THOMASVILLE — Twenty years might seem like a long tenure for most jobs, but for a Main Street director it is an eternity.

“The average job time span for a Main Street director nationally is three years, so that should say something,” said Sharlene Celaya, current director of the Downtown Thomasville Main Street program. “It’s very challenging work and very rewarding, but you really have to have a lot of staying power.”

Celaya, retiring this week, has spent the last 15 years with the program.

She was also a Main Street director in Quincy, Fla., for four years and spent one year working in downtown revitalization in Cairo before coming to Thomasville.

The most dramatic change Celaya has seen during her tenure here is in retail.

“When I came here, Thomasville was not a downtown that was dilapidated and neglected,” she said. “The program had already been instituted, so a lot of positive changes had occurred with the way the buildings looked. The program then began to change from a pretty, fix-up stance to more of a hard-core economic development ‘we’ve really got to get some businesses in here.’”

Celaya said “success breeds success.”

“We really counted on our good and solid merchants who had been here for a long time to promote and sell our downtown,” she said. “Some young people who had lived here and moved away came back to open businesses. As they came in, they were very excited about the changes in their town. I think it was their enthusiasm and excitement over being in downtown that really started to help us move past that kind of a tired, sleepy little town that has always been here to a very trendy, up-and coming place. The whole face of downtown evolved to what it is today. I really credit the stability of the long-time merchants with the addition of the newer folks who had been and lived other places and seen what it was all about who came in and said they could do it here in Thomasville.”

This new standard spread throughout the downtown area with better service, merchandise and window dressings.

“I think we all realized at the same time that to compete in today’s world with all the shopping that there is going on in shopping center’s and discount stores and over the Internet that downtown had to set itself apart,” said Celaya. “It had to do something that was above and beyond, and (realize) that shopping in downtown Thomasville needed to be a form of entertainment and enjoyment as much as a service.”

Another good thing that happened, Celaya said, was the Tallahassee Road being four-laned.

“I believe Thomasville feared there would be more out-shopping here, but the opposite occurred,” she said. “It made it easier for people from Tallahassee to come to Thomasville. They discovered that Thomasville is a much easier and better place to shop instead of fighting traffic to get to the mall.”

The improvement in retail prompted an improvement in projects with more emphasis on historical significance. This led to the reactivation of the Downtown Development Authority.

“It used its powers to get other projects done that would compliment the retail such as taking white elephant buildings and finding something to occupy them,” said Celaya. “We keep trying to add to the numbers of people who are in the downtown, but strive to keep retail focused on Broad Street. Certainly, there is retail on Madison and Crawford, but Broad was the focus and still is. We keep services in downtown, but they do not take up valuable retail space.”

Celaya’s said the most challenging part of her job over the years has been dealing with property owners who had pieces key to the program’s success but were unwilling to sell them.

“I would say it was working with them to facilitate those projects, bringing the buyer and seller together to the table and working on a solution that was a win-win situation for both properties so the Downtown Development Authority could acquire and develop properties,” she said.

The job can be political, said Celaya.

“You are dealing with hundreds of private individuals in a town who have their own ideas and want to do things their own way, whereas in a shopping mall or center, part of the lease says you will be open these coordinated hours and participate in these events, everything is laid out in advance,” she said. “The very opportunity to be unique is what makes downtown interesting and not homogenous. We appreciate individuality and applaud it.”

Years of experience also taught Celaya that things that “must be” are not always what “should be.”

“You’re told that you must get coordinated store hours, get mom-and-pop organizations to stay open late and on Sundays, but what we have come to realize is truly none of those things has to happen,” she said. “You can still have a downtown that is unique enough and special enough without it. That’s why these people are in downtown instead of the mall. They wanted to have the opportunity to do things their way.”

Celaya’s proudest moment in “a lot of mountain top experiences” came in 1998 when Thomasville was named a Great American Main Street city.

“The award had only been in existence for three or four years and every Main Street city in America was trying to get that designation,” she said. “It really was a great thing for us to have that opportunity. It really bolstered our standing nationwide, gave us prestige, brought us press and hundreds of people in here to look at our town and thousands of phone calls asking how we did it. It was a catalyst for us. We knew it was one of the best, but I’m not sure the Thomasville people knew it.”

That award was followed by Thomasville being named as one of “The Top 12 Destinations in America to Visit” by the National Trust and one of the “Best Towns to Retire In” by “Where to Retire” magazine.

Now, with many mountaintops climbed, Celaya is ready to turn the torch over to someone else.

“There just comes a time when you need to recognize that it is time to move on, and I am at that point now,” she said. “I loved it and I’m proud of it, and I know in my heart that it is time to turn it over to someone else and let another person come in with their enthusiasm and no prejudices from the past and start afresh. That is good for a program. It’s a rebirth.”

Still, it is a bittersweet moment.

“I’m just so proud of where the program has come and what has been accomplished,” said Celaya. “I don’t think everyone who works at a job has the opportunity to see their accomplishments like you can in Main Street. Because we have documented, charted and photographed everything and are constantly having to turn in numbers and figures to sell the program, it makes us cognizant of what has been accomplished. You can walk down the streets of downtown, see how good it looks and hear the residents brag on downtown and know you have done something right. That is very, very rewarding.”

Karen Smith, taking the director reigns from Celaya, is excited about the opportunity to run Main Street.

“Coming behind someone like Sharlene, sometimes a lot of people look at it as this can be good or this can be bad, but I think it is going to be great,” said Smith. “She definitely laid a wide path for us and we just want to continue on and make it better.”

Main Street, as a parting gift, presented a rocking chair to Celaya filled with photographs and messages from people she has worked with over the years.

“You can have the best program, manager, the best buildings and stores, but if people do not support the downtown and love it, shop and spend their dollars there, than all your work is for nothing,” said Celaya. “I express my heartfelt gratitude to the community for supporting downtown.”