Some downtown Macon businesses are still working their way back after a planned explosion on a movie set rocked the neighborhood. It happened almost two weeks ago after Hollywood took Cotton Avenue for the filming of the 5th Wave. Golden Bough Book Store and The Embellished Wedding are 2 businesses affected by the big bang that film makers said got a little out of control.
Cotton Avenue hasn't returned to its original state quite yet. The Embellished Wedding and Golden Bough book store are two businesses affected by the 5th Wave movie explosion. Windows at both establishments were blown out...and are still boarded up with plywood. Heatherly Wakefield, co owner of Golden Bough Book Store, said the temporary fix has decreased her flow of customers. "There are people who may walk by and it's just you know it looks like an abandoned business basically," said Wakefield.
Wakefield said the production company has promised to pay for all the repairs and compensate businesses for their losses.
But she says they haven't told her when the repairs will be complete. Wakefield and some friends have come up with a colorful solution. Her business is partnering with the Macon Arts Alliance and Citizens for Public Art in Macon-Bibb County to create temporary murals on the plywood to show customers they are in fact open for business. "Buildings were damaged and, you know, this is a great way to temporarily make them beautiful until they're restored to even better than they were before," said Wakefield.
Jonathan Harwell-Dye, Director of Communications at Macon Arts Alliance, said they wanted to help businesses downtown.
So they gathered paint donated by members and turned boring plywood into something creative. "In the mean time we can support our neighbors by coming out shopping local businesses coming out and putting brush to plywood and leaving a little piece of positivity on Cotton Avenue," said Dye.
Wakefield said if you're interested in contributing to the plywood art work on Cotton Avenue you can pop in to Golden Bough Book Store. She said they have paint and other art supplies for volunteers.
