A few days ago I had the opportunity to talk with a group of people at St. Batholomew's Episcopal Church in Hartsville prior to their second service. The talk was community related. Churches, after all, have a major stake in the growth of community. One thing that required discussion during that talk was a basic shift in what might be the strategy to Sell Hartsville.
The Selling Hartsville effort began as a growth strategy. The hope and desire of those involved in this community building/community selling effort was that opportunity to further improve the great town we know as Hartsville, SC would flourish. Then, the economic downturn began to flatten hopes and expectations. At one point someone said this is the worst time we could have chosen for selling Hartsville. I replied then as I reply now that this could be the best time for selling Hartsville. The difference, as I mentioned to those at this church gathering, is that now our Selling Hartsville efforts are survival in nature. If we want our hospitality taxes to be there, it is going to be Hartsvillians who are going to have to be eating in Hartsville restaurants. If our downtown is going to survive it is Hartsvillians who are going to have to look here first for their needs and wants. Since our first primary audience were those of us who are Hartsvillians, this is a perfect time to be selling Hartsville.
In his blog today Rich Harwood is writing about "Mourning in America." He is pointing out that things are not getting better yet and there are no signs of a turn around. So, we do have to rethink our ways of doing business. It is our Selling Hartsville hope that part of that rethinking is more buying in Hartsville so when the tide does turn we are still working from strength and not weakness.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Enjoyed some pleasant surprises
Sunday, I had the opportunity to speak to a few of the members of St.Bartholomew's Episcopal Church about the Selling Hartsville concept. One of the small pleasant surprises of that morning was that three guys from Hartsville High joined the group and it was apparent from a couple of comments that they are pretty tuned into their home town.
A second pleasant surprise for me was the beauty and expanse of the Church complex. While I have often been in the Sanctuary but had not walked around the building. The building is warm, functional and it felt original on the inside.
It was the second opportunity to speak about selling Hartsville to a local church group. A couple of weeks ago I was able to speak to a group of United Methodist Men at St. Luke. They had invited men from other churches and it was another unique opportunity to talk about the importance of Hartsvillians looking first to Hartsville for their purchases, for their leisure-time activities, and for a wide variety of other things that we often ignore because we take so much for granted.
While talking with the people at the Episcopal Church I also remembered that the Church had a significant investment in downtown Hartsville. They have invested in the building next to the church, turning it into the building that now houses Louchis Restaurant. I mentioned during the talk about the previously identified need of more restaurants in the Hartsville area if we are going to get full advantage of a more aggressive marketing effort. The new Italian restaurant was a tremendous addition to our downtown retail life. The fact that the Church had made that investment has become an important part of the growth of our downtown.
It was enjoyable to again be able to talk about Hartsville and why during this very questionable economy it is important that we have Selling Hartsville as a key strategy. In these times it might be characterized as a survival strategy but these times will end and this growth strategy will lead up to many more pleasant surprises.
A second pleasant surprise for me was the beauty and expanse of the Church complex. While I have often been in the Sanctuary but had not walked around the building. The building is warm, functional and it felt original on the inside.
It was the second opportunity to speak about selling Hartsville to a local church group. A couple of weeks ago I was able to speak to a group of United Methodist Men at St. Luke. They had invited men from other churches and it was another unique opportunity to talk about the importance of Hartsvillians looking first to Hartsville for their purchases, for their leisure-time activities, and for a wide variety of other things that we often ignore because we take so much for granted.
While talking with the people at the Episcopal Church I also remembered that the Church had a significant investment in downtown Hartsville. They have invested in the building next to the church, turning it into the building that now houses Louchis Restaurant. I mentioned during the talk about the previously identified need of more restaurants in the Hartsville area if we are going to get full advantage of a more aggressive marketing effort. The new Italian restaurant was a tremendous addition to our downtown retail life. The fact that the Church had made that investment has become an important part of the growth of our downtown.
It was enjoyable to again be able to talk about Hartsville and why during this very questionable economy it is important that we have Selling Hartsville as a key strategy. In these times it might be characterized as a survival strategy but these times will end and this growth strategy will lead up to many more pleasant surprises.
