167: How America’s Main Streets Are Fighting Back—The Wabash Playbook

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's the night of March thirty first, eighteen eighty, a sleepy town in Indiana explodes into the future with a flick of a switch.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Becoming the first city in the world to light its street with electricity.

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[SPEAKER_01]: People, gasped and wander, some called it magic, others, a miracle.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But like all American towns, Wobbash would face darkness too.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Empty storefronts, lost jobs, a main street, on life support.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Hello friend, welcome back to hometown history.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Today we explore the mystery of how one dying town found a way to resurrect itself.

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[SPEAKER_01]: This is the story of Main Street's comeback.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But before we dive into Wavash, let's rewind to how America got here.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Because the story of downtown decline didn't happen overnight.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And its resurrection didn't either.

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[SPEAKER_01]: in the post-war boom, downtowns were the center of life, but something changed.

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[SPEAKER_01]: By the nineteen seventies, downtowns across America were abandoned, storefronts boarded up.

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[SPEAKER_01]: streetlights flickering over him decide walks.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't sudden, it crept in, like a slow unraveling, suburban malls, big box stores, and a government eager to bulldoze the old in favor of the new.

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[SPEAKER_01]: As malls and strip plazas boomed, many downtowns withered

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[SPEAKER_01]: Mary means wasn't ready to bury Main Street.

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[SPEAKER_01]: She launched a grassroots revival.

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[SPEAKER_01]: One that would become a nationwide phenomenon.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Kathy Leplant, a longtime leader at Main Street America, explains how it all began.

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[SPEAKER_07]: The Main Street program was in its infancy in the late seventies.

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[SPEAKER_07]: And that was when a lot of communities were losing their retail that was moving out into shopping centers or malls.

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[SPEAKER_07]: And so a lot of downtowns were being abandoned.

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[SPEAKER_07]: There was urban renewal that had been going on for decades that was destroying many of our historic buildings.

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[SPEAKER_07]: But those that remained in our historic downtowns

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[SPEAKER_07]: Nobody could figure out what the next use of them was, and so they were falling into disrepair.

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[SPEAKER_07]: A lot of people turned to our parent organization, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and said, how do we save these properties?

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[SPEAKER_07]: It wasn't just about fixing up the historic theater, and then all would be well in downtown.

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[SPEAKER_07]: We really had to figure out

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[SPEAKER_07]: what would it take to make these buildings economically viable where would resources come from?

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[SPEAKER_07]: And what else needs to happen?

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[SPEAKER_07]: And so Mary Means who worked at the National Trust at that time was charged with figuring out what needs to happen in downtowns to make the vibrant again because there were so many that had vacancy rates of fifty to seventy five percent because of everybody leaving downtowns.

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[SPEAKER_07]: They experimented with three cities in the Midwest and the National Trust hired those executive directors and over the next three years.

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[SPEAKER_07]: They were a cohort that worked hard on trying to figure out all the components that we needed to make a lasting impact in downtown.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Madison, Indiana was one of the original test sites, but it might as well have been a crime scene.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The downtown gutted its historic buildings, abandoned.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The Main Street Pilot Project was triage.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The four-point approach they developed, organization, promotion, design, and economic vitality was the lifeline.

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[SPEAKER_01]: In quietly, it worked.

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[SPEAKER_07]: We know that communities will work on all four areas, really experienced phenomenal growth in their downtown.

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[SPEAKER_07]: So it wasn't just fixing up one building.

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[SPEAKER_07]: It wasn't just doing one historic streetscape in our downtowns.

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[SPEAKER_07]: It was really coming up with a sustainable methodology that was going to

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[SPEAKER_07]: last over time, which we're getting close to fifty years old with the program now.

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[SPEAKER_07]: So it really was what are the next best uses and we've seen all that happen in our communities, right?

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[SPEAKER_07]: So that started with those first three years of seventy seven to nineteen eighty and then in nineteen eighty the national trust took the program.

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[SPEAKER_07]: So I'd say nationwide they selected six states to pilot the program in and now we are at forty six.

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[SPEAKER_07]: coordinating programs across the country.

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[SPEAKER_07]: And so we have partnerships with our coordinating programs and all of those areas to work with them on providing the training resources advocacy for them to be successful in bringing services and trainings to their main street communities.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And that national movement, it found fertile ground in a town that had already lit the world once before.

