Awards

What are the Townie Awards?

The Townie Awards are a festive and venerable tradition designed to recognize the commonwealth’s core communities and individuals for creation and implementation of projects, programs and events that exemplify the goals of PDC’s community revitalization mission. Eligible communities consist of Pennsylvania Downtown Center’s nearly 200 member organizations, including Main Street and Elm Street programs, making the Townies a competitive award process each year.

Application & Guidelines for the 2026 Application

The Townie Awards celebrate both the community and the work done by Main and Elm Street Managers across the Commonwealth. Please refer to the full guidelines to see where your community projects fit within the Main Street approach and the Townie Guidelines. Categories include Organizational Excellence, Physical Improvements & Design, Asset Enhancement, Anchor Building, Safe Clean & Green, Volunteer of the Year and other prestigious awards. Two new categories have been added this year, the For-Profit Partner of the Year and the Community Innovation Award. The window to submit nominations for the Townie Awards is now closed.

Townie Awards will take place on Tuesday, June 30 at 6:00 PM at the Bayfront Convention Center. Conference registration includes one Townie ticket. Extra tickets will be available for purchase once conference registration opens in April 2026.

Benefits of Winning a Townie Award

2025 Townie Award Winners | Congratulations!

Lewisburg Downtown Partnership & Lewisburg Borough
Physical Improvements & Design | Public Space Improvements
Bull-Run Greenway Project

Jordan Ilyes | Hanover
Physical Improvements & Design | Individual Façade Restoration
Greer’s Burger Garage | A Cornerstone of Downtown Hanover

Spanky’s Courthouse Café | Clearfield
Physical Improvements & Design | Individual Façade Restoration
Brand Spank(y’s) New Facade

Downtown Bedford, Inc.
Physical Improvements & Design | Program Wide Façade Restoration
Downtown Bedford Program Wide Facade Restoration

Easton Main Street Initiative
Promotions & Marketing | Retail Promotions
Match Made in Easton

Eastern York County Business Network
Promotions & Marketing | Retail Promotions
2024 Susquehanna Holiday Trail

Meadville Community Revitalization Corporation
Promotions & Marketing | Promotions & Marketing
A Meadville Mistletoe Miracle: A Holiday Shopping Love Story

Oil Region Alliance/ Oil City Main Street
Promotions & Marketing | General Image & Identity
Design Guide

City Ave District
Promotions & Marketing | General Image & Identity
City Ave District Brand Refresh

Washington Business District Authority
Promotions & Marketing | Special/Neighborhood Events
The Running of the Wools

Mainspring of Ephrata
Promotions & Marketing | Special/Neighborhood Events
First Saturdays

City Ave District
Promotions & Marketing | Special/Neighborhood Events
2nd Annual Bala Ave Art Walk

Clearfield Revitalization Corporation
Promotions & Marketing | Special/Neighborhood Events
Riverfront Festival

Downtown Inc. | York City Police Department
Organizational Excellence | Community Partnerships
Downtown Resource Center

Downtown Bedford, Inc.
Organizational Excellence | Community Partnerships
A Model Partnership for Downtown Revitalization

Easton Main Street Initiative
Anchor Building
The Commodore

Brian Batten | Honesdale
Volunteer of the Year

Shirley Flickinger | Lititz
Volunteer of the Year

Deena Kershner | Our Town Foundation, Hamburg
Outstanding Achievement by a Program Manager

The Teri Foster Award

Every so often, an individual comes along who views downtown revitalization efforts not merely as a job, but as a labor of love. These rare individuals make a dramatic impact not only on an individual community, but on the entire field of downtown revitalization. This most esteemed award honors one of the Commonwealth’s most ardent supporters of local communities– Teri Foster.

Teri was born in 1953 in Somerset County PA. She was a 1971 graduate of Somerset Area Senior High School and earned her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from The Pennsylvania State University in 1975.She then went on to receive one of ten annual Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Internships with the Richmond Virginia Times Dispatch. Teri returned to Pennsylvania in 1978 to begin her public service career at the Pennsylvania Department of Community Affairs (now the Department of Community and Economic Development).

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The Samuel Sloan Auchincloss Award

Established in 2018, the Samuel Sloan Auchincloss Award recognizes community revitalization programs in the commonwealth for outstanding achievements in Pennsylvania Downtown Center’s Townie award categories of General Image, Special Events, Retail Promotion and Transitional Marketing.

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