Great American Main Street Semifinalist 2026
What is GAMSA?
The Great American Main Street Award program recognizes communities exemplifying the use of the Main Street Approach to revitalize commercial districts. Winners are selected from a nationwide pool of applicants by a jury of Main Street professionals and leaders in the fields of community economic development and historic preservation. Since the award’s inception in 1995, only 115 Main Street programs have been honored as GAMSA communities
- Main Street America
Main Street America leads a movement committed to strengthening communities through preservation-based economic development in older and historic downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts. For more than 40 years, Main Street America has provided a practical, adaptable, and impactful framework for community-driven, comprehensive revitalization through the Main Street Approach. Our network of more than 1,600 neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, share both a commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development.
“To be chosen is such an honor, and by a national jury of judges who see our revitalization and community building efforts as one of the top in the nation. It’s truly humbling, and it goes to show that anything is possible here at home, as long as we continue to have a committed vision and the dedication to see it through.”
Why is this significant?
Since 1995, only 115 of over 2000 Main Street programs have been acknowledged as GAMSA-winning communities.
This has been a hard-won, community-driven effort requiring vision, thousands of volunteer hours from community members, and millions of dollars from public-private investment in creating a strong community we can all be proud to call home.
2026 is Downtown Wytheville’s 12th anniversary (having officially been designated a Main Street America/Virginia Main Street accredited organization in 2014).
As Main Street America Vice President Matt Wagner said, “The pace at which Downtown Wytheville has achieved revitalization success through public and private investments is second to none throughout the nation.”
Since 2014, we’ve seen a dramatic transformation of downtown with previously abandoned buildings gaining new life, many new transformative businesses, a revitalization of public amenities for Wytheville residents and tourists, a new social scene, and a renewal of community pride.
We achieved this as a community through the hard work of countless individuals, and GAMSA recognizes all this hard work and introduces a new Wytheville to the rest of America.
An Honor to Be Nominated, Again
We’re honored to be selected as a semifinalist for the 2nd year in a row. The 2026 Great American Main Street Award ceremony will be held at the 2026 Main Street Now Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma on April 13th, 2026, where we will find out whether we have been chosen as 1 of 3 Great American Main Streets.