In her report to the county commission this past week, Chamber of Commerce Director Suzanne Williams revealed improvements being made to historic downtown Smithville as well as the outreach in hopes of bringing even more tourists to DeKalb County.

“Due to our most recent Community Development Block Grant awarded to the Chamber in the amount of $100,000 many façade improvements have been made to our downtown,” she told commissioners in her report. “We have several new businesses in downtown Smithville including Old Timers’ Antique Mall, The Vintage Owl, The Market on Main, and D & D Fashions. Two of our downtown businesses have outgrown their present space and are moving to larger buildings on the square.”

Another grant, she said, will help with outreach. “The Chamber was awarded a new TN Department of Tourist Development Grant to be used for a Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree billboard on I-40 reaching 42,000 cars per day.”

The news got even better when she noted Smithville will be in the new Tennessee Music Pathway.

The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development has a new initiative, The Tennessee Music Pathway,” she revealed. “The Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree and Crafts Festival has been included on Phase 1 of this project. The music trail will be a 1,200-mile loop running the length of the state with a focus on preserving and promoting the history locally and how it has impacted music around the world and on current music events. The live venues where people can go and hear music will be an integral part of this. Being a part of this initiative will provide a lot of free promotion for our area.”

She added the state economic development agency has also selected DeKalb County to be included in their best practices.

“DeKalb County and Saint Thomas DeKalb Hospital will be featured as a “Best Practices” in community partnerships and health initiatives for rural communities,” she said. “This honor was given due to the success of the DeKalb County Health Adventure that was started by Saint Thomas DeKalb Community Benefit Dollars and continued with last year’s Three Star Grant written and submitted by the Chamber and the County Mayor’s office.”

She added that DeKalb County was also mentioned by the governor’s office due to the county’s increase in tourism dollars by 6.7 percent which was third highest in the Upper Cumberland region.

“So, DeKalb’s tourism dollars provide $6,330,000 from travel-related local tax receipts for our county budget,” she reported. “That also means that the tax revenue from tourism dollars saves each household in DeKalb County $955 annually.”