Athens AL

8 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 9 rent out booths, both large and small, at High Cotton Arts. “Our artists are the life’s blood of our organization,” he says, “because they do so much.” “Most of them are retired, and they spend a lot of time there. One of the neatest things the artists do is each month, they decorate the front windows of the building. It’s a pretty building, downtown right next to the railroad tracks. It’s just like you wait and see what’s going to be next. It is always fun to see how they will decorate the windows. Arts and artistic expression are critical elements, even when you’re talking about appraising properties and things like that; how the value proposition takes place in the community. You need to look at the arts and things like that. If you consider larger cities, such as Austin, Texas, the arts are a huge component of that area, and it’s one major reason why people are drawn there.” The Athens Arts League is just one part of this overall local effort, as Lovvorn explains. The league also works in close collaboration with the local tourism board and the Athens Downtown Main Street Board. Sharing Mark’s assessment, Lovvorn notes the rate of activity in Athens. It’s a place where something is always going on, such as the “Concerts on the Square’’ musical events that bring in 3,000 to 4,000 concert attendees: something Lovvorn never would have thought possible 20 or 30 years ago. Jimmar says she is herself an adopted Athenian, having moved there two years ago. A Georgia native, she lived in Huntsville for a decade before making the move to Athens. “Athens is a flourishing community,” she says. “We are a very unique community, and I know that’s what we all love about it. I