A number of projects are set to be completed this summer in Elba. It is all in an effort to bring more life to downtown.

Elba leaders are excited about the beautification projects revamping downtown.

What used to be the old Elba High School before the 1990 flood will soon be a new park complete with playground pavilion and amphitheatre.

“Tiger Town Park was for the children of our community about a year ago...the second phase was building some additions to that park including pavilion, restrooms, amphitheater and redoing the parking lot,” says Elba Mayor James Grimes.

Half of Tiger Town was funded by a recreation grant and should be ready in August, just in time to enjoy the cooler temperatures

“Children can have birthday parties or family reunions or whatever they want to have then we want to have some maybe entertainment or shows maybe on occasion,” says Grimes.

Downtown is also getting a facelift. They've poured new sidewalks, put all the utilities underground and added decorative lighting.

Kaye Whitworth, the Executive Director of the Elba Chamber of Commerce, says “It makes our downtown area more attractive and that makes people want to come to our downtown to shop and to just walk around and enjoy what we're doing.”

The department of transportation is finishing up a half a million dollar paving project.

Twelve streets in the city limits are getting resurfaced.

They include Brown, Edgewood, Fuqua, Taylor, Clark, Ellenburg, Gordon, Carver, Stoudemire, Caroline, Dayton Streets, and Sunset Boulevard.

“They had not been maintained and potholes got in 'em and in some areas the drainage system needed to be reworked, so water wouldn't stand on the paving,” says Grimes.

Mayor Grimes says he hopes these improvements will bring more visitors to the city of Elba.

“It should make it a more attractive, more pleasant to come to. We'll get a lot of people visiting from out of town, coming to the park here so we hope to do some other development along the river to also attracted citizens to come visit our town,” says Grimes.