Main Street Hanover Honored with 2026 Townie Award for Excellence in Downtown Marketing Campaign

General News ArticleCommunityPress Release

HANOVER, PA. – Main Street Hanover is proud to announce that it has been selected as a recipient of a 2026 Townie Award from the Pennsylvania Downtown Center (PDC), recognizing the organization’s innovative marketing efforts to strengthen downtown Hanover as a vibrant destination for residents, businesses, and visitors.
The Townie Awards were presented during PDC’s annual statewide conference, “Making Waves on Main Street | Big Bold Ideas That Push the Boundaries,” held in downtown Erie. The awards recognize Pennsylvania Downtown Center’s member communities and individuals for outstanding projects, programs, and events that exemplify the goals of community revitalization. This year, eighteen awards were presented to communities across the Commonwealth.
“This award is a tremendous honor and a reflection of the incredible collaboration, creativity, and dedication that exists throughout our downtown community,” said Moriah Tyler, Executive Director of Main Street Hanover. “The success of this project would not have been possible without the support of our local businesses, community partners, volunteers, and the team members who helped bring Hanover’s story to life. We are grateful to be recognized alongside so many outstanding Main Street and Elm Street communities across Pennsylvania.”
In 2025, Main Street Hanover launched a comprehensive downtown marketing campaign supported by a $12,000 marketing revitalization grant from Explore York. The initiative was designed to increase downtown visibility, encourage exploration, drive foot traffic, and provide meaningful support to Hanover’s small business community.
The campaign centered around three key strategies: accessibility, engagement, and storytelling. Main Street Hanover developed and distributed professionally designed “Explore Downtown Hanover” maps and brochures, providing visitors with improved wayfinding tools and encouraging them to discover the unique shops, restaurants, breweries, and attractions throughout downtown.
A major component of the campaign was a partnership with Fuhrman Creative to produce a series of short-form video reels highlighting the people, businesses, and experiences that make downtown Hanover special. These authentic storytelling pieces expanded Main Street Hanover’s digital presence, increased social media engagement, and helped position Hanover as a destination for day trips and weekend visits.
The campaign produced measurable results, including increased participation in downtown events, stronger business engagement, and significant growth across digital platforms through increased views, shares, and audience interaction. Downtown businesses also reported positive impacts, including increased customer activity and greater visibility resulting from the campaign.
“This project represents exactly what the Main Street approach is all about, bringing people together, building partnerships, and creating meaningful economic impact through creativity and collaboration,” said Tyler. “Marketing a small town requires telling the story of the people who make it special, and Hanover has an incredible story to share.”
Pennsylvania Downtown Center Executive Director Julie Fitzpatrick praised this year’s Townie Award recipients, stating, “The Townies are an opportunity for us to showcase our member communities and celebrate their incredible work in our commonwealth’s business districts and neighborhoods. Our Main Street and Elm Street community leaders work tirelessly to make our Pennsylvania communities places where we are proud to call home, start a business, build a family, or retire.”
The annual Townie Awards are held as part of PDC’s statewide conference, which highlights community revitalization efforts throughout Pennsylvania. The 2026 conference in Erie welcomed more than 300 attendees, including municipal officials, community leaders, planning professionals, and Main Street and Elm Street managers from across the state.
Main Street Hanover is honored to receive this recognition and remains committed to continuing its mission of enhancing downtown Hanover through economic development, community engagement, historic preservation, and creative placemaking.
About Pennsylvania Downtown Center
Founded in 1987, Pennsylvania Downtown Center’s mission is to advance the sense of place, quality of life, and economic vitality of Pennsylvania’s downtowns, traditional neighborhood business districts, and nearby residential areas. PDC serves nearly 200 member organizations throughout the Commonwealth, including Main Street and Elm Street programs.
About Main Street America
Main Street America leads a movement committed to strengthening communities through preservation-based economic development in older and historic downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts. For more than 40 years, Main Street America has provided a practical, adaptable, and impactful framework for community-driven, comprehensive revitalization through the Main Street Approach™. Our network of more than 1,600 neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, share both a commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development. Since 1980, the Main Street Movement has resulted in $115.42 billion reinvested locally, 181,647 net new businesses, 815,895 net new jobs, 345,801 buildings rehabilitated, and 37.3 million volunteer hours. Main Street America is a nonprofit subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. For more information, visit mainstreet.org.

About Main Street Hanover
The mission of Main Street Hanover is to expand the economic capacity of downtown Hanover, thus improving the business environment, enhancing the quality of place, and increasing community synergy.

 

Main Street Hanover is a 501c3 non-profit & proceeds benefit the revitalization of Downtown Hanover.

The 18 Townie Award Winners for 2026: 
VCED, Oil City Exchange & Oil City Main Street
Anchor Building
100 Seneca
DON Enterprises, Inc.
Asset Enhancement
Building New Castles-East Side Grove
Tailored Real Estate
Asset Enhancement
Franklin Street Social
Downtown State College Improvement District
Community Innovation
Calder Way Pop-Up
Meadville Community Revitalization
Physical Improvements & Design: Public Space Improvements
ARC Community Greenspace
Downtown Chambersburg Inc.
Physical Improvements & Design: Public Space Improvements
Spring Street Amphitheatre
Liverpool Main Street | Perry County
Physical Improvements & Design: Public Space Improvements
Cornet Park
Downtown Carlisle Association
Physical Improvements & Design: Public Space Improvements
Downtown Carlisle Beautification Efforts
Main Street Hanover
Promotions & Marketing: General Image & Identity
Explore Downtown Hanover Marketing Campaign
Downtown Inc
Promotions & Marketing: General Image & Identity
Why York-Imagine the Possibilities
Downtown Ardmore District
Promotions & Marketing: General Image & Identity
Downtown Ardmore District Re-Brand
Greater Honesdale Partnership
Promotions & Marketing: Retail Promotions
Girls’ Night Out
Erie Downtown Partnership
Promotions & Marketing: Retail Promotions
Downtown Autumn Soup Stroll
Erie Downtown Partnership
Promotions & Marketing: Special or Neighborhood Events
Pay-What-You-Can Farmers Market & Community Harvest
Dinner
United Neighborhood Centers-Pine Brook
Promotions & Marketing: Special or Neighborhood Events
On & On 10th Anniversary Block Party
Spanish American Civic Association
Organizational Excellence
Sidewalk Stewardship | Clean, Green & Connected
Alec Hersh | Downtown Ardmore District
Outstanding Achievement by a Program Manager
James Wenger | PDC Board Chair
Outstanding Board Leadership

Main Street Hanover Honored with 2026 Townie Award for Excellence in Downtown Marketing Campaign