Fernandina Beach Main Street
Press Release
Arlene Filkoff, Executive Director
September 10, 2019
In the late 1970’s a group of visionaries in this community headed a series of projects to revitalize downtown. This came at a time when some downtown businesses were moving out to be more accessible by all island residents, some to shopping centers being built on 14th St.
Among other things, the revitalization project restored the Court House, created the historic district and the Historic District Council, and redesigned Centre St. The redesign serpentined part of the street; introduced historic looking lighting, new sidewalks and trees; and implemented signage that had historic fonts and colors. Over the years, the consistency that had been implemented has been somewhat lost with different projects that did not address the entire downtown area.
New signage which looks much more like the signage put in during the 70’s project will be put in place in downtown Fernandina Beach starting next week. Fernandina Beach Main Street has been working on this project over the last year. A grant from the State Main Street organization was received by our local Main Street to fund a design project. The bid for that phase was awarded to Dawson and Associates, a firm known for their work in communities such as Norfolk, Virginia. Mr. Dawson has also designed and implemented other signage in the City over the past few years. Graphics for our new signs are being created and implemented by our local Fast Signs Company, headed by Eric Webb.
The new signage will replace the small green signs with a more historic looking framed sign; replace street signs with font similar to that implemented in the 1970’s era revitalization effort; and eliminate some of the sign clutter in the downtown area. A second wave of implementation before year end will identify every business in the Main Street district on table top maps in parking lots.
This project, along with landscaping efforts, event planning and sponsorship, and marketing for downtown are all part of the Main Street mission to help keep downtown economically vital, to advocate for downtown businesses, and to champion historic preservation. If you have any questions about the Fernandina Beach Main Street program, please contact Arlene Filkoff at [email protected].