Program Director reflects on last four years as she says good-bye

Over the past four years, I have been blessed to be a part of El Dorado Main Street.  I have been able to work with hundreds of volunteers, who choose to put their time and resources in helping the community.  I have worked with countless business and property owners who have invested their money and futures in downtown El Dorado.  We have reached goals that everyone thought was impossible by moving forward and taking risks.  These have led to great successes like the HOPE VI Main Street project, where despite federal budget cuts and a reduction of awards, El Dorado Main Street and City of El Dorado was awarded the one and only HOPE VI Main Street grant in the country.  We worked with City staff to recommend and adopt the International Existing Building Codes, which are now helping the owners of downtown properties rehabilitate their building with greater ease and allowing grey areas and more conversations about codes to assist with the completion of these difficult projects. 

I have been able to work with an amazing team of people who organize the biggest annual event in Butler County each summer.  The Frontier Western Celebration has proven to bring in visitors from surrounding communities and states.  Downtown businesses see a summer sales peak each year as a result of the festival and community residents have an event that they can be proud of.  The volunteers who are a part of this event are like none that I have ever encountered.  Working countless hours, months in advance to provide this event; their passion is unmatched. 

As I reflect on four great years as the El Dorado Main Street Director, I am reluctant to announce that I will be moving on to a new passion and job opportunity.  The El Dorado Main Street Board of Directors is moving forward to find a new program director and will continue the progress that has occurred over the past years.   As the organization looks forward to 2013, a goal planning session will be held on November 13 at 5:30 where committees, business owners, and volunteers will identify goals and plans for the new year.  If you have a passion for downtown El Dorado and our community, I encourage you to attend this strategic planning session at the train depot next Thursday. 

In the meantime, an interim director  will be in the office until a permanent director is hired.  El Dorado Main Street will continue to be a leading organization in this community and move forward in strengthening the downtown and the businesses within.  I am excited to again be a volunteer for this amazing organization, which is how I began my involvement many years ago.  I will always have a passion for this community and I know how very important downtown El Dorado, the business/property owners, and volunteers are to the future of El Dorado.    - Lindsay Mills

Trick-or-Treat Down the Street a HUGE Success!

Last week, thousands of ghosts and goblins lined the streets of downtown El Dorado.  It was the perfect combination of good weather, children, and candy to make it a successful event. 
The El Dorado YMCA reports that 1,500 children went through the haunted house that they built and hosted.  This does not count the many children who came in for candy and decided that the haunted house was not the place that they wanted to check out.  SunGroup Realty prepared 1,000 hotdogs and were out in record time.  By 5:45p.m. they had gone through all of them.  The District 142 building passed out candy and proudly reported that they did not run out of candy this year because they prepared for more than ever and had over 2,000 pieces of candy ready to give out! 

We want to thank the over 50 businesses and organizations who participated in the event this year.  With the cost of candy so high, we know that this is quite the commitment.  We appreciate your generosity to the children of our community.

El Dorado Main Street Recognized at Downtown Symposium

Last week twenty-five former Kansas Main Street communities came together in Emporia to learn and celebrate successes in their downtowns.  I say former Kansas Main Street communities because it was only a month ago that the Kansas Department of Commerce did away with the program.  Through a lot of hard work and dedication to our mission, the Main Street communities across the state raised our voices loud and clear that we were not going away!

            Thursday evening almost 200 people gathered to support the annual awards that have always been a part of the Kansas Main Street Symposium.  El Dorado Main Street is proud to say that we are the recipients of four of these awards.  Starting first with our Community Award, Broderick Bean is on the EMS Board of Directors and is the chairman of the Frontier Western Celebration.  He puts in hundreds of volunteer hours each year and is always happy to do more.  We are very happy that Broderick was able to be recognized as a great volunteer and asset to our community.

            The Excellence in Design Award was given to Vince Haines of PKHLS and Mark McCollom for the new construction on Central Street.  This burnt-out lot has been a topic of conversation and considered an eye-sore for many years.  We are very lucky to have Mark and Vince, who had the vision to put a beautiful building in that space, which is now the new Kansas Secured Title Building.

