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Once upon a time, a guy in Dallas decided that he didn't like how the downtown in his neighborhood was filled with empty buildings and nothing was going on down there. Sound familiar? So he and some friends came in and basically made one city block look cool for the day & got a bunch of people to come out. His project stuck, people got interested in reviving some of the buildings and they actually saw permanent improvement in his neighborhood (technically Oak Cliff). Since then, lots of other cities have emulated the idea and done similar things for their downtowns.
That's where Texarkana comes in. One of our lovely citizens took it upon himself to get this initiative going here, and he now has the backing of officials from both cities (Texarkana, Arkansas & Texarkana, Texas), the Chamber of Commerce, Main Street Texarkana, and is working in conjunction with Railfest... he has really done an awesome job.
The sad part is what's still lacking - more community involvement. You know, from regular old people like you and I. Texarkana is one of those cities where the young people complain, "there's nothing to do!" Well here is something to do. Something to be a part of that will help your city and be fun. May 10 is the date of the Better Block (same day as Railfest, how convenient!) At the very least, plan to be there. If you want to do more (yes, please) - sign up to volunteer (you could help clean up old buildings, or set up tables and chairs for people to hang out, lots of photo ops) or throw $20 toward to project here! Or even $10!
PS- Check out the Better Block Texarkana FB page to see a video that goes inside the Grim Hotel. Forreal. And Like the page, while you're there.
Above photo from my Instagram.
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