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[SPEAKER_01]: In nineteen eighty-one, Wallbass joined the fight.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It had all the makings of a cold case.

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[SPEAKER_01]: A once bustling downtown turned into a ghost town.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Dawn Nap, director of the Honeywell Foundation, wasn't ready to give up.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He launched Wabash Marketplace an organization that would try to revive the town's commercial core.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Jim Widner, one of the original board members, gives us context on how Wabash Marketplace came to life.

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[SPEAKER_06]: Wabash Marketplace was a vision of Don Nap.

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[SPEAKER_06]: He was quite a visionary as the executive director of Honeywell Foundation.

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[SPEAKER_06]: He saw a need to

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[SPEAKER_06]: revitalize and energize the downtown area of Lopage and put together a group of folks who would help him do that.

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[SPEAKER_06]: Initially it was just to get the paperwork and everything done.

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[SPEAKER_06]: I stayed on and actually served this treasure for quite a while.

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[SPEAKER_06]: The organization was in attempt to

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[SPEAKER_06]: Energize, revitalize the downtown area, and that was accomplished through many different ways.

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[SPEAKER_06]: The Christmas type celebration that I believe the first week of December had a parade that were memberships to businesses and to private individuals.

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[SPEAKER_06]: and it gave a forum for downtown business owners who meet and discuss commonalities or needs or whatever such you might be on their mind for the benefit of downtown water.

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[SPEAKER_06]: There was a strawberry festival that was started and lasted two or three years during that time.

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[SPEAKER_06]: The first big thing we did was to purchase what is now the copper tooth building.

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[SPEAKER_06]: We obtained a lot of

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[SPEAKER_06]: And we paid interest on it for quite a while.

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[SPEAKER_06]: There were some months when I wondered if we'd be able to make the payment.

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[SPEAKER_06]: Eventually I was sold and they operated a couple of different businesses through there.

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[SPEAKER_06]: I had evolved over the years as a lot of things do.

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[SPEAKER_06]: It's very interesting to see it today.

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[SPEAKER_06]: It's continuing a lot of the same mission.

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[SPEAKER_06]: It seems to have a little more momentum each year.

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[SPEAKER_06]: in terms of activity sponsored or opportunities created.

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[SPEAKER_06]: I don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but I'm sure there's quite a bit of benefit of the business owners and property owners.

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[SPEAKER_06]: The chart necessarily holds the same for a building.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You're Steve Downs, a lawyer and former executive director on the founding vision.

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[SPEAKER_05]: Wabesh Marketplace is what it was called when it started in nineteen eighty-one.

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[SPEAKER_05]: It's now known as downtown Wabesh Inc.

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[SPEAKER_05]: It was the brainchild of Dunnapp, the executive director of the Honeywell Foundation at that time.

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[SPEAKER_05]: And the foundation, of course, is a significant organization, very instrumental in the economic prosperity and social prosperity of the city of Wabesh and Wabesh County.

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[SPEAKER_05]: He was a visionary guy.

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[SPEAKER_05]: He was a good idea.

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[SPEAKER_05]: Man, he thought outside the box often.

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[SPEAKER_05]: And this was one of his ideas.

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[SPEAKER_05]: He was always interested in the development of small towns.

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[SPEAKER_05]: And he was a city planner, was his concept.

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[SPEAKER_05]: I don't know if that was his background or not.

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[SPEAKER_05]: That certainly not what he was doing necessarily at the Honeywell Center.

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[SPEAKER_05]: He was always interested in small communities, how they operated, how they prospered, how they developed, and things like that.

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[SPEAKER_05]: And so he came up with the brainchild of Wavash Marketplace, which is a nonprofit organization, which is dedicated essentially to the development and organization and planning of downtown Wavash.

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[SPEAKER_05]: He was very interested in things like traffic patterns, parking facilities, and things like that.

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[SPEAKER_05]: But also, while that was an interest of his preserving the downtown buildings, was also a primary goal of Wabash Marketplace, and coming along with developing or preserving the buildings, rehabilitating the buildings.

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[SPEAKER_05]: would come, hopefully, economic growth, which would benefit the entire community, including the Honeywell Foundation.

