Mathews Main Street Committee chair Bette Dillehay assured Main Street merchants during a luncheon Tuesday that the new county logo introduced to the board of supervisors in January is not a suggested replacement for the county seal.

Rather, she said, it is a branding logo that’s part of an advertising campaign designed to bring visitors to the county, thereby enhancing the local economy.

The luncheon, which was held at Mathews Memorial Library, has become an annual event sponsored by Mathews Main Street to bring together downtown business owners.

Dillehay explained further that the $30,000 cost of the advertising campaign is not being paid for with county funds. Rather, she said, the money comes from a $700,000 community development block grant that the county was awarded in 2014.

The grant has three main purposes, she said—to make improvements to sidewalks, crosswalks, and the streetscape downtown; to provide grants to downtown businesses to improve the exterior facad...