She said a lot of other towns are facing similar circumstances, with some discounting rents for short periods of time. She said they all told her they have to be more creative than ever before.
“I’m really tickled with the turnout because I think that says there’s a solution in the making,” said Johnson.

Johnson and Guffey said Tryon’s rents are in the acceptable range.
Guffey said he did a survey of Tryon’s properties and what’s been publicized is that Tryon’s rents are too high, but the reality its rents are reasonable. He said in looking at 11 properties, he found most are rented for $1 per square foot per month or less. He mentioned the former Brady/Trakas building, which was vacated recently. It has 2,000 square feet and is for rent for $850 a month.
Millard said he recently did an informal survey of vacant storefronts downtown and between Stott’s Ford and the railroad tracks there are 33 open storefronts and 15 vacant.
“So that is roughly a 33-percent vacancy rate in the heart of downtown Tryon,” Millard said.
Millard printed out case studies from the small towns of Scotland Neck, N.C. and Colquitt, Ga., which have done recent downtown revitalizations and economic development.
Ideas of what Tryon can do to strengthen its economy streamed from the audience.
Strengths
The audience listed many items as Tryon’s strengths, including Tryon’s brand and Morris the Horse, Harmon Field and Rogers Park, the railroad tracks, being a gateway to the mountains, its festivals, being the birthplace of Nina Simone, its art and theatre, being named the best place in North Carolina to raise children, its equestrian community, libraries and book stores, several businesses (including Sidestreet) and many other benefits of living in Tryon.
“We could talk about our strengths all night,” said Millard.