Monday, February 09, 2009
South Carolina = Minimally Adequate
I know, the economy is in shambles so how can people talk about wanting to have something other than minimally adequate in the Constitution of our state when it comes to educating our children? Well, there are people who think we owe ourselves more than minimally adequate when it comes to education -- for our present and for their future. Here is some information shared with me by a former Coker student on a committee trying to gain support to get the minimally adequate verbiage out of the Constitution:
THE MESSAGE ---
Our state constitution, adopted in 1895, authorized the South Carolina to establish and maintain a free public education system. Initially ruling on a lawsuit in 1999, this section of the constitution has interpreted by the S. C. Supreme Court to only require the state to provide a “minimally adequate” education for our public school system.
“Minimally adequate” was defined by the Supreme Court as teaching students to read, write, do basic math calculations, be employable and good citizens. We say that this standard is not good enough for South Carolina in the 21st Century.
I support replacing the words “minimally adequate” with “high quality education, allowing every student to reach their highest potential.” This change will set a higher standard for students, parents, educators, taxpayers and our educational legislation.
The Goodbye Minimally Adequate campaign-- a non-profit, non-politically affiliated petition drive—seeks to collect 1,000,000 signatures in support of “high quality education” in our public schools to be presented to our state legislature. The petition asks the General Assembly to allow the public to vote to amend the wording of the state constitution.
Please take a moment to visit their website at www.GoodbyeMinimallyAdequate.com to learn about the issue and sign the petition. We also encourage you to tell your friends, family and co-workers about this petition drive. Anyone of school age and older with a South Carolina address can sign the petition.
Thank you for the support,
Schools are always one of the major elements considered when people describe the desirability of particular communities.
THE MESSAGE ---
Our state constitution, adopted in 1895, authorized the South Carolina to establish and maintain a free public education system. Initially ruling on a lawsuit in 1999, this section of the constitution has interpreted by the S. C. Supreme Court to only require the state to provide a “minimally adequate” education for our public school system.
“Minimally adequate” was defined by the Supreme Court as teaching students to read, write, do basic math calculations, be employable and good citizens. We say that this standard is not good enough for South Carolina in the 21st Century.
I support replacing the words “minimally adequate” with “high quality education, allowing every student to reach their highest potential.” This change will set a higher standard for students, parents, educators, taxpayers and our educational legislation.
The Goodbye Minimally Adequate campaign-- a non-profit, non-politically affiliated petition drive—seeks to collect 1,000,000 signatures in support of “high quality education” in our public schools to be presented to our state legislature. The petition asks the General Assembly to allow the public to vote to amend the wording of the state constitution.
Please take a moment to visit their website at www.GoodbyeMinimallyAdequate.com to learn about the issue and sign the petition. We also encourage you to tell your friends, family and co-workers about this petition drive. Anyone of school age and older with a South Carolina address can sign the petition.
Thank you for the support,
Schools are always one of the major elements considered when people describe the desirability of particular communities.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
So, what is a community to do?
The Selling Hartsville initiative is alive and well in Hartsville, SC. Jana Longfellow is the Chamber employee with the single focus of finding ways to push the concept of Hartsville - The Art of Good Living.
So, what does it mean to push the concept?
1 -- A primary audience for Selling Hartsville is those who live within the territory that when asked, they say "I'm from Hartsville." We need people who are "from Hartsville" to think of Hartsville first when buying -- when buying anything. We need the sales tax receipts in this town. We need the hospitality taxes from eating out in this town. Those who have invested in businesses in Hartsville need Hartsvillians to help them succeed by stopping by to see if they have what you need. for example, did you know that Alexanders now is a combined mens' and womens' clothing store? What is a community to do? The first thing is to look in Hartsville first and support fellow community members.
2 -- The companion slogan, logo-mark for Hartsville- The Art of Good Living is to 'Expect Pleasant Surprises.' This is being written on Saturday, February 6, 2009 and there is a Love is in the Air Good Living Marketplace that people are setting up for right this minute. Pushing the concept of Selling Hartsville is to find the trigger points that will help reach more Hartsvillians and get them to choose spending some of their free time with neighbors and friends at events like the Marketplace, like the fantastic Hartsville/Coker Community Concert held last Tuesday, like the Hartsville Community Players dinner theater, like the Black Creek Arts Council events and classes. And, so many, many more pleasant surprises.
