In the News

‘Historic Scottville: Come Together’
Team presents branding concept to cheers
MELISSA MCGUIRE - DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Friday, March 20, 2009
SCOTTVILLE — Scottville area residents, business owners and others with an interest in the city “came together” Thursday, cheering and excited about the Main Street National Resource Team’s suggestions.

A retro-style logo touts “Historic Scottville: Come Together” and is to be used on letterhead, notecards, signage and advertising. It would give Scottville a brand to help market the community, said Ben Muldrow, who showed the team’s presentation to more than 30 people in the Mason County Central Middle School cafeteria.
“We talked about the agriculture, we talked about the Clown Band, but those are just themes,” Muldrow said.
He’s one of the national Main Street experts who has been in town all week, meeting with community leaders who helped shape the idea.
“This is exactly what I think everyone was looking for,” said Scottville Main Street Manager Josh Spencer. “This is exactly what I was expecting when I saw who was coming. Our challenge is to enact it.”
Bruce Krieger thought the whole idea was exciting.
“I have always thought there was a need for signage in town and it’s good they want to keep the historic part of the city intact,” Krieger said.
“It literally blew me away in a good way,” said Sue Begue.
Mayor Leon Begue met some of the members of the design team previously, and was hopeful about what they would bring to Scottville.
“I saw Ben in Chicago and saw the things he did for that area,” said Begue. “I could just imagine what he could come up with for us. Bringing people together is what we have always been about.”
“I think it went great,” said City Manager Amy Hansen. “I was excited to see the ideas on branding and to see it all tied in. There were definitely some interesting ideas. I am excited to see the full report.
When Muldrow presented the logo, he started off saying they may hate it, but requesting they give it a chance.
“We are excited because we feel like you can realize this vision for the future,” Muldrow said.

What they learned
Each team member talked about one of the four-point approaches to the Main Street program — promotion, economic restructuring, design and organization, with Muldrow focusing on promotion.
He presented ways to promote the community, using the logo he unveiled. He also talked about creating a good mix of retail and special events, launching a bridge construction campaign.

Organization
Marian Boyd, assistant director of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, led the discussion about organization.
“The key to organization is to make sure the resources are there to help the community do the work,” Boyd said.
A key item Boyd touched on was the need to partner with other organizations.
“There are so many you could partner with,” Boyd said. “It’s amazing what you can get done when someone doesn’t have to have their name on it.”
Other key items were volunteer retention, public relations and outreach.
She offered some advice to the attendees, comparing the feeling many community members have to that of digging out of a big hole.
“I have seen a lot of successes that have dug out of bigger holes,” Boyd said.

Design
Kathy La Plante, Program Officer from the National Main Street Center in Pembroke, NH, also leader of the team, focused on design.
“You can see the pride building,” she said.
She touched on the design charette already completed by Marlies Manning and pointed out areas that stood out to her as already heading in the right direction.
La Plante showed several slides showing buildings and accents, including one showing a drawing of an arch over the downtown as a way the city can boost the design.

Economic restructuring
Dan Carmody of Carmody Consulting in Fort Wayne, Ind., talked about the economic restructuring and how the area has many positive features such as Riverside Park.
“This is a great place, it really is,” Carmody said. “You have agriculture and tourism side by side.”
A suggestion for the former Steve’s Great Food & Spirits building, which closed last September, was to reopen it to serve local foods or specialize in local foods because there is so much agriculture in the area.
He also gave several other examples of how to turn empty spaces into something productive, such as using the space above city hall for a banquet hall and collaborate with the culinary arts program at West Shore Community College.

A full report will be available to the city in six to eight weeks when the team is finished. Team members met with Spencer and Main Street board members this morning for a wrap-up.