Business View Civil Municipal - July 2023

193 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 7 MI LLBROOK , ALABAMA On the residential side, Millbrook is seeing quite a bit of interest from both local developers and those from the outside interested in building what will be predominantly single- family master-planned communities. “We have several major residential developments already on the books that have actually already started building so we are seeing a definite uptick in residential activity,” Harper notes. Arts and Culture at Millbrook’s Fingertips Creating a position within the city to handle civic events and the arts and cultural offerings for Millbrook led to bringing Danae Morgan on board a year ago. “When I came on board with Millbrook the focus was on special events and then what evolved out of that is a community arts facility called The Art Mill,” Morgan reflects. “We had our grand opening this past March and it was a house that was built in 1940 that the city had acquired but there was thought to tear it down.” Morgan looked at this prime property and determined that it could be renovated and turned it into a community arts facility that would create a hub and focus for Millbrook’s cultural arts scene. “We host classes and hire local artists to teach music and visual arts for children and adults. We also have a gallery where we showcase artwork, hold receptions, and provide the opportunity for local artists to sell their work,” Morgan explains. Events also fall under Morgan’s purview and the city, while already holding several annual events prior to Morgan taking to the arts and cultural helm, the city has added new ones including a Memorial Day event and the creation of MayFest, a celebration of the arrival of spring. “We ended up having over 5,000 people come to our MayFest so there is a definite economic impact with these types of special events for our city.”