Community projects built with Appalachian grant money are getting their moments in the spotlight across Southeast Ohio this month, as Buckeye Hills Regional Council joins local leaders for a series of ribbon-cutting ceremonies funded through the Appalachian Community Grant Program. The celebrations stretch from the Ohio River to Hocking County, recognizing investments in revitalization, tourism, cultural heritage and quality of life.
The local stop this week is in Logan, where a streetscape ceremony is set for Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 2 p.m. at 1 South Market Street. Streetscape work is the kind of project residents experience daily — sidewalks, lighting and a main-street front door that tells visitors a downtown is cared for and open for business.
The series began Monday, Oct. 19, with a 3:30 p.m. ceremony for the Ecotone Amphitheater at 37800 State Route 7 in Sardis, in Monroe County. It continued Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 9:15 a.m. with the Pomeroy Riverfront Revitalization ceremony at Court Street Commons in Pomeroy, the Meigs County seat on the Ohio River.
Two more ceremonies are scheduled in November. The Underground Railroad Museum at 297 West Cross Street in Morristown will be celebrated Friday, Nov. 13, at 2 p.m., and the Southeast Ohio History Center ceremony follows Friday, Nov. 20, at 3:30 p.m. in Athens — extending the celebration from riverfronts and main streets to the region’s history keepers.
Buckeye Hills Regional Council, based in Marietta, coordinates planning and development across Southeast Ohio’s Appalachian counties, and the Appalachian Community Grant Program has become one of the largest recent sources of bricks-and-mortar investment for smaller communities in the region. Projects like these are designed to compound: a better riverfront draws visitors, a better main street helps shops, and a preserved museum anchors heritage tourism.
Community members, local officials and project partners are invited to join the ceremonies. For Logan residents, Wednesday afternoon’s ribbon cutting is both a photo opportunity and a checkpoint — a chance to see finished streetscape work up close and hear what local leaders hope it brings downtown next.
Regional leaders say the point of doing the ceremonies town by town, rather than in one central event, is that each project belongs to its community first. From Sardis to Logan to Morristown, the grant dollars may be regional, but the amphitheater seats, riverfront paths and streetscape corners they built are local places residents will use every week.