Our downtown is lame. A few shops left but lots of empty bldgs. WE have bat problems so some places stink to high heavens & we have pigeons too. Some have gotten those Main Street grants & redone their bldgs but not all. There is a grocery store downtown but most everything is on the loop. The C of C & city promote our fall festival & spring Dogwood Festival but the people that go to these are from out of town. If you read the brocheres you think just where is that place. I never go downtown except to courthouse annex & tire store. No reason for anything else. We do have 2 college branches here & that does help. Also a VA clinic. I shop on the loop but usually go out of town 45 miles away for my sewing & quilting needs. Just plain old small town USA. The kids are doing the same thing we did, crusing the Plaza & just hanging out.