News »
MURA featured on Nascar.com
Martinsville Uptown out to revitalize historic town
By Rick Houston, Special to NASCAR.COMOctober 23, 2009
01:02 PM EDT
type size: + - If Martinsville Speedway ever runs out of grandfather clocks, maybe the track could give its race winners a chair. A really, really big chair.
The furniture industry has long been a staple of the economy in and around Martinsville, Va. Just last month, Bassett Furniture Industries and local officials dedicated the area's latest landmark -- a really, really Big Chair that stands every bit of 25 feet tall, if not more. It's small-town Americana at its very best.
Another local attraction, the Rives Theatre, is hosting a grand "re-premiere" of The Last American Hero, the 1973 movie starring Jeff Bridges that's loosely based on newly elected NASCAR Hall of Fame member Junior Johnson. At Farmer's Market, customers shop for loaves of oatmeal bread, cucumbers, squash, green onions, honey, seafood and beautiful potted plants.
Martinsville Uptown
One vendor implores customers, "Don't throw away your egg cartons!" They're re-usable, after all.
There's more to Martinsville than its famous race track, a lot more. That's where the Martinsville Uptown Revitalization Association comes in. According to its Web site, the organization is "dedicated to the continued enhancement of the Uptown central business district. By promotion of a variety of special programs -- design assistance, special events and economic development activities -- Martinsville Uptown will continue to lead the way to improvement of the business climate and continued economic growth."
Don't get the organization confused with a chamber of commerce, because that's not necessarily what Martinsville Uptown is all about. Instead, it's a non-profit organization that supports more specifically the uptown portion of Martinsville. Lindsey Bryant was born and raised in Martinsville, and now serves as projects coordinator for Martinsville Uptown. She says that its small-town feel is one of the city's main draws.
"We want to encourage people to come and shop in uptown Martinsville," Bryant says. "We encourage the revitalization of the Martinsville uptown area. It is a historic center of our town. We try to promote this area for people to come and shop, learn, live and play.
"Martinsville has a small-town charm. It's in this beautiful setting, and there are things to do. It's not so small that there's nothing to do, but it's not a big city, either. You still have options."
Don't get the organization confused with a chamber of commerce, because that's not necessarily what Martinsville Uptown is all about. Instead, it's a non-profit organization that supports more specifically the uptown portion of Martinsville. A number of events are planned this weekend in support of what's going on at the race track, events like the movie re-premiere, Friday night's TGIF program featuring Band of Oz and Saturday's chili cook-off.
"Everybody in town goes to the race," Bryant continues. "We invite and encourage people to come and stay in Martinsville. We're trying to make it even more event-friendly for the people who are coming from out of town, to welcome them. [The area is] really celebrating our culture around racing, and letting everybody know how much fun it is to live in Martinsville."
For all the other things there are to do in Martinsville, its race track has been a huge part of the area's economy for more than 60 years.
"Twice a year, that's an additional however many thousands of people that are coming into Martinsville, eating in our restaurants, staying in our hotels, shopping in our places of business," Bryant says. "Because the economy has went down, some places have, over the last 10 years, fizzled in and out.
"Now, we've had time to deal with the situation and give it a hand. New businesses have come, new restaurants have opened. There are new places to go during your weekend trip here at the race track. We're trying to encourage everyone and show everyone what you can do here."
http://www.nascar.com/2009/news/business/10/23/small.business.martinsville/index.html
