Summer Avenue has had many names over the years – Hwy 78, The Bristol Highway, The Broadway of America – and now it's adding international district to the list.
According to data from the Summer Avenue Merchants Association, the business owners along the roughly three-mile section of Summer between Highland Street and White Station Road hail from over 30 countries.
One of the highlights of the area is its food scene. A hungry patron could eat their way from Colombia to Jerusalem to Japan without ever leaving Summer.
This unique, multicultural experience has inspired a locally-led campaign to officially brand the area as the city’s first international district.Phase one will include installation of poles with two-sided banners to demarcate the space. One side will feature the new international district signage while the other can be changed to note holidays or advertise events. The association, which has around 60 members, hopes to complete installation by spring 2019.
“We just want to brand to where it’s a destination spot, people will want to come and recognize, ‘Oh, this is Summer Avenue, it’s an international district,’” said Meghan Medford, owner of Medford Roofing and founder of the merchants association.
The project is funded through a $50,000 Community Enhancement Grant from former County Commissioner Heidi Shafer. Beginning in 2016, the Shelby County Board of Commissioners began allocating funds to each commissioner to distribute to nonprofits and other agencies in their district. After eight years in office, Shafer termed out at the end of August but not before earmarking the funds for Summer, as well as grants for two new access points to the Shelby Farms Greenline at Perkins Road and Agricenter International.
“We’ve really been trying to bring Summer up for about a decade now,” said Shafer. “One of the things I thought would be helpful is if we could start to give Summer a sense of place.”
Michael Fahy is president of Prime Development Group, a planning and engineering firm that consulting pro-bono on the branding initiative. Fahy’s family moved to the area in the 1960s and he fondly remembers Summer’s heyday, especially Mike Ladd Guitar Center where he met members of famous bands like Led Zeppelin who were recording at nearby Ardent Recordings.
“[Summer] was the hub for food, services, hardware, whatever you needed,” he said.
Fahy and his firm helped the merchants association narrow in on the best way to spend the $50,000 for maximum impact. After the first signs are installed, the partners will turn to funding phase two, which will include beautification efforts like improvements to greenery and landscape design and recruiting businesses to sponsor additional signs along the three-mile stretch.
“The better the area looks, the more customers are there because they feel safer to shop [and] the more businesses can keep their doors open [which] reduces blight. It just does a lot of great things for the area,” said Medford.
Fahy said branding the area as an international district will...read more.
Article by The Daily Memphian