Our Story

About Us

Explore Forest City is a 501(c)(3) Main Street Committee, focused on strengthening our historic main street. We are constantly brainstorming events, accepting façade grants and creating projects that help make our downtown a more enjoyable place where citizens, businesses and visitors thrive, dine, shop, play, live and enjoy the arts and entertainment.

Explore Forest City serves the community by promoting the downtown historic district, protecting downtown’s historic character and charm and strengthening downtown Forest City’s economic viability by encouraging growth and diversity among businesses.

Our History

The Forest City Main Street Program is a partnership between the Town of Forest City's Downtown and Community Development Department and the Explore Forest City Main Street Association. The program primarily works in the areas of organization, design, promotion and economic restructuring. The Main Street Program is part of the North Carolina Main Street Program, the National Main Street Center and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Town of Forest City was awarded the Main Street status in July 2003.

Over the past thirty years, the Main Street movement has transformed the way communities think about revitalization and management of their downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts. Cities and towns across the nation have come to realize that a prosperous and sustainable community is only as healthy as its core.

Our Main Streets tell us who we are, who we were and how the past has shaped us. We do not go to modern suburbs or enclosed shopping malls to learn about our past, explore our culture or discover our identity. Our Main Streets are the places of shared memory where people still come together to live, work and play.