Fenders Alley received a 2022 travelblazer award this week for “working to create a unique impact within the industry and for their community,” according to the award’s mission statement.
Jay Markwalter, president of Georgia Convention and Visitors Bureau came to Cornelia on Wednesday to personally present the award. “We were honored to be recognized, but excited to see the statewide spotlight on Cornelia and Habersham County,” co-owner Jay Reeder said Thursday.
Fenders Alley was a public-private partnership between the City of Cornelia, Cornelia Downtown Development Authority and the Reeder Family. The outdoor dining/bar area and public greenspace in the heart of downtown opened in 2020 during COVID-19 and was inspired by the need for a social entertainment space that also could support social distancing.
“This project has brought our downtown back to life,” Fenders’ application for the award reads. “It opened during COVID and has proven to be such a great addition. Since its opening, the Reeders have opened another fine dining restaurant (Community Brew & Tap), which was another DDA/Reeder transaction, and businesses are opening up all around it. ... It has been somewhat of a catalyst for tourism and economic development in our city.”
The travelblazers program, launched in 2020, is designed to recognize community destination development projects exemplifying multi-partner collaboration and creative product development that demonstrates tourism at the economic development table.
Only 19 of these awards have been given across Georgia in the four years since its creation.
“A ‘travelblazer’ is innovative. Original. A pioneer,” the travelblazer mission statement reads. “We hope through these awards, that other tourism partners will be encouraged to get involved in community development and utilize out-of-the-box approaches to destination product and promotion.”
“Fenders has been a landmark icon since the early 90s in downtown cornelia. When the Reeders bought the old bank building, it was at the very beginning of COVID. At that time, Fenders was closing for good,” said Jessie Owensby, Cornelia’s Community Development Director. “We needed Fenders and we needed it to be successful in order for Community Brew & Tap to be successful in order for Bigg Daddys to be successful. They all complement each other, and all of them make a huge impact on our downtown. Providing an outdoor area for food and drink and entertainment is something very unique and only a few cities have something like it. We are very grateful and lucky to have this kind of establishment in our city.”