Tag: downtown

Small Towns: The Heartbeat of America

Small Towns: The Heartbeat of America

While big cities typically steal the spotlight, there’s a quiet magic to small towns, especially those sprinkled across the golden plains of Iowa. These communities are more than just places on a map; they’re vibrant locations where everyone plays a role. Here’s why small towns, like those in Iowa, are the unsung heroes of American life.

The Power of Neighbors Helping Neighbors:

In small towns, volunteers are the foundation. From coaches cheering on little league teams to helping hands at a local church or food pantry, these acts of kindness keep communities running. Residents come together for park clean-up days, ensuring beautiful green spaces for everyone to enjoy. This kind of hands-on involvement fosters a sense of shared responsibility and pride in where you live.

Local Businesses: The Pillars of Community

Small-town businesses are more than just storefronts; they’re community partners. By financially supporting local organizations and initiatives, they ensure there are engaging activities for all ages. This creates a sense of belonging and provides essential services for residents. Think movie nights in the park sponsored by the local bank, or art supplies for the school funded by the hardware store. It’s this kind of local investment that keeps the heart of the community beating.

Looking Out for Each Other: A Tight-Knit Community

Small towns offer a unique sense of community. Neighbors know each other, and when someone is facing adversity, the whole town rallies. A casserole appears on the doorstep for a family going through a health crisis, or a fundraiser is organized to help someone experiencing financial hardship. This genuine concern for one another strengthens the social fabric and creates a safety net for those in need.

Wearing Many Hats: A Diverse Range of Activities

One of the hidden advantages of small towns is the sheer variety of activities available. Students and adults alike can be involved in a multitude of organizations. From sports leagues and theater productions to historical societies and book clubs, there’s something for everyone. This allows individuals to explore their interests, develop new skills, and connect with others who share their passions.

In a world that often feels impersonal, small towns offer a refreshing alternative. They’re a testament to the power of community, where neighbors become friends, and everyone contributes to a shared sense of well-being. So next time you drive through a charming Iowa town, take a moment to appreciate the small-town spirit that makes these places so special.

Why We Created ‘Evolution of the Heartland’

While the magic of small towns is undeniable to those who experience it firsthand, capturing that essence and conveying it to outsiders can be a challenge. That’s why we created ‘Evolution of the Heartland’. We know there’s a misconception that there’s “nothing to do” in small towns. Evolution of the Heartland aims to disprove that stereotype by showcasing the unique assets that set these communities apart.

Here’s what makes small towns in Iowa, and the Evolution of the Heartland initiative, so special:

Experiences You Can’t Find Anywhere Else: Evolution of the Heartland isn’t about cookie-cutter experiences you can find anywhere. It’s about immersing yourself in the unique character of each community. Imagine touring a cutting-edge agricultural operation, and then sampling delicious local cuisine made with farm-to-table ingredients. Or picture yourself volunteering alongside friendly residents at a community park clean-up day, followed by an evening stroll through a community farmer’s market that features many locally-owned businesses. These are the kinds of authentic experiences offered by Evolution of the Heartland.
A Celebration of Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Small towns in Iowa aren’t stuck in the past. Evolution of the Heartland highlights the dynamism and innovation happening in these communities. From sustainable farming practices to thriving small businesses, there’s a spirit of progress that fuels the local economy and creates a vibrant environment.
Strong Agricultural Roots, High Quality of Life: The rich agricultural heritage of Iowa is a cornerstone of its small towns. Evolution of the Heartland connects you to these roots, showcasing the dedication to producing high-quality food, fuel, and fiber, while fostering a strong sense of community. The focus on quality of life and the pursuit of a balanced and healthy lifestyle is often envied by city dwellers.

Evolution of the Heartland goes beyond showcasing attractions; it’s about capturing the essence of small-town life. It’s about the feeling of belonging, the chance to get involved, and the opportunity to experience a unique way of life. If you’re curious to discover the heartland’s hidden potential, head to https://www.evolutionoftheheartland.com/ and see for yourself why small towns in Iowa are anything but ordinary.

Improve and Transform Your Downtown Community

Have you ever driven through a town to discover that it is basically a ghost town? If so, you’d likely drive right through and never think twice about the town or remember its name, let alone plan a trip there. If this describes your community, here are some tips to help improve and transform your downtown community into something exciting and memorable!

