Selling Hartsville is not an option

Trite as it often sounds, Hartsville is a unique community. In the studying of the community leading up to the discussions of Selling Hartsville strategy it became increasingly apparent that this community is unlike most towns that is most like in demographics, location, background, etc. The city is approximately 7,300 people -- small and by all accounts dropping in population. At the same time, those of us living within the community and within the the greater Hartsville area are feeling a sense of vibrancy.

There is so much going on. There are so many people in this community, born here, moved here, coming here who find Hartsville a great place to live. And, on any given day we have nearly three times the population visiting our area to shop, to work, to go to school, to visit, to tour, to play and to compete. We used to say that no one gets to Hartsville by mistake. We are a bit out of the way, stuffed into the near northeastern corner of South Carolina exactly half way between Charlotte and Myrtle Beach on Highway 151 -- 55 miles from Columbia; about 20 miles from Florence and about 90 miles from Myrtle Beach and two and half hours from Charleston. While no one comes by accident, we have visitors here for Coker College, for Sonoco, for the S.C. Governor's School of Science and Math, for Stingray Boats, and for a variety of shopping opportunities in our authentic, All-American downtown, We have athletes in all the time competing at Byerly Park and our Center Theater is one of the most exquisite performing venues in the State. The consultants we used for the Selling Hartsville study called this an embarrassment of riches that most communities our size would never even be able to imagine.

Yet, amidst this community in which there is nearly always something to do, even if only to go to the downtown movie theater showing first-run films for $2 a ticket, there is the cloud that many people who could be living here are choosing to live in larger communities within commuting distance. Many of those people choose these other communities without giving Hartsville a real look; because Hartsville is small and what could there be to do there.

What does this mean? It means that if do not reverse this trend homes will take longer to sell. Entrepreneurs, instead of choosing downtown Hartsville, might start choosing other towns. People who might contribute significant talents to building our local community will be putting their efforts into other communities. This is not something we can let happen if we want a thriving community (like today) in five, 10 or 15 years. That is why the Selling Hartsville initiative has been started.

Earlier today there was a program on National Public Radio about leadership in communities. The community featured (9-6-08) has been fighting just to survive and they have been successful at surviving but they do not thrive. In Hartsville we have the opportunity now to actively remind ourselves of the riches and resources of this community and urge each other to take advantage of this unique blend of livlihood, leisure, lifestyle, legacy and learning. We have the opportunity to develop some processes to acquaint potential residents with the friendliness that is so apparent most people who just stop by for a cup of coffee at the Rooster go away talking about this experience. We also have to understand that none of this will just happen. If we want this community to continue thriving and progressing we have to sell its advantages. Let's think about what this logo means: "Hartsville, The Art of Good Living." When you answer what it means to you make sure you share your answer with a friend, a neighbor and someone who does not live in our community. At the same time listen when others tell you what "Hartsville - The Art of Good Living" means to them. It will be amazing to you how quickly your examples and anecdotes will expand.

As we developed the thinking behind Selling Hartsville, one of the things that became apparent to those working on this project was how many different things they were able to point that they never expected to find. That is where a copy headline developed -- Expect Pleasant Surprises. For example, are you into exercise. The Hartsville Family YMCA, one of the most forward thinking and looking facilities of its kind, is sponsoring a triathlon. That same weekend you can attend a Division II NCAA soccer contest. There is a great art exhibit at the Black Creek Arts Council called "Unbidden Visions" and the problem with starting this type of list is that you always forget something.

There have been a significant number of people working on the Selling Hartsville Task Forces the past few months. That is one thing about Hartsville, you can find lots of willing hands, backs and minds when things need doing. The introduction of the Selling Hartsville initiative is taking place in downtown Hartsville on Thursday evening, October 2 over a period of about three hours from five (with the dedication of Burry Park) to eight with lots of entertainment and some good information. Everyone is invited to come up to enjoy this First Thursday in Hartsville, meet your friends and neighbors as you stroll this real-live American downtown. One of the hallmarks of a healthy, growing community is the realization that you have to keep working at being better. Those communities that reach the top of 'best places to live' lists are always looking for ways to get better. Hartsville can be among those communities recognized as among the best if we understand the need to sell our advantages and continue to work on improving those areas of our community that need enhancing -- businesses call this continuous improvement or product improvement. A former boss had an important message that he shared frequently with his organization -- "when you stop being better, you stop being good."

Let's all work together to demonstrate why Hartsville is The Art of Good Living and to continue to create unexpected pleasant surprises for ourselves and all those who might come to visit or live in our unique community.

Hartsville, the Art of Good Living - Summary

This week the Planning Commission for Hartsville is having a work session with members of the city staff to discuss momentum on the comprehensive plan. As part of that meeting there will be a report from the Selling Hartsville initiative. The report is going to be a short summary that will sound much like this:

Hartsville, the Art of Good Living

The Hartsville Planning Commission went to work on an update of the comprehensive plan for the city more than a year ago. Updates to comprehensive plans are required by the State for a variety of purposes, sometimes funding of specific programs. The Planning Commission took its task seriously and came up with not only an updated plan, which involved input from a wide variety of citizens, but with a vision for what Hartsville might become. The City Council has adopted this plan and has said it was going to use this plan as one of the major tools for moving the city forward.

One element of the updated comprehensive plan is something called “Selling Hartsville.” It happens that as the planning commission task forces were working on aspects of the plan other groups, citizens and gatherings were also working on a concept of selling Hartsville. A major impetus for the “Selling Hartsville” idea stemmed from the fact that Hartsville is losing a large number of potential residents to neighboring communities, like Florence. Last summer, Harris DeLoach, CEO of Sonoco, told the Hartsville Chamber of Commerce All-Member Lunch of the large number of people hired by Sonoco over the past couple of years who opted for Florence, rather than even thinking about Hartsville. Now, Hartsville is never going to be Florence (and a lot of us feel good about that) but there is a strong concern when more than 100 families with incomes averaging $80,000 decide to live somewhere else. And, it turns out that a number of families from Progress Energy, Coker College, Carolina Pines and other organizations also have chosen places other than Hartsville; often without even considering Hartsville. It is apparent that if we want our community to remain strong, vibrant and vital, we have to address this issue.

Several months ago The Byerly Foundation hired Carolina Marketing and Public Relations, a Charlotte firm with strong ties to South Carolina and Hartsville, help us begin to address how to sell Hartsville better. In a nutshell, their conclusion was that Hartsville has a lifestyle that many people are looking for around the country. They even pointed out that the lifestyle is being created in new communities that have none of the authenticity that is inherent in our 110-year-old community. They also noted that we should probably not keep this lifestyle a secret and that it might take a concerted, community-wide effort to tell the story and make it resonate so that people who should hear it, do hear it, before they have made rash decisions to live in other places.

They had conversations with people from all demographics representing a wide variety of the things that make Hartsville such a unique Southern-South Carolina community. From those conversations they developed the logo they believe encompasses the major sales message of our community. The message: Hartsville – The Art of Good Living.

Over the next few weeks and months we will continue having conversations about how to implement this sales message. Who are those we hope will hear this message about the special lifestyle that makes Hartsville different from many other communities around our State? Certainly, we want those whose jobs may be bringing them to the area to hear about Hartsville. I think it will also help those of us who are already here, recognize there is really something special about this lifestyle we call Hartsville.

www.hartsvillesc.com
www.byerlyfoundation.org