What is a pleasant surprise?
A -- People may or may not realize that the South Carolina Governor's School for Math and Science is located in Hartsville. Today the Governor's School seniors are presenting their summer research projects in a GSSM colloquium. As it turns out, there is not another community in South Carolina that has a research colloquium of high school-age students. Surprised?
B -- What is another type of surprise? There is college basketball, both men and women at the Coker College gym this afternoon.
C -- What else? Have you visited the Hartsville YMCA. It is one of the best YMCA's that many people ever visit. It is one of the melding organizations of Hartsville.
D -- If you are Hartsvillian, I am hoping that you are already thinking of your own pleasant surprises and that you might add as a comment to this posting.
While Jana is focusing on the marketing of Hartsville - The Art of Good Living and just spent two days working with others to help enrich web sites, there is still a strong group of people working on parts of the product that need work.
Those in community building always hear that it is the quality of education in a community that draws people. The task force for Selling Hartsville heard a few days ago from Dr. Charlie Burry, principal of Hartsville High. He distributed some of the numbers that show Hartsville High competing favorably with schools around us in the Pee Dee. For some reason, many people want to spend more time telling of the bad stories they hear from the schools instead of the good stories. Teachers everywhere are working hard and making a significant difference in the lives and education of children. But, one of the things our task force is doing is working with the schools to both tell some of the positive stories and join forces to make the school programs even better.
We also know that in Hartsville we have some housing problems. One of those problems is not enough housing for younger professionals. We also have a severe problem in this community of former residences that are literally falling in on themselves. Despite the deplorable condition, the buildings remain in the neighborhoods. We hear the problem is extremely complicated to solve. The problem needs to be solved.
And, like the rest of the world, Hartsville is being affected by the failing economy. We need more jobs. We need more jobs to entice younger people back to Hartsville. We need to work on economic development and one of the ways might be to determine the types of organizations that might flourish in an area that is 15 miles away from an interstate. What types of businesses do you think would be good for our community and what type of businesses could we help with a good work force?
As always there is a lot more that could be written but this is already too long for a blog posting. What are your thoughts about building community?
So, what does it mean to push the concept?
1 -- A primary audience for Selling Hartsville is those who live within the territory that when asked, they say "I'm from Hartsville." We need people who are "from Hartsville" to think of Hartsville first when buying -- when buying anything. We need the sales tax receipts in this town. We need the hospitality taxes from eating out in this town. Those who have invested in businesses in Hartsville need Hartsvillians to help them succeed by stopping by to see if they have what you need. for example, did you know that Alexanders now is a combined mens' and womens' clothing store? What is a community to do? The first thing is to look in Hartsville first and support fellow community members.
2 -- The companion slogan, logo-mark for Hartsville- The Art of Good Living is to 'Expect Pleasant Surprises.' This is being written on Saturday, February 6, 2009 and there is a Love is in the Air Good Living Marketplace that people are setting up for right this minute. Pushing the concept of Selling Hartsville is to find the trigger points that will help reach more Hartsvillians and get them to choose spending some of their free time with neighbors and friends at events like the Marketplace, like the fantastic Hartsville/Coker Community Concert held last Tuesday, like the Hartsville Community Players dinner theater, like the Black Creek Arts Council events and classes. And, so many, many more pleasant surprises.
What is a pleasant surprise?
A -- People may or may not realize that the South Carolina Governor's School for Math and Science is located in Hartsville. Today the Governor's School seniors are presenting their summer research projects in a GSSM colloquium. As it turns out, there is not another community in South Carolina that has a research colloquium of high school-age students. Surprised?
B -- What is another type of surprise? There is college basketball, both men and women at the Coker College gym this afternoon.
C -- What else? Have you visited the Hartsville YMCA. It is one of the best YMCA's that many people ever visit. It is one of the melding organizations of Hartsville.
