If You Are Looking for Small Town Feel- Visit the City of Seneca
The goal: Bring more people back downtown. That seems to be the vision of a lot of towns in our area. The city of Seneca made that a priority 4 years ago and today they’re seeing the fruits of their labor. Mayor Dan Alexander remembers when this downtown was electric and alive. And like a lot of towns in the late 70’s and early 80’s big shopping malls opened up and the local stores closed and moved into the malls. Without a reason to go downtown it dried up.
Mayor Alexander wasn’t discouraged. Only more determined to bring back it’s people and give them a reason to come back downtown. With the help of a great leadership team, including City Administrator Scott Moulder, the city of Seneca started investing in its self. They’ve cleaned up the downtown, bought some of the abandoned buildings and are offering grants and incentives to new buyers and investors. In fact in the past 4 year they’ve seen more than 9 million dollars invested into the downtown district.
Restaurants and shopping line the streets downtown and on Ram Cat Ally. Buildings that sat empty for years have changed hands and are being renovated into more downtown living.
Not only are there more things to do downtown they’re making sure to put on events the whole family can enjoy. We can’t wait to check out their Christmas lights this November and December. Millions of lights are put up along with a train for kids to ride on and pictures with Santa. But if you’re looking for something to do now be sure to check them out every Thursday night. Now through October, they close off some of the downtown streets so people can enjoy Jazz on the Alley. Bring a lawn chair and your friends and enjoy great music every Thursday night starting at 7:00. Come early so you can shop at some of the boutiques and grab a fun dinner. You can dine in or grab it to go and enjoy a meal along with Alley with your friends in a communal style eating area.
The close vicinity to the lakes and mountains and Clemson has helped attract people to this charming town. Now the events and revitalization will hopefully keep them there.
