Volunteers organized both the April Fools Day and Tryon Beer Festival last year, for example, and those events each drew hundreds of people to town.

Design improvements also factored into the report with private work being done to 62 N. Trade St. or St. Luke’s Plaza, 82 N Trade St. or Southside Grill and 90 Pacolet St., also known as the Old Bookshelf location where upgrades were made to the back of the building facing the Depot plaza project. It also accounted for public landscaping projects such as Maple Street wall improvements, the clocktower crosswalk upgrade, Tryon Fine Arts Center landscaping to the outdoor amphitheater and improved parking, engineering for Streetscape Master Plan elements, town hall basement mold abatement and Oak Street intersection engineering work. Building interior work on the Shops of Tryon and McGourty’s were also included in the total $693,785 ($33,785 in public and $660,000 in private) monies allocated for design, landscaping and engineering work.

The 2012-2013 STMS report also shows the businesses that expanded, rehabbed their buildings, sold properties, closed, added jobs and lost jobs during the report timeframe. Those included two part-time dentists added at Tryon Family Dentistry, 23 full-time employees added to Carolina Yarn Processor’s Tryon location, a MM Publicity full-time position, a full-time position at Tryon Painters and Sculptors and a full-time position at Terra On Trade. Jobs lost included a full-time job at One Scoop at a Time (which closed), a full-time job at Bravo Interiors (which closed its storefront) and a full-time job at Sterling’s Golf Shop (which moved to Red Fox Country Club). Properties sold included the St. Luke’s Plaza property and a vacant downtown lot.

These economic restructuring elements amounted to 25 jobs added and $1,715, 277.

“This is one of the best reports we’ve had in years and it speaks very highly of our community,” Armbrust said.

In the 2011-2012 fiscal year, public and private partners invested $836,136. That year’s projects included $167,000 in grants received for streetscape work and Depot Plaza renovations; $62,636 in public investment and $621,500 in private investment.

Tryon joined the Small Town Main Street (STMS) program in 2007.