            The Excellence in Public/Private Partnership Award was given to the City of El Dorado, El Dorado Main Street, and the private building owners involved in the HOPE VI Mani Street project.  This achievement has given communities all over the state hope that they also can partner together to benefit their downtown in similar ways.

            Finally, El Dorado Main Street reached a new benchmark this year, which we should all be very proud of.  There has now been over $40 million dollars reinvested into downtown El Dorado since becoming a Main Street community.  This is through streetscapes, new construction, historic preservation, and new and/or expanding businesses.  It has taken years to get to this accomplishment and I definitely want to thank the hundreds of volunteers, property and business owners, and past El Dorado Main Street Board of Directors.  It is through all of you that El Dorado Main Street was able to accept that award.  I have high hopes that with all of the improvements currently happening ad all of the great downtown progress, the $50 million celebration will be just around the corner.   

New friends and a new plan for El Dorado!

Last Thursday a group of 29 “young adults” gathered at the Coutt’s Museum for an evening of socializing and talking about what they would like to see happen in El Dorado.  The term ‘young adults’ is incorrect wording for this group, but we have not yet figured out how to classify ourselves.  We had a mixture of people in attendance who were business owners, teachers, downtown employees, and even college students.   It was a great way for everyone to meet new people and find out what others are involved in.

As the attendees arrived, they were instructed to look for five question boxes that were set up around the room.  Each one had a different question for them to answer.  The questions were:

1.      What are your top three favorite things about El Dorado?

2.      What are the top three things that you would like to see change in El Dorado?

3.      What events would you like to see in El Dorado?

4.      What organizations/clubs are you currently involved in or would like to be?

5.      How is the best way to market/communicate with you?

The top answers to the question regarding their favorite things about El Dorado were: downtown, friendly people, and the lake.  Young adults in our community love our downtown because of what it has to offer.  Those of us that are in our 20’s to early 40’s do not remember the downtown in “the good ol’ days”, so we do not compare to what it used to be.  We see what has happened in the past ten years and love what it has become, which was very obvious in the responses to this question. 

The answers to the question regarding what they would like to see change were very thought-provoking and different from one person to another.  The most duplicated answers were regarding more shopping/dining options, but when you looked further, these were some of the other answers that we should all take notice of. 

·        Bridge generational gap between seniors and younger populations

·        Safe and inexpensive activities for middle school and high school students

·        Local businesses involved in evening activities in coordination with each other

·        Organizations and city leaders working together more

·        Community pride from a larger percentage of the population, especially younger people

·        The divide between the socio-economic classes

·        Break the division between major players in the community. (i.e- city, college, hospital, refinery, school district)

As you can see, these were answers that this group really thought about before responding.  They raised some interesting issues that we will be exploring as we continue to meet.  The entire list will be made public later this week via email.  If you would like to be on the mailing list for this, please call 321-3088.

We do plan on holding another similar event in November and plan on hosting a band to provide live music.  There will be an effort to name ourselves so that we can promote the activities better.  A couple of the major responses to the questions will be discussed in greater detail in a group brainstorming session as well.  In addition to this, we will be making an effort to support the El Dorado High School up-coming drama, Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat.  Plans are being made to attend the production as a group to show support to our local high school students.

Gish Building Update (HOPE VI project)



Only known historic picture of the Gish Building




Last week was a very exciting time for me and some our volunteers who are interested in historic preservation.  The property located at 317 S. Main is in the final stages of approval of historic tax credit applications.  However, there was one part of the application that concerned the property owner.  It was our understanding that all of the historic windows in the property would need to be restored.  In this particular building, there are many windows on the back-end of the property which increased the project budget greatly.  Because of the condition of many of these windows, the property owner invited the representative from the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) to come look at the building and talk about alternatives. 



