Just a bit more than a week before Valentine's Day, Florence Main Street hosted our 4th Annual Chocolate Crawl! This year was just as great as the rest with delicious chocolate treats that were to die for and new businesses to visit as well as our returning favorites!Tickets this year sold out 3 days before the event and even though it was cold out, we had a great crowd! We saw so many new faces and heard a lot of positive feedback from the patrons. Many of them said it was the best year yet!On top of that, ticket holders enjoyed 15% off their purchases as well as a chocolate treat at participating businesses. Grier Insurance even gave away dinner for 2 at Ricatoni's to one lucky winner!
This year's chocolate treat winner was Cloth & Stone with their Chocolate Wine Cake! Great job to the Cloth & Stone team, we heard crawlers raving about that treat and the store it was in all day.A very close second was Miss Beth's Tailoring and Alterations with their Oreo Bon Bons! Miss Beth’s was a first time participant in the crawl this year and nearly clenched the victory, so congratulations to all involved; everyone seemed very impressed. 
A few honorable mentions this year were North Alabama Chiropractic's Chocolate Covered Bacon, Jack O' Lantern Farm's Mocha Turnovers, and Printers and Stationer's Mini Cannoli's, but there were many more amazing treats as well that were very well made and well received. We can’t thank the participants enough. The bar had already been set high by the previous years and the ball was still knocked out of the park by each and every one of you! If you missed out this year, don't worry; there's always next year! If you love bacon, be on the lookout for our Bacon Fest in June that will include our annual Bacon Crawl!
America's Main Street Contest
Florence Main Street has the chance to win $25,000! All it takes is one click to vote for #DowntownFlorence to win. You can vote once a day, now through April 23rd. We ask that you please take two seconds to vote and then share with your friends! Think of all the amazing things we could do for our downtown!
3rd Annual Downtown Chocolate Crawl
Do you love chocolate and sweet deals? Then this is the event for you! Downtown Florence boutiques, salons, and other stores will be turning into Chocolate Shops for one day only and they want you to come see them! Make it a date or bring your friends for a day full of shopping and fun! This event is known as 'trick or treating for adults" and "a wonderful time had by all, sampling sweets and exploring all the great stores in downtown Florence"!Each business will be showcasing their current styles, specials, and services along with a bite-sized sample of a chocolate treat. During the Chocolate Crawl, shoppers will also get 10% off their purchases at participating businesses.Tickets for the 3rd Annual Downtown Chocolate Crawl will go on sale Monday, January 16th at 10:00am! Only 350 tickets will be sold for this event. Tickets will be $10 at the office and $11 online ($1 will be added as a processing fee)Check back here for more details!
Florence Main Street Announces Nominated Charities for Florence Restaurant Week 2016
For the last four weeks Florence Main Street has been collecting on-line and mail-in nominations from the community for their favorite charity to be on the Restaurant Week ballot. After sorting over 750 nominations submitted between September 15-October 13, Florence Main Street finally has the top three most nominated charities and the two wild-card picks who will compete for the coveted $5,000 from our Presenting Sponsor, McDaniel Window & Door.Last year, Presenting Sponsor Mike McDaniel awarded the $5,000 check to winning charity Shoals Sav-A-Life, and this year he is looking forward to making another charity very happy.This year, we are thrilled to announce a second sponsor – Alabama Outdoors! During restaurant week be sure to go and visit Alabama Outdoors to see their fall inventory and cool specials. When you make a purchase show them your receipt from a participating downtown restaurant and they will donate 10 percent of your Alabama Outdoors purchase toward a check for the second place charity! In no particular order, the five charity finalists are: Room In The Inn, Salvation Army, Heart of Alabama Save Rescue Adopt, Meals on Wheels and Sidney’s Safe Foundation. All five charities will be competing for the communities’ vote during Florence Restaurant Week, October 21st - October 30th. Whether you buy a cup of coffee from Rivertown or have dinner at Odette, every purchase will come with a ballot for the opportunity to vote for the charity of your choice.Join Florence Main Street for our preview of Florence Restaurant Week during the Taste of Downtown event on Tuesday, Oct. 18th at Singin’ River Brewing Company! Get to know the nominated charities you will be voting for from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm, while tasting samples of dishes prepared by all participating restaurants. Admission: $10 in advance and $15 at the door (while supplies last). Tickets can be purchased online at www.dineoutflorence.com and www.florencemainstreet.org or at the Florence Main Street Office ~ 301 N Pine Street.FLORENCE RESTAURANT WEEK IS OCTOBER 21st-30th. Please help us do good where it counts by voting for one of the five charities by dining at any of the participating downtown restaurants and shopping at Alabama Outdoors! Participating Restaurants: On the Rocks, Pie Factory, Woodpecker Café, Wildwood Tavern, Rivertown Coffee, FloBama, 306 BBQ, Odette, Legends, Ricatoni's Italian Grill, City Hardware, Singin River Brewing Co., and Rosie's Mexican Cantina.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.
