Several residents and organizations were honored Thursday at the 2012 Envision Awards for their work in making Franklin County a better community.
Winners were chosen on the basis of their contributions to community development, downtown revitalization, historic preservation, walkability and transportation.
The award ceremony was held at the McClure Building, one of the places honored Thursday.
Joe and John Dunn, who own the McClure Building at 306 W. Main St., received an Envision Award for their work in renovating one of downtown Frankfort’s landmarks and providing space to businesses and local non-profit organizations.
Envision Franklin County, which gave out the awards Thursday, said in a statement that the Dunns were honored for bringing the McClure Building “back to life,” after previous owners allowed it to remain unoccupied and go into disrepair.
Also receiving awards Thursday were Betty Burris, the city’s transportation director, First United Methodist Church, Hearn Elementary, and River Trail/Frankfort Department of Parks, Recreation & Historic Sites and Walk-Bike Frankfort.
EFC said Burris received the award for her work on making public transportation “more accessible and relevant.”
Burris updated bus routes to make them more user-friendly and she worked to get new alternative-fuel buses, build new bus shelters around Frankfort, and add bicycle racks to the buses, according to EFC.
First United Methodist Church at 211 Washington St. was honored for its investment into a $5 million expansion, which was completed in 2006. The expansion created space for church offices, a kitchen, daycare, multipurpose room, performance hall and basketball court/gym.
EFC honored the church for sticking to its downtown roots “at a time when many large churches have abandoned their original locations and bought large tracts of property far outside the urban area. The project showed that they could develop a very useful space within a relatively small area,” said a statement from EFC.
Hearn Elementary at 300 Copperleaf Boulevard was awarded for having a location accessible to existing and future subdivisions, and River Trail/Frankfort Department of Parks, Recreation & Historic Sites and Walk-Bike Frankfort were honored for its work on the walking/biking paths off Wilkinson Boulevard. When completed, the paths will connect Cove Spring Park, Buffalo Trace Distillery and several neighborhoods.
Envision Franklin County is an organization that promotes a “healthy, beautiful, and thriving community among people, the land and future generations.”
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