Civic Center Gets Digital Signage

The Carroll County Civic Center has new digital signage facing drivers on East Main Street, and more renovations are underway thanks to two individual grants awarded to the county event space. Upcoming renovations include additional building improvements, a community board room installation and a kitchen expansion.

Civic Center Director Natalie McMasters shared that the event space received a $2 million connectivities grant in December 2024, which fully funded the repainting and re-flooring inside the Civic Center as well as the building’s repaved parking lot. Most of the renovations from this grant occurred during summer 2025, including intense maintenance of the main building’s restrooms.

The digital signage facing East Main Street drivers is the Civic Center’s most recent installation paid by the connectivities grant. It signifies the turn onto Mustang Drive to help drivers find the Carroll County Civic Center and the Carroll County Inclusion Park. The digital screen presents a slideshow of the Civic Center’s upcoming events.

The connectivities grant ends October 2026, and McMasters said there are still some renovations in store for the area.

For one, there are plans in place to build a new awning at the front of the building. McMasters also shared that the Civic Center will have a designated community board room. The room, empty at the moment aside from a table, will have a smart board, a conference table and chairs to seat 10-15 people.

“You could have training or you could have a business meeting,” said McMasters. “Hopefully that room will be used mostly during the week … It’s going to be its own little space where, maybe, people who typically work out of their homes can conduct a business meeting.”

The exhibit building behind the Civic Center also faces a renovation in the near future. The renovation includes replacing the building’s overhead halogen lights with recessed lighting, replacing the flooring and improving the restrooms.

The restrooms in the back of the Civic Center, which have historically been used during the county fair but have been out of order for several years, will also be renovated before October.

The Civic Center also received a $100,000 grant from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, which McMasters said will be used to renovate the kitchen space inside the main building. After renovations, the kitchen will be double its current size, said McMasters, as it is expanding into part of the Civic Center’s main room. It will have two stoves, two refrigerators and more preparation space.

McMasters hopes for the Civic Center’s space to become a commissary kitchen for local entrepreneurs and caterers. It would be the only commissary kitchen to exist in rural West Tennessee.

“There are a lot of caterers who cater out of their home,” said McMasters “If they had a catering order for 200 [people] or something, we’re hoping they could come here [to the Civic Center] and use our kitchen instead of destroying their homes.”

Kitchen renovations have not yet started, but McMasters anticipates they will begin in late February or early March, with an April end date.