Florence Main Street's 4th Annual Golf Tournament
Do you love downtown Florence? Want to help it continue to grow in economic strength and cultural vibrancy? Then come have some fun and play a round of golf with Florence Main Street!All funds raised by Florence Main Street are used to support the visual appeal and economic strength of downtown Florence along with promoting it as the cultural and historic heart of our community. Here's a little more about Florence Main Street...Florence Main Street is a non-profit organization working to maintain, strengthen and promote historic downtown Florence. Affiliated with the National Trust for Historic Preservation's National Main Street Center, we focus on the four elements that help define the success of a downtown; Organization, Design, Promotion, and Economic Development.The Florence Main Street project was the brainchild of several talented and forward thinking business owners, downtown residents, city leaders, University of North Alabama professors, historic preservationists and cultural leaders. In 1992 they petitioned the Florence city council and mayor to begin a Main Street organization. They also solicited the application thru the state of Alabama to become a part of the state-wide Main Street Organization.Since 1992 more than $190 million has been invested in downtown Florence renovation and construction through public and private funding. More than 2000 new jobs have been created and a net of 512 new businesses have settled here. More than 200 events such as Music in the Park, Renaissance Faire, UNA’s Storytelling Festival, Arts Alive, and W.C Handy Festival have become yearly events and take place in downtown Florence. The Florence Main Street boundaries are generally the Tennessee River to the South, the University of North Alabama to the North, Florence Cemetery to the East and the termination of Mobile and College Streets to the West. Florence Main Street also works in nearby neighborhood business districts. Florence Main Street receives financial support from the City of Florence, private sponsors, individuals and Florence Main Street fundraisers.Funds raised by Florence Main Street go to support restoration and revitalization efforts in historic downtown Florence. Examples of uses of funds are retail and special events to increase awareness of the downtown community, building façade improvements, downtown beautification, banners, gifts of public art, recruitment of new business.Florence Main Street is responsible for the following (and more!):Christmas Open House ~ Lion Night with UNA ~ Florence FoodiesSilver Screen Project ~ Historic Downtown CalendarFall Fun Festival ~ Mural on Fred’s Building ~ Upstairs DowntownEducation Seminars for Businesses ~ Chocolate CrawlMedallion in the floor in the lobby of the FLPL ~ Christmas ParadeGranite sidewalk inlay of the City of Florence original mapDowntown banners & Christmas lights ~ Merchant MeetingsQuarterly Retail Shopping Events ~ Inventory of BusinessesFlorence Restaurant Week ~ Downtown Shopping BrochureDowntown Bacon Crawl ~ Downtown Dollars So grab three friends and hit the links at Blackberry Trail and help make downtown Florence even better! Click here to register your team.Call the Florence Main Street office for more information, 256-760-9648 or email info@florencemainstreet.org.