2025 Main Street report indicates progress
BY KADIE TAYLOR
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
LAFAYETTE — The 2025 Report for LaFayette Main Street shows the growth, development and support that Main Street has provided the LaFayette community and business owners.
“We produce this Annual Report in January of every year, and it really shows that LaFayette Main Street has a strong economic and community impact,” she said. “So we're definitely celebrating this past year of significant progress. There were major investments that we always like to highlight — new businesses, job creation and community improvements that we saw in 2025, and this really does continue to strengthen downtown LaFayette, while also preserving our historic character here in our sweet town. Included in the report are numbers from Main Street Alabama as a whole. We like for people in our community to see that Main Street is part of something larger than LaFayette Main Street… Main Street Alabama has generated more than $1.6 billion in public and private investment since 2014, and this includes over 1,400 new businesses and 4,300 new jobs across Alabama.”
With a board of supportive community members, Hand shared LaFayette Main Street’s impact in the community in 2025 and since its designation.
“Since receiving our Main Street designation in 2022, we've definitely delivered those measurable local impact numbers,” she said. “Since 2022, we've created 39 new jobs, 14 new businesses and more than $1 million in private investment. So I think that is definitely showing that our momentum is strong here in LaFayette, and it continues to grow and continues to impact our town and our county as a whole. We also had public investments that were over $429,000… LaFayette Main Street is a nonprofit, and we have nine very dedicated board members who help see our vision and our mission come to life and continue to volunteer their time to give back to our town and our community.
“LaFayette Main Street has contributed almost 6,000 volunteer hours since 2022, and these volunteer hours are so important and definitely need to be highlighted, because those hours are giving back and people pour back into our community and our town,” she said. “We couldn't do it without our volunteers or our board of directors. And I'm so very thankful for their hard work, dedication and commitment to helping us keep our mission and our vision going strong.”
As LaFayette Main Street continues to create and maintain treasured community events, Hand said she is excited to see locals join in on the fun, as well as those from neighboring cities and counties traveling to LaFayette — supporting the local economy and bringing friends and family when they visit the next time.
“I think that's important for the town and the community to value the LaFayette Main Street events because it brings in people that may have never visited LaFayette, and it helps keep us on the map,” she said. “We're bringing in different events to attract visitors that create new shoppers for our downtown businesses. And it just shows [the] community pride that we have here in LaFayette… This is a beautiful, historic town and we are thankful that Main Street allows that highlight to continue while honoring the character of our downtown. The mission of Main Street is to create jobs, support local businesses and keep the heart of downtown vibrant for our residents, for our visitors and for our future generations.”
For more information, visit www.lafayettemainstreet.org.