Current picture



            Kristin, in the SHPO office, promptly planned a visit to El Dorado.  With the property owner, architect, and building contractor all present, Kristin went around the building and listened to the concerns that the group had about the project.  Through a series of conversations, many of the alternative requests were approved by Kristin.  I was very pleased to see how easy she was to work with and listen to the group.  Not only did the meeting go well, it was also determined that construction will be starting very soon. 

Upper windows in rear of building

            As we are learning and “getting our feet wet” on these historic preservation and tax credit projects, it is so encouraging to know that we have friends at the SHPO office in Topeka who want to work with the property owners to allow these projects to be completed.  While they will not allow any of the historic integrity of the building to be harmed, they are aware of alternatives so that the property owner can also achieve their goals. 

Upper floor windows on North Side of building

            An update on the historic district designation: our nomination is sitting in Topeka waiting to be reviewed.  While we are in a procedural holding pattern, we are able to move forward with additional applications for tax credits on our historic buildings.  All of the attention that this historic district process has attracted has also brought several property owners forward who want to make improvements to their buildings.  El Dorado Main Street staff and volunteers are here to help those property owners be successful. 

Everyone has a voice, but not everyone is heard!

Recently, I was able to hire an assistant who is definitely keeping me on my toes.  Ashley Roedel is a young woman who grew up in El Dorado, went to our schools, and has a passion for future of El Dorado.  She is a perfect addition to the El Dorado Main Street family.  While she is in her early twenties, much younger than many of our volunteers, her ideas and desire to make a difference in our community is inspiring. 

            Last week, another young volunteer, Chase Locke was in the EMS office.  Through a series of random conversations, Chase and Ashley convinced me that there are many young adults in El Dorado who have great ideas for the community.  They easily listed off the names of individuals interested in opening a small business, starting events, or have a passion for a certain need in our community.  They explained to me that in order to retain and attract young families and young single adults, there needs to be an effort to get them involved in the community.  As Chase says, there seems to be gap between the events that cater only to families with children or appeal to the older generations.  He explained that in order for young people to choose to remain in El Dorado, this gap needs to be filled and that young adults need to feel like a part of the community.

            After this conversation, the three of us hit the streets.  We traveled in and out of downtown businesses for the next couple of hours talking to young business owners and downtown employees.  It amazed me, as Ashley and Chase engaged in conversations with these young adults, the ideas flowed.  It is very obvious that there is a large population in our community of people within the ages of 20-35 (or so) that we don’t often give them the chance to express their ideas.

As we wrapped up the afternoon, a plan was formed to bring a group of these young adults together and have a big brainstorming session on October 11, 5:30p.m. at the Coutt’s Museum.  The discussions may lead us to thinking of businesses that we want to see in the downtown, events that would appeal to them, or community needs and improvements.  It will be a casual gathering with drinks and refreshments, where we hope that young adults, who are passionate about El Dorado, and also have the desire to make a difference attend. 

If you are a young adult, no specific age range, and are interested in attending this fun activity please join us!  If you have any additional questions, call 321-3088.

City supports historic district nomination

Last Tuesday, as I sat nervously in front of the City Commission, I was thinking about all of the work and experiences that had led us to this moment.  For the last several years, many property owners, volunteers, and El Dorado Main Street staff have been making small steps towards applying for historic district designation.  Each step forward was considered a big success and kept us looking towards the next step.  Two years ago we were able to start talking about building codes and how historic buildings codes should not be seen as black-and-white, but that there are some grey areas.  This conversation led us to successfully recommend the City adopt the International Existing Building Codes, which allow for those grey areas in our historic buildings.  We knew that we were on the right track when the HOPE VI Main Street grant was applied for and awarded to two historic and very deserving properties, which has already spurred additional renovations to neighboring properties. When a generous donor invested the seed money to complete a survey regarding the eligibility of historic district status and then many others stepped up to help because they knew that El Dorado Main Street did not have the budget to be able to take on such a task, I knew we were again moving towards our goal.  Then when that research came back with the professional explaining to us that she had not worked with another community who possessed as high of a percentage of qualified properties as we do, we rejoiced and knew that we were getting closer to this moment.  Through countless public meetings, conversations, and presentations; we have tried our best to educate the community on what historic preservation is and how to continue the progress that has already been started.  It has been our belief for several years now that we would not be fully equipped with all of the tools needed, unless we were named a designated historic district, which is what led me to the City Commission room last Tuesday evening. 