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[SPEAKER_05]: He started the organization or incorporated the organization in May of, in, in, in, in, so I'd been here for seven or eight years at that time.

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[SPEAKER_05]: I was not an original board member or I wasn't involved in the initial organization, but over the years I have served on and off the board.

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[SPEAKER_05]: As a board member, and served terms on the board intermittently, I think it was twenty-fourteen through twenty-nineteen.

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[SPEAKER_05]: I served as executive director on a part-time basis.

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[SPEAKER_05]: That's been my involvement.

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[SPEAKER_05]: Downtown Wallbash is a passion of money.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Wabash's revival wasn't just about buildings.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Culture played a role too.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Kelly Brace, an artist and former downtown merchant, remembers those early, first Friday events.

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[SPEAKER_08]: Can nowadays was a big thing when I was a kid.

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[SPEAKER_08]: The downtown area was quite a few clothing stores.

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[SPEAKER_08]: There was a vitamin and wolf department store and there was a fabric store down here.

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[SPEAKER_08]: A couple of men's clothing stores and then the rest women's clothing stores.

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[SPEAKER_08]: And they would have at the end of July, there are summer sales because they were getting fall merchandise in.

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[SPEAKER_08]: So they would sell their summer things.

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[SPEAKER_08]: And it was quite a big deal.

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[SPEAKER_08]: Everybody put stuff out on the sidewalks, all the retailers had things out on the sidewalks.

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[SPEAKER_08]: And they closed the downtown city block area.

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[SPEAKER_08]: The streets were pretty full.

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[SPEAKER_08]: Just lots of people going down and trying to find it in deposits.

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[SPEAKER_08]: But then I would say probably about the mid-eighties.

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[SPEAKER_08]: The stores started shutting down.

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[SPEAKER_08]: And so canal days went away.

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[SPEAKER_08]: And when they put in the shopping centers, everything moved to the suburbs.

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[SPEAKER_08]: In April of, two thousand eleven, I bought a downtown building.

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[SPEAKER_08]: Not thinking that I was going to open a storefront.

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[SPEAKER_08]: I bought the building mainly to have a place for my husband and I to work out because at that time we were doing furniture from recycled materials that we needed a space to work.

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[SPEAKER_08]: And after I bought the building, two other friends of mine approached me about maybe opening up.

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[SPEAKER_08]: every so often.

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[SPEAKER_08]: We kind of modeled what we thought we wanted to do after a store in Kansas City that was only open the first Friday and Saturday of the month.

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[SPEAKER_08]: And so that was our idea.

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[SPEAKER_08]: The downtown association was sure they wanted to do for Fridays.

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[SPEAKER_08]: So we waited a few months for them to decide when nobody was making a decision.

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[SPEAKER_08]: So Diane Morris from Borders and Beyond, and I decided we were going to open on a first Friday.

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[SPEAKER_08]: And so what we did on November, fourth, two thousand eleven,

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[SPEAKER_08]: was she opened her store and I opened my store and we were the only two stores opened downtown on first Friday but it was its success and it went from there.

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[SPEAKER_08]: In our store we offered local music and McClure's orchard came over and served wine and then we had artwork and we had featured a guest artist and then board boarders did.

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[SPEAKER_08]: Plus the same thing that didn't have music all the time but they had a guest artist.

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[SPEAKER_08]: After we did it for a couple of months, then a couple of other stores decided to join the bandwagon and then the downtown association decided to promote it for us.

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[SPEAKER_08]: We were still kind of doing our own thing, but they decided to start promoting and then took it over from there.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't one miracle that saved Wabash.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was dozens of small acts, a theater renovation, a hotel revival.

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[SPEAKER_01]: A belief that maybe, just maybe, Wavash didn't need to be a cautionary tale.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But vision alone doesn't rebuild a main street.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Investment does.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And Wavash found champions willing to take bold steps.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Steve reflects on the key investments that started turning things around.

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[SPEAKER_05]: Since the seventies and eighties, there was just more attention given to refurbishing the buildings.

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[SPEAKER_05]: And I think what really struck the heart of the matter or really instigated a lot of the improvement.

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[SPEAKER_05]: There was a lot of private development that suddenly became available for the downtown area.

