Every time I see my local chamber director at an event she lets some little bit of news drop like everyone knows it. Inevitably, someone at the table is surprised. (Usually me.) “Chambers of Commerce consistently undervalue their information,” Ali Crain, with the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Executives told me. I agree. As the small town chamber…
Last week, two local tours caught my eye. No, not local as in “my town,” local as in “taking your local people to see what’s local.” Hamilton County, Indiana, was taking their tourism staff out for a tour: Some of our staff is touring the county today to get acquainted w/ Hamilton Co.’s history! What…
Economic developers have a reputation for being secretive and even hoarding data. Alva’s Chamber of Commerce is trying to be different and releasing a key set of retail data to the public. Alexandra Mantz (just call her Alex) serves as both director for the Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Director for the City of…
Placemaking is all about the planning, design and management of the public spaces and assets in your town. When done right, placemaking involves asking the people who actually live and work there, who use the public spaces, what they need, and then actually listening to the answers. Think of it this way: instead of planning…
Best small town economic development idea I’ve seen in months, hands down. My friend Deb Brown is the new director of the Webster City, Iowa, Chamber of Commerce. Deb looked at the empty store fronts downtown and other available buildings around town as opportunities. So she and her new team in Webster City decided to…
Guest post by John C. Shepard, AICP, Laramie County, Cheyenne, Wyoming Small town and rural planning is not city planning writ small. Yet we are also part of the same global economy as our urban cousins, facing the same economic and demographic trends. Over 5,000 urban and regional planners traveled to Chicago last week from…
My neighbors in Ponca City, Oklahoma, have a famous local barbecue sauce, Head Country. This is the kind of thing that lots of economic development and tourism agencies have long given out in full size bottles to special guests and at booths at travel shows, etc. The problem is, how they heck do people get this stuff…
My friend Johnita Crawford is a county commissioner in Cloud County, Kansas. When we talked about “what is a small town business?” she sent me this note about what several towns under 800 in population in her county are doing to promote small business: “We have a special fund from our Wind Farm that we…
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