About Us
Center City of Amarillo, Inc., began in 1991, when a group of concerned citizens joined together to preserve and revitalize Amarillo’s historic downtown area. Center City is a nonprofit organization and is recognized as a Texas and National Main Street City.
Center City is governed by a volunteer board of directors. Our headquarters is at 1000 S. Polk St. in the historic Bivins Building.
Center City of Amarillo, Inc. envisions the historic preservation and revitalization of Downtown Amarillo, by focusing community, social, aesthetic, recreational and economic interests in a historic core area.
Center City sponsors events to bring people downtown including High Noon on the Square in June and July, Jazztober and the Electric Light Parade in December.
Center City’s mission is to make downtown a better place to live, work, play, learn and worship. Programs include façade grants to improve the appearance of downtown buildings, historic tours to encourage historic preservation and partnerships to make downtown thrive.
Center City of Amarillo Inc. Board of Directors 2021-2022
Officers
President Ed Dowdy, American Land Title
President-Elect Matt Mathias, FirstBank Southwest
Secretary Logan Bartlett, Sprouse Shrader Smith
Treasurer BelyndaWilliams, Amarillo National Bank
Past President, Cal Brannon, Atmos Energy
Dusty Barrick, Barrico Operating, LLC
Jeremy Baskett, JRBaskett, Inc.
Cory Bentley – Upshaw Insurance Agency
Jennifer Bobbitt, Golden Spread Electric Cooperative
Wendi Costlow – Happy State Bank
Cindy Cunningham – Keller Williams
Marjorie Hagan Ellis – Marjorie Ellis Interior Design, LLC
Slater Elza – Underwood Law Firm
Ernesto Guzman – Shiver-Megert & Associates
Andrew Hall – Twenty-Two Ten Ltd.
Julie Imke – WTAMU – Amarillo Center
Tom Knapp – Brown & Fortunato, PC
Katt Massey – Massey Creative Contractors
Han Owens – Amarillo Civic Center Complex
Erica Radach, Herring Bank
Zac Rose – The Rose Group
Randy Sharp – Mays Foundation
Tonya Tyler – Xcel Energy
Linda Vaughn, Retired principal
Tol Ware – Amarillo National Bank
Brenda Graham – Pantex
Ginger Nelson, Mayor City of Amarillo
Ben Whittenburg – Gaut Whittenburg Emerson
Staff
Executive Director, Beth Duke
Special Events Coordinator & Administrative Assistant, Chanette McKibben
A National Main Street City
· Center City is a nationally recognized member of both the Texas and national Main Street programs.
· In 2011, Center City received an award for meeting or exceeding the National Criteria for Main Street Recognition for 10-plus years .
· The Texas Main Street program is under the direction of the Texas Historical Commission.
· The National Main Street program is part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
· Main Street believes in the Four-Point Approach to help downtowns thrive:
1. Organization – a strong organization with community partnerships ensuring the future sustainability of downtown.
2. Promotion – an ongoing program of special events and projects that bring more people and positive attention to downtown.
3. Design – a vision for downtown improvement that includes preserving historic buildings and planning changes that make downtown welcoming to visitors and workers alike.
4. Economic Restructuring – a dedicated development program to create a healthy blend of downtown businesses, residences, retail establishments, entertainment venues, churches and schools.