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[SPEAKER_05]: The Honeywell Foundation, it didn't always have a fifteen hundredth seat theater to it.

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[SPEAKER_05]: It was primarily built

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[SPEAKER_05]: As a community recreational center, it's got a skating rink, it's got a basketball court, it's got meeting rooms and things like that.

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[SPEAKER_05]: But in the eighties, they expanded it significantly, added a fifteen hundred seat to state of the auditorium and started programming entertainment, which has been very successful over the years.

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[SPEAKER_05]: So that was important.

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[SPEAKER_05]: After about the same time, Richard Ford, who is one of our benefactors along with the Ford Meterbox company, started work on the hotel and refurbished what was then called the Red Apple Land.

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[SPEAKER_05]: It was originally a hotel in the Annabelle in the nineteen twenties.

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[SPEAKER_05]: And that had really fallen on very hard times.

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[SPEAKER_05]: It was very decrepit, a very rundown, very depressed looking.

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[SPEAKER_05]: And he put a significant amount of money into that project, refurbished the entire hotel to the extent that it has now quality restaurants, quality establishments in it, which have really

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[SPEAKER_05]: revitalize downtown.

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[SPEAKER_05]: The same time Richard Ford redeemed County Museum, which is down at the other end of town.

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[SPEAKER_05]: So all of that was kind of the putting that money in from the Ford family from Ford meter box became an important trigger for downtown wall bash growth and activity.

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[SPEAKER_05]: When everyone saw, meaning the governmental entity, marketplace, others who were interested in revitalizing downtown, once we saw that all of those people were willing to become involved and others were willing to invest money in downtown Wabesh.

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[SPEAKER_05]: Marketplace took over and started pushing for improvements.

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[SPEAKER_05]: We were fortunate to run three or four facade grant programs.

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[SPEAKER_05]: It's difficult to get people to invest.

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[SPEAKER_05]: Significant amount of money in these buildings.

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[SPEAKER_05]: These buildings are expensive to maintain.

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[SPEAKER_05]: Once we saw what was going on with the Honeywell Center, the hotel, the museum, that made it a lot easier.

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[SPEAKER_05]: And more federal and state money became available in about the same time.

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[SPEAKER_05]: So we were pretty much in a sweet spot at that point.

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[SPEAKER_05]: We started running facade programs, making money available, private money available.

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[SPEAKER_05]: two building owners who would improve their money and these were match programs reimbursement facades so they would spend a hundred thousand dollars and we would give them a grant for a hundred thousand dollars and at that time the grants were in the range of twenty five fifty hundred thousand I think the largest grants we ever administered were two hundred thousand dollars and so that made it a lot easier to incentivize people to spend money on their buildings

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[SPEAKER_05]: So Marketplace spent a lot of time doing that and put a lot of effort into that type of project.

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[SPEAKER_05]: Also at the same time started, which another significant part they also refocused on stimulating the business environment downtown.

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[SPEAKER_05]: We realized in short order that we could fix up all the buildings we wanted, but if we didn't have occupants and retailers for the buildings that we were really pretty much wasting our time.

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[SPEAKER_05]: So we started working with individuals to promote, stimulate, educate their business interests and to help them become better businessmen and better retailers.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Mayor Scott Long describes the physical and emotional transformation of downtown

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[SPEAKER_04]: When I was a kid growing up in Wal-Bash, downtown was thriving when it's several clothing stores.

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[SPEAKER_04]: People would come downtown for back-to-school shopping to get their kids close and shoes.

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[SPEAKER_04]: If there was a bite-man on the wall, was a men's clothing store.

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[SPEAKER_04]: That was the main one that I remember going to.

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[SPEAKER_04]: There used to be a Daenerys

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[SPEAKER_04]: down the street here where Wooden Ivy is now.

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[SPEAKER_04]: A five and dime type store at that point.

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[SPEAKER_04]: There was an ice cream parlor in the restaurant saying what shop when I was in high school there in that building.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Sears was there and where the east parking lot of the museum

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[SPEAKER_04]: There was a store there called John Richards.