First things first, check these things off your to-do list before any major transformations!

Hold meetings with downtown business owners and community members. During the meetings, hold a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) to better understand what your downtown has to offer, and more importantly, what it doesn’t. Then, brainstorm potential improvements, communicate these needs to the appropriate people and determine the best plan of action.
Ensure that your community has a chamber of commerce and they hold frequent meetings. These are often the groups who have the community’s best interests in mind and will help make improvements.
Get young adults involved in meetings and decisions. Ask for their opinions on what could help improve downtown functionality. There should be activities for all ages downtown, not just business owners, families and older community members.
Photograph your downtown buildings to help discover what improvements need to be made. And once improvements have been made, you can share before and after photos!
Take inventory and determine the quality of the trash cans, benches, streetlights, art, lines for parking spaces, trees, etc. Doing so will help you determine what improvements need to be made.
Update and utilize social media and Google pages. Does your community have an appealing and user-friendly website and social media page(s)? If so, do they have updated information regarding activities, recreation, places to eat and stay, etc.? You don’t want people to find outdated information, old images or business hours, or even worse, nothing about what your community has to offer. If these pages don’t exist, create them! It’s also important for downtown businesses to check out what shows up in a Google search when they look for their business. When they do, ensure they have claimed their business (click here to learn how to do so) and their information is up to date on Google.
Are there empty buildings downtown? If so, find a way to promote the space and encourage someone to rent it out and start a business!

Now for some easy ways to improve and transform your downtown community!

Host fun events! Things like annual town/holiday celebrations, trivia nights at local bars, children’s activities, concerts, sporting events, etc are all great ideas. Then, create a calendar of events to share and promote them locally and regionally to bring local people as well as tourists.
Create a strong relationship with local media! By doing so, it makes it much easier to share stories, events and news and get coverage when needed.
Have volunteer opportunities often and recognize community members who help.
Town clean-up day! Bring people together and help make your downtown beautiful by planting flowers, painting, planting trees, cleaning, etc.
How do the store fronts look? Encourage business owners to have new window displays frequently and preferably lighted at night. And consider filling empty windows with something (historical artifacts from town, promotional items for school or local organizations, etc.)
Use BINGO cards or a Passport to encourage community members to shop local and get out in the community. Then use chamber bucks as rewards. (More $$ spent downtown is a win-win!)
Have “Small Business Saturday” or a shop local day along with fun events in your downtown area. This will give local businesses support and encourage community members to get involved downtown.
Having nice, bright lighting is important at night. No one wants to walk downtown if it looks dark and uninviting.
What is the parking situation like? Make sure people are able to easily park downtown and that lines are visible. No one wants to drive around the block five times looking for a parking spot or question if they’re going to get towed.

Looking to go even further to improve and transform your downtown community?

Brand your town! Create a logo and slogan that are fun, easily recognizable and memorable and can be utilized for many things!
Signage is important! Use your community’s logo and slogan for signs throughout downtown. This makes it easy for people to find their way around.
Look into grant programs and apply for ones that could help make improvements to your downtown.
Create a brochure that highlights your community with things to do, places to eat and stay, attractions, recreation, etc.
Join the Main Street program.
Hold fundraisers to make improvements to your downtown community.
Use local artists to help paint the town with murals, utility boxes, benches, the opportunities are endless!
Are there housing options above businesses downtown? This will keep people downtown and encourage them to eat local, hang out downtown, etc!
Research popular downtown communities who have implemented many of these tips or are known for having a thriving downtown. Check out our feature we did on Rapid City, South Dakota’s downtown. Then plan a visit to get some new ideas!

Looking for more tips? Check out one of the leaders in downtown revitalization: Roger Brooks and the Destination Development Association. And if you have questions about how to improve and transform your downtown community or just need a little help, don’t hesitate to contact us!

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Engage Young People in Your Community

Many communities focus their efforts on making their spaces family friendly, but what can community leaders do to attract and engage young people in their community? For our specific case, let’s consider young adults to be those in their 20s to low 30s. Many people tend to assume that once someone graduates high school or college that they may bounce around until finding their forever home. But what if your town is one of those pit stops? What can you do to help make your community appealing to young adults and encourage them to stay put and become involved and engaged in the community?

