By STEVEN CALHOUN/Staff Writer

Montevallo – The city of Montevallo held a celebration on Jan. 3 to kick off its streetscape project.

Citizens and business owners stopped by to snack on refreshments and talk to city officials and organizers of the streetscape project.

The project will take an estimated 200 days to complete and falls in the city’s 200th year. This is great news, according to Mayor Hollie Cost.

“I think it’s a fantastic opportunity to coordinate both celebrations. We have our bicentennial celebration throughout the year and … I think it correlates very nicely,” Cost said. “This could create a nice atmosphere of festivities and community, and that’s really what we’re all about.”

At the kickoff celebration, children stood in line to get their picture on construction equipment and with the project’s mascot – a man made of traffic drums that has yet to be named. City officials were taking votes for names of the mascot, which will be placed at different locations for the duration of the construction project as a fun reminder of the city’s positive outlook.

The renovation project has been in the planning phases during the administrations of the last three mayors of Montevallo. Cost served as a council member under the two previous mayors and said she was thankful to see the project go from being a vision to an executable plan.

“I got to be a part of all of it, but it’s nice to be in a leadership position. I know that this is going to be one of the more difficult aspects of the entire plan because construction’s difficult,” Cost said. “Our real commitment now is to make sure that everybody understands that Main Street is open for business.”

Multiple groups support the new development, including the Montevallo Chamber of Commerce and Main Street Montevallo. The Montevallo Development Cooperative District has been an indispensable part of the project, according to former mayor Ben McCrory.

Sarah Hogan of the Montevallo Main Street program said her program is very supportive of the streetscape project.

“We’re partnering with all the other great organizations that Montevallo already had in existence. We think it’s going to be a great experience for our community and really bring more life to our downtown,” Hogan said.

Hogan reemphasized that businesses will be open during the construction. She said the Montevallo Main Street program is planning block parties to keep people coming downtown while construction is underway.

For more information, go to cityofmontevallo.com.