Hartsville not yet on the list

So, when you begin an initiative like Selling Hartsville, what would be one of your greatest wishes -- maybe to be listed among the ten coolest small towns (cities) in America? This morning, the lead story on the Yahoo web site is about those cities and towns and it seems that maybe reading about those who have earned that designation might even give some ideas for coming closer here in Hartsville. We certainly have many of the ingredients mentioned in some of the short write ups.

Last week, with some others from Hartsville, I had the opportunity to travel to Wilson, NC, to see some of the things they have going on in their city, home of a Coker College rival - Barton College. Wilson is significantly larger in population than Hartsville -- they are about 50,000 -- close to what we might be if you included what I like to call the retail trade zone. Wilson has a vitality that is obvious, challenges that are also obvious and a vision of service and excellence that seems to permeate the town. The major purpose for the trip was to see what they call "Project Greenlight." This program has the city of Wilson providing free WiFi throughout their downtown area while serving all of their citizens with the opportunity of purchasing cable television, internet and even phone services from the city. They are seeing income and they expect to very soon have enough customers for another dependable revenue stream for the city. We certainly know that we need some new revenue streams for our small city and this trip helped to provide a benchmarking opportunity. Wilson like Hartsville has been designated an All America City. They have received the designation several times and that is probably another target for which we should be aiming -- sooner rather than later == I hope.

One of the things that Wilson is most proud of and you can find these around their city -- Whirligigs -- they even have a festival for these metal-art creations.