Define your target audience. Make sure you know what age groups you are trying to engage and recognize what appeals to them. If you focus too much on ways to attract families or older adults, then young adults will likely feel out of place or not welcomed. Many young adults like to go to big cities because there are more people their age, more things to do, places to eat and they feel that there is something for everyone. However, there are many small towns that do invest in amenities that engage young people in their community.
Take inventory! What does your community currently have to offer? Research the best places for young people to live and identify what makes them so appealing. Some small communities cannot fully compete with large cities, but there are certainly things you can do to encourage young adults to visit your town initially and then actions you can take to show them the value your town holds. Especially if your community is smaller, capitalize on this and find ways to show young adults the advantages to living in a small town!
Hold fun events often! Events such as Thirsty Thursdays at a local bar, karaoke nights, drive-in movies, concerts, pub quiz nights, farmer’s and craft markets, local vendor fairs, town celebrations, cultural and music festivals are all enticing ways to bring young people together.
Hold town meetings and invite young adults to attend. Allow them to speak and give suggestions for additions or improvements that could be made to the town. However, don’t put them on the spot and make them feel uncomfortable. You don’t want to risk scaring them away. Find out what their interests are and allow them to hold leadership positions so they have the opportunity to become involved and gain a vested interest in local projects. Giving them ownership of community development will help them to develop a sense of pride.
Implement a mentor program! This a great opportunity for young people to meet other leaders in the community that they may not otherwise come in contact with. Offer a program in which a local, older member of the community is paired up with a young adult. Young professionals value networking and creating relationships, and older professionals may benefit from the new, innovative ideas of young professionals.
Recreational options! Young people like to be active and stay busy. What is the condition of the city parks and facilities, walking trails, basketball and tennis courts, etc.? Is there a lake or river nearby? If so, what is the condition of the public beach? Are kayaks, canoes, paddle boards, tubes, fishing poles available for rent during the summer? If these are not present in your community, is it possible to change that? What are the workout facilities like? Are fitness classes offered anywhere? These are all very appealing for young adults, especially in the summer! Think tourist attractions.
Local transportation. Does your town or region have a taxi service, Uber or Lyft? You might not think your small town needs a full-time taxi, but if you want to offer a safe and convenient option for young adults to visit your community, consider having someone sign-up to be a driver for your community. Many young people appreciate having peace of mind knowing this is an option, especially if they plan to go out and have fun with friends. It also lets people know that you value their safety.
Reliable Wifi! It may not seem like a big deal, but if your town has slow internet, it will be a huge turn off and inconvenience. Streaming TV, virtual conference calls and meetings, Zoom and Facetime happy hours with friends and family, you name it, are the new normal these days, and if people are unable to easily do these things, it will be very frustrating. If fiber optic internet is an option for your town, take advantage of it and make sure you promote thy convenience.
Presence on social platforms!! I can’t emphasize this enough. What do young people do when they don’t know something? They look it up or try to find it on social media. Ensure that your town has a welcoming website with updated information, a well-run Facebook page and Instagram if appropriate. Many towns have a chamber of commerce that will take care of this. Encourage local businesses, especially retail and restaurants to do the same. Having a consistent and engaging presence on social media will allow you to promote upcoming events, share news, post job openings, recognize community members, display photos and testimonials of your town, its attractions, and more. It will also reflect well and make it easy for people to look up upcoming events, business hours, menus, etc.! Just make sure that your website and social pages are not outdated or poorly run because that is sometimes worse than not having them at all.
Variety of housing options. Young people may not be ready to buy a house, especially right out of college. Are there affordable, updated condos or apartments available in your community? Nothing is a bigger turn off than getting a new job in a new town and then realizing that all of your housing options are run-down, old apartments that cost more than they are worth. Take inventory of the housing options your town has to offer and if there is a need for more, talk to community leaders as well as other locals about the need or consider applying for grants to help fund the development of more housing. There are even grants available in Iowa to establish downtown housing. We love this downtown loft apartment on Main Street Manning.

We recognize that every community is unique in its own way and that each town has particular strengths and weaknesses. While some of these options may not be viable for some communities, we encourage you to gather a small group of passionate leaders and take a look at your town, determine what the demographic consists of and why this is the case. Challenge yourselves to implement a few of these suggestions to attract and engage young people. We think your future community will thank you. If you are interested in unbiased, third-party recommendations for your community or have specific questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us!

