Morgan City Main Street receives national accreditation

Morgan City Main Street has earned national accreditation for 2021 through the Main Street America program, the state announced last month in a news release.
The city is one of 25 in the state to earn the designation, which according to a Main Street America news release, is the top recognition that a program can achieve. To do so, Main Street Programs must meet 10 benchmarks.
“This elite designation signifies a strong commitment to preservation-based economic development and community revitalization, along with a track record of effectively applying the Main Street Approach,” the news release said.
Morgan City is one of 883 programs to earn the recognition nationwide.
“We are proud to recognize this year’s nationally accredited Main Street programs that have worked tirelessly to advance economic vitality and quality of life in their downtowns and commercial districts,” Main Street America President and CEO Patrice Frey said in the state news release. “During an incredibly challenging year, these programs demonstrated the power of the Main Street movement to drive impressive local recovery efforts, champion small businesses and foster vibrant downtown districts. I am inspired by their hard work and confident that these accredited communities will continue to help their downtowns flourish in the next stages of recovery.”
In 2020, Main Street America programs nationwide produced $4.14 billion in local reinvestment, made renovations to 8,488 historic buildings and volunteers logged 983,702 hours of service, among other statistics.
In St. Mary Parish, Morgan City was joined by Franklin’s Main Street Program, which also earned reaccreditation.
Other nearby communities that earned accreditation in 2021 are as follows: Houma Downtown Development Corp. (Terrebonne Parish), New Iberia Main Street (Iberia Parish), St. Martinville Main Street (St. Martin Parish) and Thibodaux Main Street (Lafourche Parish).
“Louisiana’s Main Street communities persevered through one of the toughest economic years they have ever faced,” Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser said in a Louisiana Main Street release on the announcement. “Now that we are on the road to recovery, our Main Street communities will be needed now more than ever. They are the heartbeat of many of our smaller towns and communities.”
Morgan City Main Street Executive Director Beth Price was unavailable for comment Monday.