By Betsy Finklea
Dillon Mayor Tally McColl and Dillon Community Alliance Executive Director Stephanie Mitchell are excited about the work occurring on Main Street and about the potential of the downtown area.
The Dillon Community Alliance was awarded $1.25 million for the revitalization of Main Street from the State of South Carolina through the efforts of Rep. Jackie Hayes.
The first step is occurring now—the removal of the planters. Palmetto Paving and the City of Dillon Public Works Department are doing the work, which should be completed earlier than expected by the end of the week. McCall thanks them for their work during this extremely hot time.
In addition to the planters, several trees will also be taken out to make the businesses on Main Street more visible. “We’ll be putting in more green than we’re taking out,” McCall said. Mitchell explained that more suitable trees will be chosen and planted in the proper soil.
They will be meeting with a landscape architect. At the October 8th meeting of the Dillon City Council, a presentation will be made, and the public is invited to listen and make suggestions on the types of trees and shrubbery they would like to see on Main Street.
McCall said the Pavilion area will be somewhere that they can have concerts, weddings, and other events. He said the Pavilion area will be something that Dillon can be proud of and will not only be nice, but “very nice.”
They are hoping that when Main Street is finished that they can also work on the landscaping on the side streets.
If money is left, they hope to purchase new trash cans and benches and to get a heat seal of the City logo on the street.
Business owners have been offered the opportunity to get free signs courtesy of the Dillon Community Alliance to make the signage more uniform, and there will be plant hangers for hanging baskets, etc. One of the goals is to make the landscaping as low maintenance as possible to keep the stress off the city employees who have little time for maintenance and make it beautiful at the same time.
While there may be times that work seems to stop on Main Street, rest assured that there is much work going on behind the scenes, such as meetings, studies, obtaining permits, etc.
The state plans to pave Main Street so it was urgent that the planters be removed now. The paving is expected to start in the near future.

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Photos by Betsy Finklea/The Dillon Herald
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