The sodium-burning street lamps burned brightly late last Tuesday night in downtown Atmore.

Last week, after ending the truck route for the Atmore Advance and The Brewton Standard, I noticed something new along Main Street.

My route takes me north along Highway 21 and at that point of night, nary a car can be found.

When I did this consistently earlier this year, I noticed that I wouldn’t be hindered with a red light.

Well, this happened last week. Stopped at the Highway 21 and 31 intersections, I quickly glanced around and found another boutique staring me in the face — The Tiger Lily.

This is one of maybe three new stores — or boutiques — that have opened in downtown Atmore recently. The Philanthropic Seed just opened on Ridgeley Street not that long ago.

This is a sign of growth for Atmore, and residents should be quite happy.

For some time now, the downtown revitalization effort has been in full swing, creating excitement for the city.

In order for this effort to take effect, small steps need to be taken to get there, and that includes, whether you realize it or not, the addition of these small boutiques.

If memory serves, fundraising is being done for the downtown revitalization effort at the present.

This is a good thing because as the saying goes, “it takes a village to raise a child.”

In addition to the various shops that have opened, the Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce has done a good job of promoting the city via its various mediums, including Facebook, an email newsletter, the use of #DiscoverAtmore and more. The list goes on and on.

We are headed in the right direction in regard to revitalizing downtown Atmore, and from the looks of it, there’s no slowing down.

Keep the pedal to the metal.