Construction To A Green Country Town Has It Seeing 'Big Times'

A Green Country lake town is expanding. Each summer Keystone Lake brings thousands of out-of-towners to Mannford.

And there will be some noticeable changes when lake goers pull into town come spring.

The new Phelp's Market, is one of those changes.

And as the Chamber of commerce announced Monday night, it's only one of many construction projects that will be popping up in Mannford.

"Right now there's a lot going on, it's busy," Mayor Tyler Buttram said. "The town is growing rapidly, actually."

Plans for the future are on the horizon.

Most people know Mannford as that sleepy little lake town that comes to life in the summer, drawing in folks from out of town, like Jason Switzer.

"It's close and it's a good lake to fish," Switzer said.

It's the growth on Keystone Lake, namely the new Harbors Marina, that Buttram said is expanding economic development off shore.

"When it came in, that was the first domino to fall," Tyler Buttram said.

After the marina was built, Phelp's Market decided to relocate on a piece of property it purchased from the city. And with that construction, brought what anyone in a small town could appreciate.

"Mannford got its second traffic light, so big times," said Tyler Buttram.

He jokes about that, but says the west side of town will soon be the hub.

A strip mall and a McDonalds are set to go up next to the market, generating more money for a town that Buttram said takes in about a million dollars each year in sales tax.

"For us to get a McDonald's that should run somewhere between $1.5 and $2 million in revenue, that's a huge chunk of change for the city, so it's big for us," said Buttram

The city is also building a splash pad, that won't generate any revenue. But teaming up with the Muscogee-Creek Nation and CNG, will.

The three will be partnering to build the town's first and only CNG gas station.

"It's a city that's growing, it's going to become bigger, but you're still not going to lose that small town feeling, which is very important to everyone," Tyler Buttram said.

The grocery store is set to open in April. Then, over at the Harbor Marina on Keystone Lake, a new restaurant with an upper deck bar should break ground next month and be ready sometime over the summer.