Welcome and Congrats!

Hello, and welcome to the Biz Blog!

My name is Amity Downing and I am the business reporter for the Southeast Missourian. I'm the new kid on the block in Cape Girardeau's business world, but I have lived in the city since I was 5 years old. I look forward to meeting more wonderful people from the area and learning new things about my hometown.

In other news, Old Town Cape announced in a news release that it took home three state-level awards from the Missouri Main Street Conference in Kansas City, Mo., last week.

The Cape Riverfront Market was named the 2013 Top Special Event by the Missouri Main Street Organization, and the Broadway Corridor Project won the Missouri Main Street's Streetscape and Public Improvements award.

Lastly, Old Town Cape received Missouri Main Street's Greatest Achievement award, which, according to the news release, "recognizes an exceptional downtown management organization that provides financial stability to the revitalization effort, exhibits leadership skills that generate design improvements, promotions and events that highlight the area's culture and history, shares historic preservation resources, generates economic growth for the downtown and works with the city and other public partners to accomplish downtown goals."

Kudos to Old Town Cape!

If you haven't heard, Old Town Cape also has picked up blogging. Check out the Old Town Cape Blog at oldtowncape.org/blog.