In the wake of the EF-1 tornado that struck the historic downtown district of Athens Dec. 28, 2024, Athens Main Street has continued to give back to several emerging and growing businesses within their district with beneficial grants from Main Street Alabama.

Main Street Alabama and the Small Business Administration funded the Bright Ideas grant through AL Spark — which is designed to vitalize businesses in designated Main Street Alabama communities across the state by empowering locally directed business development.

“We are absolutely thrilled to introduce AL Spark, igniting Main Street Alabama’s small businesses and entrepreneurs,” President and State Coordinator of Main Street Alabama Mary Helmer Wirth stated in a release from Athens Main Street. “This vibrant new initiative is dedicated to unlocking the potential of small businesses and entrepreneurs across Alabama. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Small Business Administration for the grant, which enables us to uplift small businesses in our designated cities and foster a thriving local economy.”

AL Spark will serve these communities through three key programs; Livewire, Illuminate and Bright Ideas.

Livewire will offer essential business development and training resources, equipping local entrepreneurs with the tools needed to succeed. Illuminate will provide valuable business marketing grants, ensuring those same businesses shine bright in the marketplace. Finally, Bright Ideas will encourage innovation through a dynamic business pitch competition, fostering creativity and collaboration among community members.

The latter of which was on full display Wednesday, Jan. 29, as Athens Main Street crowned the first winner of the Bright Ideas $10,000 Grant Pitch Competition which was held at the LaunchBox in downtown Athens.

The competition featured pitches from several downtown businesses to a panel of judges. Each eligible applicant, which were businesses within the Athens Main Street district that have been open for at least one year, presented how they would best use a $10,000 grant to improve or expand their current operations.

“We had compelling pitches from ten downtown businesses across retail, restaurant, manufacturing, professional services and personal services sectors,” Athens Main Street Executive Director Tere Richardson stated in the release. “Our judges had difficulty selecting the ultimate winner from many great concepts.”

The competition was judged by the Associate Director of Singing River Trail Anna Clem, the Executive Director of LaunchBox Tyler Jones and the Executive Director of the Northeast Alabama Community College Entrepreneurial Center Jennifer McCurdy.

Michelle Crawford, owner of Driftwood Dragonfly, was chosen as the $10,000 grant winner. Driftwood Dragonfly is a specialty tea shop that offers handmade organic healing tea blends, a sizable loose-leaf apothecary wall, house-made body care products, gifts, crystals, reiki, art and wellness classes that appeal to various age groups.

Crawford plans to use the funds to install self-filling stations for custom products and to add a subscription-based service to ship fresh produce and handmade products directly to customers.

Other participating businesses included AMBL Studios, Athens Alehouse and Cellar, Broken Brush Art Studio, Epiphany Boutique, Limestone Drug, Old Black Bear Brewing, The Southern Throne, Toodlebugs and Trinity’s.

Earlier this week, 15 downtown Athens businesses received an AL Spark Illuminate marketing grant of $1,000, all thanks to the resources provided by Main Street Alabama and the Small Business Administration.

The 15 grant recipients, which successfully completed the necessary online marketing courses to obtain the grant money, were:

— Driftwood Dragonfly, located at 405 W Washington St.

— Frame Gallery of Athens, located at 125 N Marion St.

— Frank’s Good Stuff, located at 414 S Jefferson St.

— House of Colour Athens, located at 1405 S. Jefferson St. Suite A.

— Limestone Legends Billiards, located at 111 S Marion St.

— Rad Rags Boutique, located at 110 W Green St.

— Ro’s Grille, located at 126 N Jefferson St.

— Snapdragon Kids, located at 113 W Washington St.

— That’s SO Art, located at 110 Market St.

— The Salty Cod, located at 309 Market St.

— The Southern Table, located at 105 N. Jefferson St.

— Southern Throne Boutique, located at 16 S. Marion St.

— Toodlebugs, located at 107 E. Market St.

— Trinity’s, located at 204 W. Market St.

— Wildwood Deli, located at 113 E. Market St.

Richardson explained how the Illuminate program exemplifies how Main Street Alabama and its partners foster economic growth and innovation in small business development.

“This grant program is a game-changer for our local businesses,” Richardson added. “It’s an incredible opportunity for these entrepreneurs to elevate their marketing efforts and further engage with our community.”