In the summer of 2013, the culmination of nearly two years of work and decades of dreaming and planning took place when city, state and federal officials, area civic and business leaders and residents of Dunn gathered at the center of the city’s downtown district to celebrate the ceremonial completion of the Downtown Dunn Revitalization Project.

The project began back in December 2010 with the announcement that the City of Dunn had received a $2.9 million USDA Rural Development Loan to revitalize its downtown area. Ground broke the following July and after more than a year and a half of work that saw the streets and sidewalks of Downtown Dunn literally ripped apart to make way for new and improved infrastructure.

In one decade, the Downtown Dunn Development Corporation has overseen an astonishing transformation of the historic city center, including burying power lines and telecommunication cables, renovating the aged water and sewer system, replacing pavement, and incorporating attractive brick and cement features.

To kick off the celebration of the completion of the project, every downtown business participated in a special “Its Dunn” sales event that weekend. Today, thanks to the efforts of many community and civic leaders, green trees, decorative trash receptacles and benches now line the downtown streets of Dunn, inviting residents and visitors to shop, dine, and enjoy the sense of history and vitality that Dunn has to offer.

Excerpts included from article, The Daily Record, May 6, 2013, Brian Haney