On the same day and at the same time that I was sitting there anxiously, a group gathered in Columbia, Missouri where the City Manager gave the results of a study that researched the economic impact of historic preservation in their community over the last ten years.  What makes this study so important to us in El Dorado and communities all over the country, is that this is the first study conducted by a local government on this subject, and the results were outstanding.  In Columbia, Missouri, renovated downtown historic buildings saw a 117% increase in property value and the property tax revenue on those properties increased 104%. Comparing to the 19% property value and 12% property tax increases in new construction in the community.  Also documented was that the number of jobs created per $1 million spent in historic preservation projects was higher than highway projects and new construction.  Finally, every $1 in public funds leveraged an additional $4.40 in private funds.  As communities now begin to document the progress made by historic preservation, studies like the one in Columbia, Missouri will become more common.  There is no question that historic preservation increases economic development. 

After hundreds of hours of work and preparation, the City Commission in our community supported the application for historic designation with a 5-0 vote.  As we keep taking these steps forward, with one goal in mind, the dedicated volunteers achieved another success in preserving downtown El Dorado.   While we are not done yet, I want to thank everyone who has been involved in this process, especially our Mayor and City Commissioners who see the vision for a better downtown. 

Downtown Window Displays

Summer is here and the downtown business owners are wanting to show off their fun summer fashions and products!  Over the years, Walter's Flowers and Interiors has made a reputation for themselves and their beautiful display windows.  They never let s down, check out their summer display. 

Because of the sun shining in the windows, I could not get a frontal picture, I will get one this evening.  It is amazing!

Here are some other great downtown display windows.


Robin's



Friendship Star Quilt Company's collection of
 Department 56 collectibles





Friendship Star Quilt Company





Posh, cute fashions and flamingos!



Location, Location, Location ...part one



Architect, Bruce McMillan ealizing that the
drop ceiling cannot be raised. 

Last Friday and Saturday afternoons I spent time with two different business owners looking to purchase properties in downtown El Dorado.  Currently, there are some great properties for sale.  With a little lovin' and creativity, the possibilities are endless.  On Friday, through the Kansas Main Street Program, El Dorado Main Street was able to secure design assistance for a prospective buyer of 101 S. Main.  Kansas Main Street Director, Mary Helmer and architect Bruce McMillan traveled to Kansas to inspect the property and look at the possibilities that could be achieved by taking the building back to many of the original characteristics.  This building, while being one of the best locations downtown and is in very good condition compared to others, it still could use some improvements and updating.   As we were going through the building, the architect suggested taking out the drop ceiling and going to the original ceiling heights.  What we quickly found out is that would not be possible. 



In December of 1973, the building went through a fire.  When the owners went in to correct the fire damage, they added the drop ceiling and lowered the floor about 3 feet on the second story.  By doing this, the windows and closet doors on the second floor are in very interesting locations.  We all laughed about this revelation.  The second floor, which has been used as storage since the fire almost 40 years ago, has so many possibilites...even with the unusal window heights. 




Upper floor of 101 S. Main

 As you can see in this picture, it is a very large space that, with the right vision, could be amazing as an apartment or even a business.  In the next month, we will receive Mr. McMillan's recommendations for the building and those will be submitted to the prospective buyer.  We hope that by being proactive in regards to our downtown building sales, we will find quality owners.  For more pictures and newspaper articles from the fire in the building, check out the facebook page HERE

A Unique Downtown Dining Experience

Recently I had the privilege of planning a dinner for a group of people who were in town for a conference.  Since I do not usually do things the conventional way, I planned a “progressive dinner” through the downtown for this group of about 25 people.  The diners were from all over the state of Kansas, so I thought that this would give them a great opportunity to experience downtown El Dorado and the many locations that make it unique. 