D -- If you are Hartsvillian, I am hoping that you are already thinking of your own pleasant surprises and that you might add as a comment to this posting.
While Jana is focusing on the marketing of Hartsville - The Art of Good Living and just spent two days working with others to help enrich web sites, there is still a strong group of people working on parts of the product that need work.
Those in community building always hear that it is the quality of education in a community that draws people. The task force for Selling Hartsville heard a few days ago from Dr. Charlie Burry, principal of Hartsville High. He distributed some of the numbers that show Hartsville High competing favorably with schools around us in the Pee Dee. For some reason, many people want to spend more time telling of the bad stories they hear from the schools instead of the good stories. Teachers everywhere are working hard and making a significant difference in the lives and education of children. But, one of the things our task force is doing is working with the schools to both tell some of the positive stories and join forces to make the school programs even better.
We also know that in Hartsville we have some housing problems. One of those problems is not enough housing for younger professionals. We also have a severe problem in this community of former residences that are literally falling in on themselves. Despite the deplorable condition, the buildings remain in the neighborhoods. We hear the problem is extremely complicated to solve. The problem needs to be solved.
And, like the rest of the world, Hartsville is being affected by the failing economy. We need more jobs. We need more jobs to entice younger people back to Hartsville. We need to work on economic development and one of the ways might be to determine the types of organizations that might flourish in an area that is 15 miles away from an interstate. What types of businesses do you think would be good for our community and what type of businesses could we help with a good work force?
As always there is a lot more that could be written but this is already too long for a blog posting. What are your thoughts about building community?
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Some fun pleasant surprises
The Hartsville/Coker Community Concert Association came up with a fantastic show last night as the American Spiritual Ensemble entertained a sizable audience in the Performing Arts Building on the Coker campus. Those who could have gone and did not go missed an amazing performance. The night before this group had performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and they flew down on Tuesday morning. In addition to the magnificent presentation of the Spirituals, another pleasant surprise was one of the tenors -- Robert Mack, who happens to be a native of Hartsville, SC.
And, we know that whenever we have snow in Hartsville is can be a surprise. The snow on February 4 was pretty much a surprise to most people. But, it did provide some white winter coverage as well as some slippery streets early in the day.
And, we know that whenever we have snow in Hartsville is can be a surprise. The snow on February 4 was pretty much a surprise to most people. But, it did provide some white winter coverage as well as some slippery streets early in the day.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Expecting pleasant surprises ...
is something that many of us who live in Hartsville tend to take for granted. We do need to remember that the pleasant surprises that we enjoy take creative thinking, energetic execution, and determined persistence. I was reminded of that this afternoon when talking with Nancy Myers about this weekend's "Good Living Marketplace." This is an idea that Nancy surfaced and put some thought into and that the Hartsville Downtown Development Association led by Judi Elvington helped bring to fruition a few months ago.
On Sautrday, February 7 from 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the middle of Cargill Way and adjacent to Burry Park in downtown Hartsville all will be able to enjoy the February Community Good Living Marketplace with the theme, "Love is in the air!"
Here's hoping that a lot of people put this on the calendar to share some of the good living friendship that is so imbedded into the character of Hartsville. This is a great time to say hello to old friends and make new friends in the middle of artists, bakers, farmers, crafters, neighbors and visitors. And, when you visit make sure you give a big thank you to Nancy and Judi for continuing to build and expand the Good Living Marketplace. It is people like them who give Hartsville- The Art of Good Living its substance.
On Sautrday, February 7 from 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the middle of Cargill Way and adjacent to Burry Park in downtown Hartsville all will be able to enjoy the February Community Good Living Marketplace with the theme, "Love is in the air!"
Here's hoping that a lot of people put this on the calendar to share some of the good living friendship that is so imbedded into the character of Hartsville. This is a great time to say hello to old friends and make new friends in the middle of artists, bakers, farmers, crafters, neighbors and visitors. And, when you visit make sure you give a big thank you to Nancy and Judi for continuing to build and expand the Good Living Marketplace. It is people like them who give Hartsville- The Art of Good Living its substance.
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