DELAND — Visitors to Georgia Avenue, a popular destination for freshly roasted coffee, craft beer, locally-sourced food and live music, will no longer find a cracked and crumbling street under their feet.
The city is ready to officially reveal a made-over streetscape with a block party from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.
There will be live music, hot dogs, ice cream, costumed characters, raffle prize drawings and activities for children, city spokesman Chris Graham said.
In an effort to improve the area, the city over the past few months installed new stormwater infrastructure, utilities, sidewalks and repaved the street with bricks.
There also are removable bollards to help protect pedestrians during events like the Artisan Alley Farmers Market, which is held every Friday evening on Georgia, Graham said. Downtown merchants are funding festoon lighting that will be installed across Georgia at a later date.
City officials and stakeholders will cut the ribbon about 5:20 p.m.
Local business owners are ready to celebrate too.
"There are not enough words in the English language to describe how excited we are to have the street again," Robbie Carelli, co-owner of Persimmon Hollow Brewing Company, said. "The process of getting us to where we are has been challenging, but we've made it and now we get to enjoy the fruits of everyone's hard labor."
Clay Cass, who co-owns Trilogy Coffee Roasting Co. with his wife, was also pleased with how everything turned out.
"We're feeling like there's finally some light at the end of all this," Cass said.
He said the street is more pedestrian friendly and just looks more inviting overall.
In addition to the original project, the city repaved the adjacent passageway, known as Pill Alley, that hosts the popular "Wings" mural.
The alleyway has been renamed Persimmon Lane, Graham said.
The city is also repaving and beautifying the parking lot at the west end of Georgia Avenue, Graham said.
The project was awarded last August to Gomez Construction Co. for $548,494.