The Harlan Tourism and Convention Commission is welcoming a new Downtown Development and Event Coordinator, with Laura Adkisson filling the new position.

Harlan City Tourism Director Brandon Pennington verified Adkisson has accepted the job.

“I haven’t officially started yet,” Adkisson said. “I will start on Aug. 13.”

Adkisson explained a few of the aspects of her new position.

“We’re going to be focusing on bringing business into downtown, doing downtown beautification projects, organizing events in downtown Harlan and pursuing grant funding for projects that we want to see happen,” Adkisson said.

Adkisson is a Harlan native.

“I was born and raised in Harlan and left for about five years to go to college,” Adkisson said. “I worked for a little while in Oklahoma, then I came back and worked at the Boys and Girls Club for about eight years. Then I worked at the Harlan Public Library for about four and a half years.”

Adkisson said she will bring the grant writing and organizational skills she acquired in her previous positions to her new line of work.

“We want to see downtown Harlan become a place where people can learn, eat, shop, play and see a lot of events,” Adkisson said. “We want to encourage business to come in and also support the businesses we already have downtown. We just want to make it a place we can all be proud of.”

Pennington added his thoughts concerning the new position.

“On behalf of the board (Harlan Tourism and Convention Commission) and myself, we’re all extremely excited to have Laura as part of the team,” Pennington said. “Based on her talents and skills as well as her experiences in life, we feel she’s going to bring great ideas as well as great events to downtown. We’re excited to have her aboard.”

Adkisson mentioned she is looking forward to getting started.

“I love this town,” Adkisson said. “I have a personal interest in seeing it succeed and thrive. So, I’m excited to be in a position to be able to do some things to contribute to that.”