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Revitalize Your Downtown

Do you need actionable ideas to breathe life into your downtown? My recent trip to Rapid City, South Dakota turned out to be a work study experience I hadn’t anticipated!

Our family set-up camp in Rapid City for four days, as it was central to nearly everything we wanted to see and do. I hadn’t really thought about what we might do in Rapid because we had big plans to go everywhere else! Hot Springs, Custer, Keystone, Deadwood and more. Our trip was already going to be jam-packed full of fun.

As it turns out, we still had a couple mornings and late evenings that we wanted to fill, so we ventured out.

It all started with me not wanting to make breakfast one morning so I searched for the best breakfast place in Rapid with the best and most reviews. Up popped Tally’s Silver Spoon in the downtown area with a score of 5 and nearly 600 reviews! You can’t beat that! I also recalled that they had an Art Alley that I wanted to see, so off we drove to downtown.

As we pulled into their downtown district the first thing that caught our eye were these incredible bronze president statues! So we all hop out of the car, stuffed animals from Bear Country U.S.A. in hand, and start our tour around every block to get photos with each and every president!

Then we head down to the awe-inspiring Art Alley and take in the messages of these talented artists who have transformed what used to be a grungy alleyway. Then we were off to grab breakfast, all in a walkable downtown space.

Turns out the chef at Tally’s studied in France and Italy and the menu featured many unique dishes that were fantastic!

After breakfast we headed out to get more pictures with presidents and we stumbled upon some great shopping. I wasn’t really equipped to take advantage of it with 3 kids, but knew I needed to come back sometime and explore! Then we happened upon an incredible downtown Main Street Square! It was magnificent!

The kids were instantly drawn to the water features. I loved the ambiance, many umbrella’d tables, great architecture, turf with no dirt, mud or unsightly weeds, a performing stage complete with great lighting, restaurants with outdoor seating (including an ice cream shop), a parking garage next door, and it was complete with a cute little train for the kids.

It wasn’t too long after we arrived that I began to think…heck, we could spend all day here. THIS is a place I want to be, morning, noon and night!!

Despite it being a mid-week day at about 10am in May, there were still a handful of people there. I could only imagine how bustling it would be on a warm day/night at peak tourism season. I could tell the locals loved hanging out there and people of all ages would converge in the same space.

As we went to leave, we saw notices that the street near the area would be closed that evening for ‘Summer Nights’. We were intrigued. So after spending a whole day on the road visiting all the great sights, we came back to Rapid around 8:30pm and just had to check it out.

We drove to the area and there were 2 separate concerts going on in 2 places downtown and there had to be at least 500-750 people (and we arrived late!) Admission = FREE!! Even better in my book!!

The main stage featured up-and-coming artist, Brandon Jones, and the streets were full of people of all ages dancing, drinking and conversing. This was the first in a series of Summer events that would happen every Thursday throughout the summer. What a great way to activate your downtown!

Even though you may be thinking, sure…a big city can easily do this, it has actually only been a few years that Rapid City has seen this revitalization. Although Rapid City boasts a population of nearly 70,000, they also struggled with how to attract people to their downtown. Tourists didn’t have a reason to go downtown. The businesses struggled and they weren’t capturing even a small percentage of the tourism dollars they were capable of securing.

One of the foremost leaders in downtown revitalization is Roger Brooks and the Destination Development Association. I could see many of his recommendations at work in this great downtown so I wasn’t surprised that his article came up when I googled ‘downtown revitalization tips!’

This article from Roger details the struggles that Rapid City was facing just a few years ago and how an investment in their downtown has been transformational for their businesses and community as a whole. https://www.destinationdevelopment.org/articles/what-comes-first-when-revitalizing-downtown-and-what-is-place-making

Here are a few of the photos I captured while hanging out in this incredible space and the takeaways that your community should consider as you look to revitalize your downtown!

To start things off, I thought this downtown sign was a great reminder of the impact of spending money locally.

It’s true…spend your dollars on Main Street instead of big box stores and online,and that small shift alone can make a tremendous impact on your community!

1. Artwork and Creative Spaces