| staff spotlight | executive director dan butner named elkin’s 2022 ‘main street champion’

April 13, 2023 Dan Butner

| image | Dan Butner pictured in front of his home in Elkin, North Carolina

| elkin’s newest ‘main street champion’ |

During the 2023 NC Main Street Conference held in Statesville in March, Foothills Arts Council Executive Director Dan Butner was recognized as Elkin’s 2022 Main Street Champion, a prestigious award presented by the N.C. Department of Commerce.

Dan became the director of the Foothills Arts Council in 2016. For over 40 years, the Council had showcased local artists, musicians, and performers through exhibits, festivals, art walks, and staged theatre productions. In 2020, the Foothills Arts Council purchased the former Roth YMCA along with eight acres of the deserted Chatham Mill complex. There they developed a new visual and performing arts center and traditional craft school. After launching their fiber arts and violinmaking departments, the COVID-19 pandemic brought programming to a virtual halt. Foothills Arts Council quickly adapted by offering Livestream concerts. Dan stepped in to assist Main Street by hosting an alternative, safe and family friendly outdoor Halloween trail. He works with the Main Street Board to plan and execute its annual Light Up Elkin events. Last year, the Foothills Arts Council hosted and enhanced the Light Up ceremony when the Main Street Board needed an alternate location, again helping downtown. Dan has also renovated several distressed, historic buildings, bringing the district new life and vitality. Elkin is proud to select Dan Butner as its 2022 Main Street Champion.

Source: www.ncdepartmentofcommerce.com

| about the award |

“North Carolina’s most important asset is the people that live and work in their communities, and our Main Street program teaches our communities how to leverage this invaluable resource into positive economic change,” said N.C. Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders.

“Champions are the heartbeat of rural North Carolina,” said Kenny Flowers, Assistant Secretary of Rural Economic Development at the N.C. Department of Commerce. “They don’t give up on their communities and keep fighting for new businesses, new jobs, and new investment.”

“Main Street Champions are passionate about their community and their downtown districts,” said Liz Parham, Director of the NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center at Commerce. “They are public officials, volunteers, community leaders and concerned citizens that are all working collaboratively for common goals within the context of their community’s economic development strategies.”

To review the full article and learn more about the award, please click here.