Quincy Main Street receives three awards at state conference

Erin Hill

Roger and Bridgette Rankin with their daughter Lilly looking up while standing in front of a Saturn V rocket exhibit backdrop during the state conference.

Quincy Main Street Director Josh Kever and Melissa Wylie, CEO of the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation, presenting the 14th Colony Representative Award to Dawn McMillan.

Quincy Main Street received three awards recognizing historic preservation and community development efforts during the annual Florida Main Street Preservation on Main Street Conference in Cocoa Village.

The awards were presented July 23 during the Secretary of State’s Florida Main Street Awards ceremony at the Apollo/Saturn V Center at Kennedy Space Center.

Quincy Main Street and several community partners were recognized for projects involving downtown historic buildings and local history. The awards were themed around the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Burned Beard Brewing, in partnership with Quincy Main Street, received the Four Point Patriot Award for using the four pillars of the Main Street approach to support long-term economic growth and vitality.

The recognition followed the Rankin family’s renovation of the historic F.P. May Drugstore building. The Rankins own the building and Burned Beard Brewing.

Roger and Bridgette Rankin and their daughter, Lilly, accepted the award along with Quincy Main Street Director Josh Kever.

Quincy Main Street and Wilson and Tee Hinson received the Semiquincentennial Preservation Project award for the renovation of the former Quincy State Bank and Wilsons Department Store building.

The 1893 landmark was restored and converted into a community hub, welcome center and headquarters for Quincy Main Street. The building includes retail space, original fixtures and local memorabilia.

A third honor, the 14th Colony Representative Award, went to Quincy Main Street, Quincy Music Theatre and local historian Dawn McMillan for the 2025 History, Mystery and Ghost Tour of the Western Cemetery.

The tour highlighted local history and the people buried in the cemetery, including descendants of Revolutionary War patriots. Among those featured was Dr. Thomas Yuille Henry, a grandson of Patrick Henry.

Quincy Music Theatre provided costumed actors who portrayed pioneer settlers buried in the cemetery, while McMillan researched and prepared the actors’ scripts.

Kever and McMillan accepted the award.