The group began their journey at Robin’s where they shopped and dined on spinach artichoke dip and hummus from Jacob’s Well.  Always the perfect host, Robin provided wine and other drinks.  From there, they traveled up Main Street to the Art Room 114.  This is one of my favorite locations in downtown because Brenda has designed this gallery so simple, but elegant with open space to hold a group of people.  Soup and salad was served while they browsed the most recent gallery show that the Art Room has on display. 

Further up Main Street, the group was greeted in front of Walter’s Flowers and Interiors with a rose petal-scattered entryway into the beautiful store where they snacked on sandwich wraps made across the street at Willie’s.  They were in awe at the beautiful displays and items in this downtown jewel.  Many left Walter’s with treasures that they purchased.   

As the evening continued, Alfredo and his staff at Fiesta Mexicana provided great ambiance and even better food as they dined on tacos and burritos.  With the large space in this restaurant, the group was able to all sit together at one large table and enjoy each other’s company.  They were finally lured away from the margaritas and queso by the sound of a live band and the smell of amazing pie in Jacob’s Well.  Here they finished off the night socializing and enjoying the relaxed atmosphere that Jacob’s Well has captured. 

While this was a very involved dinner which took over two hours to complete, this group of people will never forget their dinner in downtown El Dorado.  While this is only the second time downtown businesses have hosted a dinner such as this, we would sure like to do it more often.  If you have a reunion, office party, or a large group of friends who would like to experience a downtown progressive dinner, please call the El Dorado Main Street office. 

Spring is in the air!

Have you noticed the hanging flowers are being placed back on the light poles in downtown?  Last year ws the first time the City of El Dorado hung the hanging pots that overflow with pretty flowers.  After speaking to City Manager, Herb Llewellyn, he told me that they are doing them a bit different this year.  Last year, full size plants were purchased and planted in the pots.  This year, the city employees planted starter plants months ago and had been growing them in one of the public works buildings.  This has greatly reduced the cost of the plants, with the same end result.  The flowers sure are nice hanging throughout the downtown and we are so thankful for City employees who care for them.  After talking about the labor involved in watering, Herb told me that they are placing irrigation systems in many more places throughout the community to reduce the labor costs.  For example, the beautiful flower beds in front of the City Building had always been watered by employees.  They now have placed sprinklers in that area to reduce the employee costs.  All of this results in positive improvements in the community and shows that we are proud of our community and how it looks to residents and visitors.

Pinterest...isn't that just for recipes and fashion?

Last week at the National Main Street conference, a topic that kept being discussed was the new craze in social media, called Pintrest.  Many Main Street directors had still never been on the site, but the speakers all instructed us to start learning about it.  Recently ranked as third in the social media websites (behind Facebook and Twitter), Pinterest has shocked all of the marketing experts and it has grown faster than anyone could have imagined.  If you are not familiar with the site, here is a brief summary of what it can do.  Pinterest is a virtual pin board.  You create your board topics such as recipes, places that I would like to travel, craft projects and etc.  The pictures that you "pin" then lead back to blogs which show tutorials/recipes or the websites that they were originally found on. 


Latte Art which can be found on
ilovethewell.com and also on Pinterest.

 So how does this apply to small businesses?  Well, if done correctly you can lead more people to your blog or website by pinning pictures that are interesting to people.  For example:  There is a trend called Latte' Art.  If you search on Pinterest using those words, you find hundreds of pictures of designs made into coffee drinks.  Jacob's Well has a post on their blog where they show some of their latte art creations.  By pinning one of the pictures and labeling it "latte art" it pulls up anytime anyone searches for it.  If they click on the picture, it will take them to the Jacob's Well website.  Clear as mud??  You really have to play around with it to understand how to make it work. 

