In this Issue of Hey Cherokee County…

✅ TDA Agreements Aim to Put More Hands, Money Behind Local Events

✅ Murphy Looks Beyond Town Square With Next Downtown Streetscape Project

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For years, many of Cherokee County’s festivals and community events have depended on unpaid volunteers squeezing the work in around everything else.

Now, the Cherokee County Tourism Development Authority is putting more resources behind that work through new agreements with the towns of Murphy and Andrews.

The interlocal agreements are designed to provide additional manpower and tourism funding for events and promotions intended to bring visitors into the county. Under the agreements, qualifying work can include tourism-oriented promotions, events, partnerships and visitor experience improvements.

“If you’ve ever worked an event, or if you’ve ever been behind the scenes planning an event, you know how you can get really stretched thin,” TDA Executive Director Casey Kerr said. “There were a lot of people who were putting a lot into all of the events, and then, you know, over time events have evolved and it’s got a little more difficult for those people to handle, especially when you have a full-time job and this is just something you’re doing on the side as kind of just an extra. So really, there was just a need for more hands on deck.”

That need became particularly apparent as the Andrews Chamber of Commerce dissolved, merging with the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce. At the same time, organizers in both Andrews and Murphy were developing new events and looking for ways to expand existing ones.

“People were getting really creative and had some amazing ideas,” Kerr said. “But at the end of the day, when you would vocalize those ideas about a new event or expanding on an event, it came down to basically like, ‘Well, we just don’t have the resources and we don’t have the people for this.’”

The agreements are intended to help fill that gap.

“That’s where the TDA came in,” Kerr said. “We made these agreements with both the Town of Murphy and the Town of Andrews so that we could help provide those resources, more manpower and a bigger budget for marketing the events to draw visitors.”

The agreements provide a framework for the towns and TDA to mutually agree on services related to activities that specifically promote and develop tourism. Those services can include events, advertising, promotions, partnerships and other efforts aimed at increasing downtown visitation, supporting local businesses and contributing to overnight stays and visitor spending.

The agreement does not provide blanket funding for a town employee’s work. The town must submit itemized monthly billing identifying the time spent on qualifying services. The TDA will reimburse the town for hours its director determines were spent on qualifying promotional and tourism work.

Kerr said the arrangement fits within the TDA’s authority to use occupancy tax proceeds to promote tourism. The TDA was created to use those proceeds to promote travel and tourism, sponsor tourism-related events and activities, and finance tourism-related capital projects in Cherokee County.

“It’s been proven time and time again that the average tourist, they’re looking to see what’s going on and what kind of activities and events they can get into while they’re visiting a destination,” Kerr said. “So it’s really important. Events have definitely drawn people to our area, and I’m really excited to see where this goes with even more resources now available.”  

The Town Square may be finished, but Murphy isn't finished reshaping downtown.

Less than a year after completing the centerpiece of its downtown improvements, Murphy is beginning design work on the streets surrounding it, with plans to extend the streetscape improvements into approximately four adjacent blocks.

The Murphy Town Council approved a contract with Regeneration by Design to develop the next phase of downtown streetscape plans. The firm will work with Mattern & Craig engineers on surveying, civil engineering, and construction drawings for the project. 

Regeneration by Design already has its fingerprints on downtown Murphy. The firm worked on the Town Square Project, which was completed in December 2025 and brought brick pavers, enhanced lighting, landscaping and other aesthetic improvements to the center of downtown, along with a new stage for concerts and community events.

Now the town is looking outward from the square.

Exactly what the surrounding streets will look like has not been decided. The first step will be revisiting concepts previously developed for downtown and working with the town to settle on a preferred design. Those discussions could include different configurations for sidewalks, parking, bicycle facilities, pedestrian amenities, traffic flow and truck access. 

"Hopefully we'll have a concept by the spring," Town Manager Chad Simons told Hey Cherokee County.

Once a concept is selected, the design team will turn it into detailed plans. The scope calls for drawings addressing paving, landscaping, lighting, grading, utilities and other elements needed to eventually put the project on the ground.

The work also fits into a broader push to make Murphy easier to navigate without a motor vehicle. The town adopted its first comprehensive bicycle and pedestrian plan, Murphy in Motion, in 2025. As part of that effort, the North Carolina Department of Transportation is currently designing new sidewalks to fill gaps along Andrews Road between Bulldog Drive and Pleasant Valley Road.

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