Building Possibility
What do flowers have to do with community?
Chris Brogan has picked up his camera again. He takes photos on his daily walk and shares them on YouTube. Here’s a bit of advice about how he finds the motivation to keep on going. I was watching a video about how some people lose motivation to go out and shoot photos, and that their…
Read MoreWhat’s one thing missing in small towns? Communication!
Becky and I are working in Lander County, Nevada, on an Intensive Idea Friendly Project. I visited in August, and as I was preparing my follow-up presentation, I noticed something important. People said they wanted certain things, and I found out many of those things were already available in their county! People asked if they could get…
Read MoreStart your own beautification project
I’ll be traveling to a small county in Nevada to help with a beautification project. So will Becky later on – it’s an Intensive, Idea Friendly Package. Back in my chamber days, this kind of thing would scare the bejesus out of me. It would involve endless meetings with boring, important-feeling people. No talking to the…
Read MoreBikes on Bell
The owners of Bell Street Tattoo in Shawnee, OK, had this idea for an event – Bikes on Bell. They wanted to close the street in front of their shop downtown and invite bikers and anyone else to come and meet each other, eat from the food trucks, listen to live music, and have some…
Read MoreMy grocery store left town, now what?
It sure seems like many grocery stores in small towns are leaving. When that happens, it creates strife for local townspeople. They need to travel further to buy their groceries. Or they have to order online from big companies they don’t trust. Retailers have lost another store in their midst. Folks would stop by their…
Read MoreUse Your Empty Lots
Porterdale, Georgia had a huge community center and gymnasium that was 12,000 square feet. It was built in 1939, and designed by Ellamae Ellis League That’s right, a woman designed the original building. Almost unheard of. It burned down in 2005, and the cause of the fire was never found. It was located downtown and…
Read MoreBuild a Library of Things
I like the idea of organizations coming together and collaborating, instead of always working in silos. How could you test out this idea in a practical way in your small town? Build a Library of Things. A library of things is a location where things you use rarely can be located, the community donates the…
Read MoreBuild Community
Just what is community? It’s a feeling of fellowship with others, because of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals. It’s a place where we can belong. For me, small-town people are a community. We have many similar interests: knowing our neighbors and looking out for them, shopping at our local businesses to support our friends,…
Read MoreEmpty buildings in small towns
Why are these buildings empty and not fixed? People say “Downtown is dead. Why aren’t there more stores?” Take a good look at the empty buildings. If they were maintained and available to use your town would have a better downtown with a place for more businesses. There are many reasons like expensive code-compliance issues…
Read MoreAttracting Remote Workers
You have what they want As young families come home to small towns, they are often remote workers. Mainstreet.Org says at the end of the day, the strength of this trend will be determined by how communities position themselves to leverage this growing interest in rural and small towns. What can you do to position…
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