El Dorado Main Street now has a Pinterest account.  While we just started it today and are learning how to make it work for us, we will be helping other businesses do the same...when we figure it out.  Believe it or not we are getting help from high school students on how to do all of this stuff.  Find our Pinterest boards HERE

Business in Baltimore



Kansas Main Street group in Baltimore



Last week an

El Dorado Main Street

volunteer and I attended the National Main Street Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.  While this is the third National Main Street Conference that I have attended, this one was very different than the past two years.  Location, Location, Location!  The past two years have been in the Midwest.  With Des Moines and Oklahoma City as host cities, the experience itself was very similar to if it had been held in Wichita.  I love living in the Midwest, but being in Baltimore was a completely different world for me.  I was able to see the resources that they have on the east coast, the differences in architecture (oh my, lots of different architecture), and how they behave differently than most cities in the Midwest.  What I learned and observed made me think about some of our assets, behaviors and architecture in a slightly different way. 

If you have traveled to the East Coast (or many other places in the country), you are familiar with row houses.  These narrow, but tall structures are everywhere in the Baltimore area.  What was very interesting to me was the use of these spaces for commercial retail and dining.  Here in Kansas, when I talk to new business owners, they usually want large open spaces and have troubles considering small spaces because of the inability to have more floor space as well as storage.  I visited so many shops that were less than 1,000 square feet in size (which is very small compared to most retail shops around here).  The way that they used every space for the optimum use and tied in with the characteristics of the building made the stores very charming.  The best use of space that I visited was a small restaurant named the Blue Moon Café.  This place was recommended to us by a couple locals to check out.  If you are a fan of the Travel Channel TV show “No Reservations” with Anthony Bourdain, you may have seen their “Captain Crunch Stuffed French Toast” featured on the show.  We were told to go early to get a seat.  We walk in at about 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning and grabbed the last available table.  The place seated about 40 and was a bit smaller than our Jacob’s Well here in El Dorado.  On the walls were large, loud paintings by local artists.  The walls had blue retro wallpaper, the ceiling was wooden as well as the flooring and there was a stone fireplace right near our table.  We quickly realized that this was an old home that was transformed into a restaurant.  Within 15 minutes there was a crowd of about 25 people outside in the 40 degree weather waiting for tables.  When one was available, a waiter would open the door and call “NEXT!”  The vibe of the place was so neat, but also very comfortable.  Our waitress explained to us that they were open 7 days a week and 365 days a year.  Even more impressive was that the hours of operation were 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m.  This place, even though it was so small and quaint, had gained the reputation of being the place to get a good breakfast. The use of space was brilliant and had I not been there myself, I would have not have understood why the Blue Moon Café was so successful. 

Finally, an observation during my week in Baltimore was the importance of appealing to pedestrians.  Everyone walks or rides bikes all over the city there.  Because of this, merchandise is moved outside, musicians are outside, and artwork is outside.  Here in El Dorado and many areas across Kansas, signs are meant to attract the drivers in their cars as they pass by.  In areas such as Baltimore, the signage is lower and much more detailed.  It almost seems more personal as you walk by a business.  They make an effort to invite you into their store with displays and other attractions. 

While we are very different in many ways, I think that we could learn a lot here in Kansas from the way that those on the East Coast do business.  It was refreshing to see a completely different approach to success and it gave me many ideas to share with our downtown businesses.    

Representatives from Washington D.C. Visit El Dorado

This week two representatives from our nation's capital visited our community.  The two ladies work for HUD and the task at hand was to meet with the group who is working on the HOPE VI Main Street projects.  After reviewing the requirements for money disbursement, the contract between the City and HUD, and fielding many questions; they were given a tour of both buildings. 
Our group has been working together on this project for about two years, so with the expertise of our grant administrator, City staff and building owners we were able to address any concerns that were expressed by HUD.  Several times the ladies mentioned that we have a well-prepared group and that they were impressed with the readiness of our community. 

