To the editor:
I have had the joy of coming “back home” more often in the past three years. While visiting family in Elizabethton, my husband and I have enjoyed renewing our wedding vows, attending reunions, and meeting friends and family in Elizabethton for lunch and a stroll through downtown to the covered bridge.
While in town, we eat at the local restaurants, we attend church in the area, we shop at the local stores and grocery chains. It is always great to be back “home.”
After several recent visits downtown, I feel the need to express my concern over that area. The downtown stroll is NOT what the Chamber of Commerce write up “Welcome to Downtown Elizabethton” makes it to be. Several stores have merchandise in the windows that has long faded and been rarely rotated. The sidewalks are dirty, the empty store front windows are filthy, litter is in the doorways of closed stores, and a corner real estate agency across from the Bonnie Kate has obviously been left as an embarrassingly deplorable eyesore for years. I understand the Bonnie Kate is being renovated and while that is a wonderful undertaking, the exterior of the building does nothing to convey that energy.
Community pride seems to be missing in the downtown area.
The deficiencies I am pointing out do not call for a vast influx of capital to rectify. They simply cry out for some basic sweat equity: window washing, replacing worn out signage, sidewalk and curb maintenance, and updating window displays. Certainly, some civic entity, be it a scout troop, EHS athletic team/band, youth group, or a chamber sponsored handful of folks could energize the effort needed.
Elizabethton has a lot going for it to interest visitors and remain a wonderful place to reside. But to attract people to the park, the covered bridge area, and the downtown businesses themselves, Elizabethton needs to show that it has some pride in itself by doing some common sense housekeeping.

Sincerely,
Tracey Shepherd Clock
Former Elizabethton resident