Inman wouldn’t be possible without people who continually strive to better our town. While the community may have ideas and plans, it’s our local government who figure out how to put the plans in motion.

15 years ago Cornelius Huff had a vision of change for Inman.

“One thing my father always said, if you want to make a change, you put yourself in a position where you can make the change,’” Huff said.

So, he did just that. Huff went knocking on doors to convince people to write his name on the ballot for city council.

“I took 80 percent of the votes as a write-in candidate,” Huff said. “It was absolutely amazing.”

Four years ago he was elected the mayor of Inman and has been working tirelessly for this town ever since. His intentions behind becoming mayor were simple: he loves the town and the people.

“Every mayor of Inman I can think of loves the town and love the people,” Huff said. “That’s something I don’t ever want to lose here is the love for the people.”

Huff says that his goal throughout Inman is to get everything ready for the future.

“Taking with the foundation that they’ve given me and what I have today,” Huff said. “My job is to make it better for the next person that’s coming to take this seat. That’s the constant drive in my mind, that this city always has the vision of where we’re going next.”

As for Inman’s future, Huff explains it was difficult to get people on board and believing in what the town could become.

“I watched where Inman had become completely stagnant,” Huff said. “The problem was we lost our connection with the youth and the youth are the next ones coming; they’re the drive. I had to build up the town’s relationship with them as well as preach positivity to everybody that all our visions were possible.”

We’ve seen growth over the past year with bringing Zaxby’s and QT into Inman. However, two businesses don’t stop the growth; Huff let us in on the upcoming renovations.

“The process now is the masterplan for the people of how we’re going to get these businesses in here.” Huff said. “We know we need to beautify downtown and that’s why we’ve invested in The Beautification Project.”

The Beautification Project is something many don’t know about but will begin the week after Harvest Day, which is on Sept. 30, and will completely alter the look of Inman in hopes of bringing in more businesses and people.

“This project has everything: a decorative design on the sidewalk, improved parking, ripping up the street and fixing the hump in it and so much more,” Huff said. “Many people don’t even realize this is taking place, but they’re going to realize when all the tractors are tearing up downtown!”

However, this isn’t all Inman has planned for it. Inman Mills park will be completely renovated with all new equipment, landscaping and hangout areas.

“There will be adult workout equipment, a playground for the children, handicap accessibility and a soft walking trail,” Huff said. “There’s going to be an amphitheatre where a couple hundred people can hang out and we can have bands and parties.”

All of this change does no good if it doesn’t improve our town. Huff says the biggest help the community can be is to do one simple thing: talk.

“Inman has been a secret for a long time,” Huff said. “Now that the young people see it and are talking about it on social media, that’s what has pushed us forward. Once you get people talking positive, it spreads.”

There is more in store for our town, a destination magazine, a new website and Facebook page are coming. As for now, we have to continue to support Inman and to spread the word of how amazing our town is:

“It’s going to keep growing as long as you keep feeding the fire,” Huff said. “And that’s exactly what we plan to do.”