During the tours, I took some more pictures of the progress that has happened recently.  The Ellet Opera House, as I explained in earlier posts, had a collapsed roof.  This caused a lot of damage to the upper floor.  Every time it would rain or snow, the damage would worsen.  The owners of the building have recently replaced the roof.  You can see below the nice bright white roof.  This picture was taken from the 4th floor of the old Commerce Bank building.

In addition to the new roof, there has been clean-up taking place inside the building.

On the main floor, there has also been some clean-up happening.  It is always very interesting what you might find when cleaning out these old buildings. 

This odd arch was found in the very back of the retail space.  There are a couple guesses as to why this arch was built in such a way.  No matter what the reason, it is definitely interesting. 

As progress continues, I will try to keep posting pictures.  We are hoping to document every step of the process. 

Historic preservation, economic development partnership highlight Main Street training

                                                                               

Bringing two different philosophies  together under one development plan to better enhance and move forward work being done to revitalize

Main Street

communities across the state was the topic of a day-long seminar provided by

Kansas Main Street

during its winter quarterly training sessions held in El Dorado, January 12 and 13. Todd Barman, senior program officer for National Trust Main Street Center, was the presenter. 

The training session challenged current Main Street communities to not only embrace the role of economic development as a necessary part of future historical preservation and central business district development, but use of its basic tenets to move downtown projects and revitalization efforts forward to engage both entrepreneurs and developers was vital to continued success in this economy.

“We came away with the idea that the

National Main Street

four-point approach of design, organization, promotions, and economic restructuring are building blocks for the continued improvement of our downtown areas, but need to be addressed from an economic development point of view” said Lindsay Baines, Director of El Dorado Main Street. “At the same time, we were challenged to look at our programs and projects with an eye toward heritage and human assets, much the same way as a developer would. It was refreshing and a bit daunting at the same time.”

In asset-based economic development, heritage assets include a community’s built history (design) and its cultural history (promotions). The human assets encompass cultivating and recruiting entrepreneurs (economic restructuring) and engaging the general public (organization) in the events and projects in the central business district.

Having a downtown development plan picks up where the economic development philosophy leaves off. According to Barman, the successful private, for-profit commercial developers attract investors and tenants by helping them see a vision of themselves making money as part of a successful place, namely

Main Street

. 

Kansas Main Street

communities would then, in essence, become successful non-profit developers for their own districts.

The seminar also provided development process exercises to help local

Main Street

leaders itemize the downtown heritage and human assets, summarize their programs’ market research efforts, help build credibility and trust within their communities, and determine how they are inspiring action among building owners, store owners, volunteers, entrepreneurs, and shoppers.

 The second day of training focused on the delivery of

Kansas Main Street

products and services that program directors felt they need for professional development and what they in turn could use to continue expansion of a sustainable and successful

Main Street

program. The retreat format gave all directors the opportunity to voice specific products and services they could use to keep them fresh and motivated to grow their programs.

Excuse Our Mess!

I could not help but notice as I drove down Central towards Main Street all of the construction workers on the South side of the street busily in and out of the buildings.  Not only do we have major construction happening in the Ellet Opera House (HOPE VI Main Street grant award winner), but also Robin's is having new flooring put in and some construction completed as well. 




The metal facade' has been taken off of the front of the building and exposing the
beautiful, original transom windows.  For those excited about preserving historic buildings, this is very exciting!




Here is a reminder of what the building looked like with the metal facade'
covering the transom windows




See that man up there in the middle?  They are working on the roof of the
building.  Before all of the work started, you could see the sky from
inside...and there were a couple hundred feathered friends who made this space their home.






















Entrance to upper story a couple months
ago.  Wish it was a wider pic.



Entrance now with exposed transom windows

+


A little further West on Central is the construction happening in the empty lot.  If you have not noticed, those guys are moving fast!  With a goal of being completed by April...they are not wasting time.

 This picture on the left is a couple weeks old, it has changed quite a bit since this was taken.  I will get some more on here soon.

This picture is of the vault that will be in the building for KS Secured Title.  They have records that date back to 1868!