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[SPEAKER_04]: They sold twin bicycles and dead tires and until probably late seventies or early eighties, some of the stores started shutting down.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The story of Wabash took a sharp turn in two thousand fourteen with a major grant.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Suddenly, Main Street had money and momentum.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Then came in, the town went national, winning the small business revolution contest, half a million dollars, TV crews, the spotlight.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But behind the scenes, it was the locals who pulled it off.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Tourism director Christine Flore recalls what winning the small business revolution meant for Wavash.

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[SPEAKER_02]: This small business revolution felt like validation.

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[SPEAKER_02]: We as a community knew we had been working really hard and small businesses were hustling and putting in the work that the grit and the sweat equity to build capacity.

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[SPEAKER_02]: But to have a national company

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[SPEAKER_02]: Recognize that we would be a community worthy of their pilot program.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Speak volumes to the character of the individuals that choose to invest their time here.

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[SPEAKER_02]: And though it was a nominating process and actually Amy Emmick with get nailed, her nomination was one that caught the attention of the Small Business Revolution decision makers.

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[SPEAKER_02]: There were several that had submitted nominations for the City of Wabash, but her specifically was one that stuck out to them.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Then they started to do just collecting information before they picked the finalists to select as the winner criteria on how well the community worked together.

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[SPEAKER_02]: The small business revolution deluxe corporation is based in Minnesota.

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[SPEAKER_02]: They didn't have boots on the street.

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[SPEAKER_02]: And so they needed to make sure that the community stakeholders and leaders they worked with.

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[SPEAKER_02]: If selected, we're going to prove fruitful, but then be good stewards of the gift of the investment.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Working with them was fun.

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[SPEAKER_02]: It was challenging a lot of time.

21:53.060 --> 21:54.421
[SPEAKER_02]: At the end of the day,

21:56.249 --> 22:15.584
[SPEAKER_02]: It truly told the story of resiliency and dreaming and also that we could be an inspiration to other communities across the country and that led to people traveling to our community to see what it was like and it's incredible today all those businesses that were featured.

22:16.754 --> 22:22.937
[SPEAKER_02]: In their six-part series are still today open and operating and have customers.

22:23.017 --> 22:27.999
[SPEAKER_02]: And their business models may have shifted and may look a little different, but they're still an operation.

22:28.319 --> 22:29.199
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's a testament.

22:29.880 --> 22:37.403
[SPEAKER_01]: Tyler Carst, who wants helped run Wabash's Main Street organization, shares his memories of that moment.

22:38.369 --> 22:45.195
[SPEAKER_03]: I enjoyed meeting with our stakeholders, the vendors, the downtown businesses, because without them, there would be no downtown.

22:45.235 --> 22:46.476
[SPEAKER_03]: There would be empty storefronts.

22:47.057 --> 22:51.421
[SPEAKER_03]: I also really enjoyed talking about Wabash to anyone who would listen.

22:51.441 --> 22:54.604
[SPEAKER_03]: I was asked to speak in a few different communities.

22:55.264 --> 22:56.906
[SPEAKER_03]: I went north of Fort Wayne.

22:57.046 --> 22:58.507
[SPEAKER_03]: I went over to Richmond.

22:58.927 --> 23:04.012
[SPEAKER_03]: I spoke at the Indiana Mayor Roundtable, and I spoke some other event in Indianapolis.

23:04.232 --> 23:12.043
[SPEAKER_03]: Any time I can put the light on wall bash to promote it and showcase it to anybody on how we operate.

23:12.604 --> 23:16.449
[SPEAKER_03]: Where we are compared to other communities, things like that, I always would take that opportunity.

23:17.050 --> 23:18.692
[SPEAKER_03]: Someone told me when I first began that

23:20.128 --> 23:22.389
[SPEAKER_03]: you don't want to be an events oriented organization.

23:22.449 --> 23:23.390
[SPEAKER_03]: That's one piece of it.

23:23.450 --> 23:25.571
[SPEAKER_03]: And as I said, there's four pillars of Main Street.

23:25.951 --> 23:33.796
[SPEAKER_03]: It is important to showcase downtown Wabesh, but unless you are really focusing on the other three items, that's only twenty five percent of the pie.

23:34.236 --> 23:37.378
[SPEAKER_03]: The benefit of the events are, it does get the eyes on the community.

23:37.398 --> 23:39.359
[SPEAKER_03]: It gets the eyes on downtown Wabesh.

