By Joanie Jasper

Middlesboro Main Street

What’s up, Middlesboro? I can’t believe that March is halfway over. We have celebrated Read Across America. We have had the opportunity to welcome two new businesses downtown. We enjoyed another shopping night. Some of us had a green beer, and others totally forgot it was St. Patrick’s Day. We also lost an hour, and I sure do miss it.

With the months going by so fast, it will be summer before we know it. I am excited about the warm weather and the fun events we have planned. Three events really are going to be a blast, and I hope everyone gets to be a part of them.

June 1-3 is the Bell County Talent Contest. The event will be held at OYC Church. Applications can be downloaded from the website- downtownmiddlesboro.com. This talent contest is open to vocalists, groups, and instrumentalists. I hope we will have many people participate in this event. The winners from our contest will move to the regional contest in October at the Union County Opry. The winner at the regional level will be named Entertainer of the Year for the Cumberland Gap region. The title is pretty cool, but there are many other great perks. The big one is the opportunity to get a recording deal. It would be amazing for the winner to be from Bell County.

June 22 starts the Middlesboro Levitt AMP Concert Series. This series will be ten weeks of concerts ending on August.

24. I am looking forward to having the live music back in the Levitt Lot and having the chance to hang out with friends. Pinnacle Of Purpose (POP) will take over the lot’s food booth. They will have some delicious food and drinks for you to purchase and enjoy right there on the lot. I hope Doug Bayless and Vets Serving Vets will have their Smash Burgers, bologna sandwiches and those crazy delicious hot fudge ice cream cakes. I am also excited to see the golf carts hit the Avenue.

May 20 will start another great Summer event – Cruisin’ the Crater Car Show. Every third Saturday from May to October

Cumberland Ave from the 19th to the 22nd will be filled with some cool cars, music, and great people.

I hope you can attend at least one of these events with your family and friends. It will be an excellent opportunity to make some incredible memories.

Is anyone interested in participating in a community garden? We are currently looking at the possibility of starting a community garden, plus we have a location to sell the produce and flowers grown in the

garden. The spot we are looking at will need a bit of work to get it ready. This project will need a group of volunteers to make it happen. If you are interested in this project, just drop me an email.

As I close, I wanted to leave something for you to think about- what would you like to see happening in Middlesboro over the next five years? Do you want to see more events? What businesses would you like to see come to town? You may want to see more murals or art throughout town. When you have your list, I would love for you to email it to me. It is essential to learn what types of things the community wants to see happen, so we can implement plans to get some of them. Your thoughts are important, and I would like to hear them.

Take time this week to make someone smile! My email is downtownmiddlesboro@gmail.com, and it is ready to get mail from you.