.  In addition to all this is the opportunity to meet other local foodie folks and to make new friends. As an experienced Florence Foodie, I highly recommend that you come join us for the 2015 dining experience, “ commented Dave & Debra Reasons, 2014 Florence Foodies season ticket holders and originator of The Brown Bag Review blog.

 Florence Main Street, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to working with downtown business owners, community leaders, and residents toward the common goal of revitalizing Downtown Florence culturally and economically. For more information about us or any of these efforts, please contact Florence Main Street at 256-760-9648 or info@florencemainstreet.org

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4 Courses 25 Foodies and Sperry’s Slam Dunk

Read how Florence Foodies is making an impact with creative dishes, social dining, educating diners with local guest speakers, and foodie bloggers.The Brown Bag Review writes about Sperry's Restaurant

4 Courses 25 Foodies and Sperry’s Slam Dunk

Florence Main Street Announces Restaurant Week Charity Winner

Florence, AL – May 20 - Florence Main Street will announce the winning charity from their Restaurant Week promotion at 10am Thursday, May 22. The live press conference will take place at McDaniel Window & Door Company headquarters, 300 E. Tennessee St, Florence AL. The winning charity will receive a $5,000 check from Restaurant Week Presenting Sponsor McDaniel Window & Door Company followed by light refreshments. Restaurant Week would not have been possible without the generous support from our sponsors McDaniel Window & Door Co., Specs Downtown and Integrated Corporate Solutions, along with assistance from Florence Lauderdale Tourism and the Marriott Shoals Hotel and Spa.

Restaurant Week, held May 9 – 17, was a promotion to showcase the excellent independently owned and operated dining options available in downtown Florence and nearby. Fifteen restaurants participated in the Florence Restaurant Week promotion. To add an extra incentive to dine in the participating restaurants, local charities were nominated to be included on a ballot, where diners could vote for them to receive a $5000 check. “Most of the feedback we’ve received from the restaurants has been positive” said Teryl Shields, Florence Main Street Executive Director. “The only concern expressed was the anticipation of crowds for Restaurant Week on top of the known crowds for visitors for UNA’s graduation and Mother’s Day. Other than that, most of them seem pretty happy with the week. I’ve been told they’ve seen some good traffic.”A promotion of area restaurants was run previously by the Florence Lauderdale Tourism Board but their focus was more aimed toward getting out of town visitors to come into Florence. Florence Main Street’s Restaurant Week was all about getting local citizens that might not have tried the dining options in downtown, to see what all the excitement is about. “Kind of like a prophet isn’t recognized in his own town,  we want our locals to be proud of what an amazing food scene we have here in Florence, said Shields. Our out of town guests are always amazed at our restaurants, their variety of cuisine and the number of our options. Florence Restaurant Week was a way of showcasing our great food to folks in our area”.While the primary effort was attracting local diners, Main Street Event Coordinator, Christina Dorough wanted to make sure folks from all over knew about Florence and our culinary treasures, so she researched regional food bloggers and invited several to visit during Restaurant Week along with inviting local bloggers and writers to share their dining experiences also. “We invited food bloggers from Urbanspoon with highly rated blogs in the Southeast. Taking into consideration of specific writing styles, age, and experience, we narrowed them down to Grant Goggans of Marie Let's Eat from Atlanta, GA and Lauren Widelitz of Old Red Boots from Nashville, TN. They seemed very impressed with all we had to offer and Grant even commented that if one of our restaurants was in Atlanta ‘folks wouldn’t’ shut up about it’. We look forward to reading all of their reviews”.Florence Restaurant Week participating restaurants included Sperry’s Restaurant, The Pie Factory, City Hardware, Ricatoni’s Italian Grill, Rosie’s Mexican Cantina, The Chicago Café, Legends Steakhouse, Rivertown Coffee Company, Bookmarks Coffee Shop, Montagu’s Sandwich Shop, Frostbite Frozen Treats, Sweet Basil Café, Poplar South Deli & Grille, FloBama Music Hall and the Dish Gourmet Café & Catering.Charities eligible for the top prize include Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary, Pets Are Worth Saving (PAWS), Scope 310, Hearts of Alabama: Save, Rescue, Adopt (HASRA), and Safeplace Inc.More information about the nominated charities and food reviews blogs can be found at eatoutflorence.com. For more information contact Florence Main Street at 256.760.9648.

