Harmon Insurance creates conference room with grant
BY KADIE TAYLOR
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
LAFAYETTE — Harmon Insurance, the only independent insurance agency within 30 miles of LaFayette, helps customers by offering insurance options from a variety of major companies. Since purchasing the current Harmon Insurance building in 2022, owner Dori Harmon said she has been able to update her business through grants from LaFayette Main Street that help her update and ensure usability of her building.
“We’ve done a lot of renovations,” she said. “Luckily, we didn’t have to do any major renovations, but we’ve just kind of given it a little bit of sprucing. We redid our kitchen area. Then we were able to get a grant from Main Street, and we put new windows in. We got our awning in the front painted, which was also through help with Main Street [through grants]. We got a new sign that was also [through grants] with Main Street. This past year, we were able to finish our back room to make it a conference room. With the help of Main Street, we were able to get another grant for that.”
Harmon said through these updates, she has made her building not just functional for her business, but for the community as well. Through the new conference room, Harmon said she is able to provide space for community events and fun.
“We have made our office very useful not only for Harmon Insurance business, but also for a lot of things downtown,” she said. “We’ve hosted church meetings, we’ve had teas and showers and we’ve done Business after Hours. [The conference room was] the VIP room for the Downtown Music Crawl, and we’ve made sure our building has been utilized, not just for us, but for other people in the community as well.”
Harmon said LaFayette Main Street has been helpful in connecting her to grants for the growth and improvement of Harmon Insurance, and the efforts of Main Street improve the experience for community members and business owners downtown as a whole.
“I’m very thankful to be part of Main Street because it has offered so many networking opportunities for us to meet people and to be part of a group that is very positive and wants to see renovations downtown,” she said. “When our Executive Director DeAnna applies for a specific grant that may apply for us, and not all grants apply for us, we get on board and see how we can utilize that and make it beneficial for us. Because we want everybody to be able to use our building and let that be part of downtown, having a resource downtown for them.”
“Through our framework of Main Street, we are committed to strengthening our town through business support, community engagement, beautification and economic development,” said LaFayette Main Street Director DeAnna Hand. “These grants, like the one Harmon Insurance received, are examples of this. We are always grateful to help our businesses be more successful and sustainable.”
“We’re so thankful for Main Street for offering opportunities to the businesses downtown, to not only improve them, but bring life back downtown through gathering the community,” said Maci Gregory Harmon Insurance office manager and daughter of Harmon. “Main Street has been tremendous in helping all the businesses do that. So we’re incredibly thankful for them.
As she continues to open her building to community fun and growth, Harmon said she wants to especially focus on events that support other small business owners and promote growth and opportunity for entrepreneurs downtown.
“I hope that we can continue to maybe do more Ladies’ Luncheons, we have a lot of women that own businesses in the area, and we need to support each other as much as possible by bringing ideas, marketing and educating each other about how we can continue to stay in business and give that support to each other,” she said.
For more information, follow Dori Harmon Agency DBA Harmon Insurance on Facebook or visit www.doriharmonagency.com. Harmon Insurance is located at 5 Alabama Ave. E, LaFayette.
