Opportunities for work on Selling Hartsville

One person who is a life-long resident of Hartsville said she would like to be part of the Selling Hartsville project that is now ongoing. Earlier today I sent her an email about three of the task forces that are now at work. I thought it might be interesting for others to see this and to have an opportunity to assess if they would like to participate at this stage. So, the following is from that email -- not great prose but fairly specific:
OPPORTUNITIES:
There are two task forces that have begun meeting as a result of the initial Selling Hartsville Report.
LEGACY ENTRANCES:
The first meeting of the Legacy Entrance Task Force is Monday afternoon at 4 p.m. at the Byerly Foundation. This task force is looking at the way in which entrances to the city might become legacy themese. The first report noted that the south entrance to the city by the old Butler property and the old Wal Mart was not very pretty. The report also noted that this could be a fantastic place to highlight the African American legacy that is a major part of Hartsville's history. The Butler Heritage Foundation already is working to build a community center on the old Butler property and there may be ways in both the short term and long term to find ways of highlighting this legacy.
IDEA IS BEING DEVELOPED:
Jim Dawson thought about that and came up with the idea that all of the entrances to Hartsville might be able to be featured from a legacy perspective. For example, at the South East we already have the Coker Seed Agricultural museum and the agriculture legacy could easily be featured there; at the West we have Kalmia Gardens and that gives the beauty, gardening legacy; at the North end you can't miss the Sonoco plant on the right and that brings to mind the industrial and entrepreneurial legacy and then on the East we have the new vista area and the educational connection of Coker the GSSM property and what they have called in the report a "Walk of Scholars". The first task force committee meeting on this topic is Monday at 4 at the The Foundation on the corner of Second Street and East Carolina.
MARKETING TASK FORCE --
A marketing task force will have its second meeting on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the Foundation. They are also looking for additional participation and Johnna Shirley of Mutual Savings is chairing this task force. It is to come up with a marketing concept of the selling hartsville ideas.The third task force has not yet set a meeting date.
RECRUITING TASK FORCE
It is called the Recruiting Task Force and is going to be meeting with those who have reasons to recruit people to the Hartsville area with the first goal of deciding what they need to help sell Hartsville better and the second goal of putting a plan into place to come up with a message framework that can be shared in these major recruiting situations. The primary focus of the Selling Hartsville report is that a large number of people are looking for the "Lifestyle" that is offered in Hartsville, which they call an understated sophistication not expected of a small town. Finding the "facts" to back up the feeling will be another direction for this task force, I assume. Roger Schrum of Sonoco is going to be pulling that task force together.
Do you have an interest?
If you would be interested in any of these, let me know: rapuffer@byerlyfoundation.org This is an interesting project and one we need to make work in our town.

cooperation One Key to Community Building

Politics is politics is one cliche people like to toss around. Politics is more than politics. It is one of the ways that communities get built -- or not.

In Hartsville today (4-7-08) we saw some evidence of politics making a positive difference. The event was the ribbon cutting for the restoration of a Pavilion on the Lake. This was a city project and the city was taking pride in the production. It was time to recongize some of their team, guys who went beyond the call of duty to bring the landscape to life. It was a time to congratulate themselves for making tough decisions. But, today they did not need to congratulate themselves. Representative Jay Lucas told the audience how the vision of the city council is making Hartsville a special place for its citizery, Senator Malloy reminded Council of their tough decision to impose a hospitality tax, which paid for some of the great restoration. They both noted in a low-key manner how decisions need to be made if progress is to be made. the City Council did not have to congratulate themselves, the audience in attendance provided the applause and the State representatives provided the context. The City Manager was able to demonstrate the pride he is taking in the team that accomplished this project. Up, down and all around it was evident that cooperation can make a major difference to success,

Today, it was great to see so many people on the same page. It was even greater to see the fantastic results of the restored Lawton Park Pavilion, a facility that is now truly a part of the entire community.

working on SELLING HARTSVILLE

The selling tag we are working with on the Selling Hartsville project is "Hartsville, The Art of Good Living"

Every time we have a meeting on this subject there are people at the table who provide solid translations on how meaningful they find that slogan. The next step, which is ongoing right now, is for committees to work on specific projects to build up our product - Hartsville.

Last Wednesday, Johnna Shirley, who is the marketing director for Mutual Savings, has volunteered to lead the committee on marketing. The first meeting was held last Wednesday. Two other committees, one for legacy entrances and one for recruiting will soon be holding their first meetings.

The next meeting we have with the consultants will be to view how they see the slogan being used in things like ads, billboards, newsletters and other marketing materials. This project is making headway and we have to make headway so that we can start successfully growing our community.

We are looking forward to moving forward.