Economic Development Specialist Visits Florence

Main Street Alabama hosted a nationally recognized market strategist, Todd Barman, in Florence Alabama this week. After meeting with representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, City of Florence, and economic development professionals, Barman will conduct a market analysis to showcase existing and new market expansion opportunities in downtown Florence.   The study was requested by Florence Main Street’s Executive Director, Teryl Shields, as a tool to further develop their downtown.With more than 20 years of experience in the development field and more than 16 years firsthand Main Street experience, Barman’s expertise in market analysis is widely recognized.   As a national leader, Todd convenes discussion groups on ways to better approach market analysis and help communities put economic restructuring principles into practice more effectively.   Todd is known throughout the United States and into Canada for his work in downtown development planning and refining Main Street’s asset-based economic development strategies.  His areas of expertise include capacity building and evaluation of local Main Street programs, organizational and community planning, entrepreneurship, targeted market research, and commercial district market position.Mary Helmer, State Coordinator of Main Street Alabama, stated “we are pleased to bring this nationally recognized expert to Florence and sponsor the work he is doing for one of our designated communities.  A complete market study is one of the many items available to Main Street designated communities in our tiered program of services.  Such studies, paired with professional development, help bolster community efforts and position Main Street programs for success.”Main Street Alabama focuses on bringing jobs, dollars and people back to Alabama’s historic communities.  Economic development is at the heart of our efforts to revitalize downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts.

2014 Florence Restaurant Week Press Release

Florence, AL – March 10, 2014 – Between April 1 and April 25, Florence Main Street wants you to nominate your favorite charity to win a $5,000 charity check from our Presenting Sponsor McDaniel Window & Door Company during Florence Restaurant Week.

From your nominations, five charities will be included on a ballot that diners will be able to vote on at participating restaurants during Florence Restaurant Week. Tuesday, April 1 through Friday, April 25th, nominate your favorite charity and tell us why they deserve $5,000. (To be considered, a charity must be a designated 501c(3) organization with the state of Alabama and have an office in the Shoals.) The three most nominated charities will automatically be included on the ballot, and Florence Main Street will choose two wild-card charities based on number of nominations, impact on our community, and other factors.You can nominate your favorite charity three ways. Florence Main Street will have a poll on our Facebook page, on our website  or you can mail in your nomination. If you choose to mail in please include these items:First and Last NameEmail addressWhy you are nominating the charity?Contact information for charity.Then, from May 9-17, Florence Main Street will be hosting Florence Restaurant Week, and ballots with the five chosen charities will be available at participating restaurants. Every time you eat at a participating restaurants during Florence Restaurant Week, you will have the opportunity to vote for one of our five local charities. Every time you eat, you get to vote! Florence Restaurant Week is not only a showcase of our best local eateries, but it will also help to shine the light on some of our best local charities. The charity with the most votes at the end of the week will walk away with a check for $5,000 from our Presenting Sponsor McDaniel Window & Door Company–money that will be used to do good work right here in Florence. Mark your calendars now for FLORENCE RESTAURANT WEEK–May 9-17, 2014! And please, help us do good where it counts by nominating YOUR favorite charity today!

2014 Historic Downtown Florence Calendars

 For many years, the Design Committee of Florence Main Street has published an annual calendar devoted to various aspects of historic downtown Florence.Some calendars highlighted historic commercial buildings; many focused on historic private residences, while at least one centered around historic houses of worship.The handsome 2014 calendar is entitled simply “Historic Downtown Florence.” It includes structures such as Wesleyn Hall on the UNA campus (built in 1855) and the recently-constructed law office of John Harris on South Court Street which is an excellent example of sensitive infill architecture. Also featured are beautiful stained glass windows at First Presbyterian Church and Ferdinand Sannoner’s 1852 map of Florence done in granite and embedded in the sidewalk at the intersection of Court and Tennessee Streets. All photographs are the work of local photographer Glenn Bevis.So, for just $5.00 a person receives an artistic calendar with 13 beautiful black-and-white photographs and a written history of each of the 13. It easily becomes a keepsake or a gift to a special friend or family member. The purchase of 50 or more reduces the price per copy to $3.00The 2014 calendar is available at the Kennedy Douglass Center for the Arts, 217 E. Tuscaloosa Street or contact Executive Director Teryl Shields by phone at 256-760-9648 or by email at: tshields@florencemainstreet.org .2014 Calendar Press Release