23:39.879 --> 23:45.623
[SPEAKER_03]: On your businesses, you want to showcase and promote on the warm remodels when more people tend to be at the events.

23:45.983 --> 23:48.885
[SPEAKER_03]: Anytime Miami Street was closed down with specific

23:49.585 --> 23:54.127
[SPEAKER_03]: Ways to fill it up in the matter of hours, you saw thousands of people coming to downtown.

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[SPEAKER_03]: That was really cool to see.

23:55.547 --> 23:56.948
[SPEAKER_03]: Same for the jungle Jubilee.

23:57.388 --> 24:03.030
[SPEAKER_03]: When you can see downtown Wobbish lit up by holiday decorations, that's just really neat to see.

24:03.210 --> 24:06.731
[SPEAKER_03]: It kind of triggers those memories for people and the good memories.

24:06.771 --> 24:08.932
[SPEAKER_03]: They remember as a kid in downtown Wobbish.

24:09.032 --> 24:18.476
[SPEAKER_03]: It was a great role in getting out and about and having the one-on-one conversations with the businesses on what we can do to make downtown Wobbish the best that it can be.

24:19.156 --> 24:22.537
[SPEAKER_03]: I will always still say, though, rising tide lifts all boats.

24:22.917 --> 24:25.097
[SPEAKER_03]: So it's not just me who did this.

24:25.157 --> 24:27.498
[SPEAKER_03]: There's the Visalosh County group.

24:27.698 --> 24:32.739
[SPEAKER_03]: There's teams at City of Wabash who would help me out all the different departments of the City of Wabash.

24:33.019 --> 24:48.923
[SPEAKER_03]: One way or another probably got a phone call or email from me and some capacity and they were always literally willing to drop anything and come help me, whether that's helping with weeds or sidewalk clings or Christmas decorations or blocking off the streets or trash can pick up

24:49.664 --> 24:55.208
[SPEAKER_03]: It takes a village and so maybe it was me who helped facilitate all these day-to-day things.

24:55.288 --> 25:00.872
[SPEAKER_03]: It really was a team of people, the board of directors, the different committees, and all those different departments.

25:02.320 --> 25:06.602
[SPEAKER_01]: Tyler, Christine, and their teams brought the community together.

25:07.562 --> 25:15.326
[SPEAKER_01]: From facade grants to festivals, they stitched a patchwork of progress that made downtown shine.

25:16.166 --> 25:22.348
[SPEAKER_01]: As the momentum continued to build, Wavash Marketplace didn't just focus on events.

25:23.229 --> 25:26.390
[SPEAKER_01]: It turned its attention to long-term transformation.

25:27.571 --> 25:30.272
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the most impactful tools in their toolkit

25:30.972 --> 25:38.041
[SPEAKER_01]: with the facade grant program, which helped property owners breathe new life into aging buildings.

25:39.283 --> 25:44.790
[SPEAKER_01]: Steve down shares how that effort laid the groundwork for something even bigger.

25:45.800 --> 25:49.662
[SPEAKER_05]: Marketplace finished up a significant facade program.

25:50.042 --> 25:52.944
[SPEAKER_05]: That was the last big successful facade program.

25:52.984 --> 25:57.547
[SPEAKER_05]: So that operated from, twenty-fourteen to twenty-nineteen thereabouts.

25:58.087 --> 26:03.850
[SPEAKER_05]: That's when we had large grants for what we call the Bedford Building on Wabash Street across from City Hall.

26:04.351 --> 26:06.432
[SPEAKER_05]: The Bradford Building, that's on come out.

26:06.712 --> 26:13.436
[SPEAKER_05]: We probably had twelve to fifteen facade grants out and operating at that time, so people were

26:14.056 --> 26:18.260
[SPEAKER_05]: putting a lot of money into their buildings in the mid-twentons.

26:18.860 --> 26:22.623
[SPEAKER_05]: That was very satisfying and we were very gratified by that.

26:23.284 --> 26:35.114
[SPEAKER_05]: And then at the end of that period of time, in a twenty-eighteen, I think we became involved with the Small Business Revolution, which was an operation organized and promoted by Deluxe.

26:35.814 --> 26:41.015
[SPEAKER_05]: a check and small business support corporation out of Minneapolis.

