Citizen Portal
Sign In

Denison honored with 2025 Great American Main Street Award and Tourism Friendly Texas certification

City of Denison City Council · December 16, 2025
Article hero
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

State Senator Brent Hagenbooth presented Denison with the 2025 Great American Main Street Award and the city received a Tourism Friendly Texas Certified Community designation; state and city officials highlighted downtown revitalization and presented economic impact figures.

State Senator Brent Hagenbooth presented the City of Denison with the 2025 Great American Main Street Award and read a Senate proclamation commending Main Street director Donna Dow and local revitalization efforts.

Hagenbooth told the council the award recognizes communities that preserve historic commercial districts while promoting economic development. "You've taken an aging downtown and transformed it into one of the most vibrant, economically powerful main streets in the country," he said, and noted Denison's downtown now generates about 28% of the city's sales tax, according to his remarks.

The mayor then accepted an America250 commemorative flag from the Grayson County Historical Commission and invited Main Street volunteers forward for recognition. Donna Dow and other local leaders joined city officials at the front of the council chamber.

The council also heard a presentation from Spencer Zamora, research specialist with the Office of the Governor's Economic Development and Tourism Department, on Denison's Tourism Friendly Texas Certified Community designation. Zamora described the certification as a 2024 statewide program intended to encourage tourism as an economic development strategy. She said visitors are drawn by downtown businesses, festivals and local attractions — including Lake Texoma and the birthplace of President Dwight D. Eisenhower — and described tourism's local economic contributions.

Zamora presented numeric impacts for 2024 that were reported during the presentation: approximately $95.6 million in direct tourism spending, roughly $7.2 million in state and local taxes, about 600 tourism-supported jobs and about $19.5 million in earnings for local residents. (These figures were reported by the presenter and are recorded here as stated in the meeting transcript; formatting in the transcript appeared garbled and figures are presented as provided by staff.)

The recognitions conclude with council expressions of gratitude to Main Street volunteers, city staff and state partners. No formal council action was required to accept the awards or the tourism designation.