ALSTON DEVENNY Number one, Lancaster is worth the visit.

I mean, we're south of Charlotte, so it's a natural place for people to, come to and, have businesses.

We've had, a long history of innovation, in terms of manufacturing, architecture.

So we have a lot of that, historical interest.

But we also have people that are very creative.

so you have a just a great mix of arts, great mix of, manufacturers, all of which is a part of what our, history is.

CHRISTINA CHASTAIN In Lancaster, we've got that small town feel and we're very conveniently located between Columbia and Charlotte and we're also like halfway between the beach and the mountains so you've got like everything you can get to.

That makes it pretty special.

COURTNEY CROMPTON Whenever you come to Lancaster, you can always come into certain stores and you're going to feel welcomed.

Whether you're having a bad day or you just need a little retail therapy.

ALSTON DEVENNY One thing we're excited about is our downtown revitalization.

We're looking for those opportunities to be able to reinvest into our community.

We're working very hard, that we can fully use in our community.

This great amenity of our historical, downtown.

JOHN CRAIG Well, Lancaster is historically rich but it went through some hard times.

The textile industry, which dominated the town for almost a century, left about 25 years ago and so we went through a real struggle.

But Lancaster is coming back now and we are using historic preservation to make it a special place to live.

we don't restore and preserve buildings just for the sake of that.

We're here about using them and putting them to modern uses, for example this facility was a church built in 1862, was occupied by union troops in 1865, and then it fell into disrepair in the 1920s was ultimately abandoned, was almost a ruin but over the last 20 years, we have restored it.

And we have recast it as the Lancaster cultural arts center.

We have people from all over the area coming here for concerts.

This kind of thing, activity, is happening all over the town.

Historic preservation is playing a big role in bringing the city back to life.

Its a city that's on the move and its going to be really more so on the move as time moves on.

CHRISTINA CHASTAIN In Lancaster, I've lived here since 1993.

I went to college at Brevard.

When I graduated I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do.

And within a couple of months, I started missing college, the atmosphere of the studio and being around artist and painters.

So I made a bucket list, a five year bucket list and that top thing was to own my own gallery and have artist working.

With 660 dollars we built this business and we've now been here 19 years this coming fall.

I teach classes here, to adults and to children.

Our mediums are oil, acrylic, watercolor.

We do clay classes too, mixed media.

So the studio here for us its our home and we partner with the city to do different events here and for the community.

And for the community.

But our residents are so, multicultural and from different backgrounds.

We have about 22 people in one of my classes and out of that I would say 19 are from out of state and have moved here in the last 10 years.

So we've got this great mix of people and I think that's special because the more people you meet the better you are, the better your community is.

ALSTON DEVENNY Well, that's always the challenge of how do you change but still preserve the best things about you.

The mix of people in our community makes it unique.

The thing I love about Lancaster is we're not just a monolithic group of people.

We're just a combination, and that spice and combination is what makes it such a great, place to be.

When you're baking, a cake, you gotta have flour, you gotta have eggs, you gotta have butter.

We've got all those elements.

And when we get together and cook a little while, we got this great cake.

And and I think that's the great thing about Lancaster.

We're living together, working together, playing together.

That's a really attractive part of Lancaster.

COURTNEY CROMPTON Lancaster is special because there is a small town charm, that will always make you feel welcome.

As a long time Lancaster resident, the other owner and I wanted to bring something back to the community, for the past five years, we, did interior design and it was this was wasn't what we were passionate about.

So we took the leap of faith.

To open the store that we love.

111 collective is special because we have a little bit of everything that you can think of.

Baby items, clothes, house gifts, especially at 111, we always want to welcome you to come in.

Sit on the couch, smell our candles, even just chat with us.

Lancaster is a growing town.

There are lots of great people here that are excited to be here, I think that the growth is coming from community leaders investing into our town.

Into our town.

There's a real sense of community feel here.

ALSTON DEVENNY Lancaster is going to be a very different place ten years from now than it is today.

I think that's a great thing.

You have to embrace change, while at the same time, recognizing and appreciating that history built by others before us.

I think it's a great place to live, work and play.

And, that's what we ask as people to come on down.

CHRISTINA CHASTAIN This is our town, Lancaster.

JOHN CRAIG This is our town, Lancaster.

COURTNEY CROMPTON This is our town, Lancaster.

ALSTON DEVENNY This is our town, Lancaster.