Murphy – A 2025-30 economic development implementation plan has been developed for downtown Murphy that starts with a mouthful: “Where rivers converge, history lives, outdoor adventure calls and North Carolina begins.”
There’s more: “Serving as the county seat of Cherokee County in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. Downtown Murphy serves as a beacon for endless fun featuring connections to outdoor recreational opportunities, the center of commerce with a host of locally owned restaurants and authentic hopping venues; and Appalachian Culture.”
The plan, developed through the town’s Main Street program, seeks to add more outdoor activities to the downtown area, along with economic development incentives to help downtown businesses spruce up their storefronts.
The plan, presented to the Murphy Town Council at its September meeting, outlines its “vision/economic positioning statement” (see above) along with other key points:
- Mission: The Main Street Murphy organization serves to channel and coordinate the voices of all downtown town stakeholders creating strategies promoting and encouraging economic development that preserves and enhances the culture, history and national environment of downtown Murphy using the National Main Street Center’s Four Point Approach to accomplish its mission.
- Implementation strategy: Murphy is a designated N.C. Main Street community. The Town of Murphy has changed Main Street Murphy with the administration of the Main Street program at the local level. The agency uses the Main Street America model of establishing economic development strategies and applying the Main Street Four-Point Approach to downtown revitalization: Economic vitality, design, promote and organization to implement a plan that achieves measurable results.
In its report, Main Street Murphy outlines several goals and strategies:
- Strategy: Downtown Murphy is the beacon for connections to outdoor recreational opportunities.
- Goal: Capitalize on the natural amenities that the area has to offer to encourage business development opportunities.
- Objective: To generate three additional businesses that connect to outdoor by June 2026.
In one plan, downtown Murphy would work with existing business or attract new business to establish regular rental boat service including transportation upriver. Actively recruit an out-door based business to lease the Wiggles Building with the intention of renovating the building.
The town would conduct an outdoor business market analysis, with help from N.C. Main Street and Building Outdoor Communities.
The town would poll the community this fall about creating an Appalachian mascot for design and promotions. In addition, the town would reach out to the National Park Service about creating “Trail of Tears” crossing signs in Cherokee County.
Other parts of the plan include:
- Develop a business set-up plan for prospective downtown businesses.
- Seek donations to support grant fund to support downtown building facade improvements.
- Leverage the new town square at the intersection of Peachtree, Hiwassee and Tennessee streets and Valley River Avenue. This includes booking acts, commissioning public art and organizing other events in the highly visible space.