26:41.555 --> 26:47.437
[SPEAKER_05]: We competed on the national level for recognition and the small business revolution.

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[SPEAKER_05]: They would come down, spend a significant amount of money improving the downtown, educating the owners, giving them aid in legal background and accounting background tax.

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[SPEAKER_05]: to make them more efficient and better.

27:03.002 --> 27:07.006
[SPEAKER_05]: They came in and they selected six businesses and worked with them.

27:07.787 --> 27:11.951
[SPEAKER_05]: As a result of nationwide voting, Wallbash won the Small Business Revolution.

27:12.352 --> 27:14.374
[SPEAKER_05]: It was a pretty exciting time for Wallbash.

27:14.914 --> 27:17.537
[SPEAKER_05]: Town was in a good situation and a good position.

27:18.037 --> 27:20.540
[SPEAKER_05]: Town town was really riding high at that point.

27:20.800 --> 27:36.928
[SPEAKER_05]: A Lobesh Marketplace was instrumental in facilitating all of that as was Grow Lobesh County, Christine Flore, and I worked together on a lot of those projects and really coordinated with Deluxe and the businesses.

27:37.768 --> 27:51.552
[SPEAKER_05]: Deluxe contributed not only to the six individual businesses, but they contributed significantly to our downtown as well, improving the overall impact or overall condition of downtown.

27:52.181 --> 27:54.402
[SPEAKER_01]: Walbash is no longer a ghost town.

27:55.283 --> 27:58.824
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a case study and how to reclaim a place's soul.

27:59.905 --> 28:09.809
[SPEAKER_01]: From art studios to nutrition, to weekend street festivals, this is what downtown feels like when people fight to keep it alive.

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[SPEAKER_01]: A man to Lopez, a downtown property and business owner, and board president, tells us how downtown revitalization became personal

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[SPEAKER_09]: I actually was one of the last from the state grants to receive that and then also did receive a downtown Wavish, a smaller size facade grant program.

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[SPEAKER_09]: And certainly your exterior has a lot to do with your enticement for the community and potential tenants or business owners who want to come.

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[SPEAKER_09]: and be in your community.

28:39.311 --> 28:41.972
[SPEAKER_09]: I think to you it can also facilitate partnerships.

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[SPEAKER_09]: My building happens to be on an alleyway.

28:44.914 --> 28:51.857
[SPEAKER_09]: So I talked to the city and said, could we maybe pave this alley road and chore up the steps and the railing down there?

28:52.037 --> 28:55.919
[SPEAKER_09]: Also thankful for that partnership with the city who saw, hey, I'm a business.

28:55.999 --> 29:00.782
[SPEAKER_09]: I'm investing in the community and so they also were willing to invest by updating the alley.

29:01.722 --> 29:03.083
[SPEAKER_09]: including that up as well.

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[SPEAKER_09]: And then we've hung string lights there.

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[SPEAKER_09]: Many people will come and take pictures in that alleyway.

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[SPEAKER_09]: I feel like it's a chain of reaction or a ripple effect, right?

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[SPEAKER_09]: If somebody just has to start and then others will want to take their part in cleaning up or

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[SPEAKER_09]: adding to the uplift print.

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[SPEAKER_09]: So, what previously was an ice ore, the alleyway, is now something really nice.

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[SPEAKER_09]: I see downtown Wavash as a real connector for business owners.

29:28.021 --> 29:32.545
[SPEAKER_09]: Downtown Wavash is here to make everybody in the district thriving.

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[SPEAKER_09]: We don't have a thriving downtown if we don't have filled storefronts and beautiful buildings who are maintained.

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[SPEAKER_09]: I feel like I have somebody who's willing to go up to back to me.

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[SPEAKER_09]: So if I'm struggling, I could come here to help and connect with somebody else who's been in my shoes.

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[SPEAKER_09]: I've had pretty stable tenants think goodness, but it's because we have a great downtown.

29:53.982 --> 30:00.626
[SPEAKER_01]: Mayor Long explains how policy helped clear the way for community events and local business growth.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Yesterday at launch, we hosted the

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[SPEAKER_04]: North East Indiana Mayor Commissioner's caucus at Marcus Street.

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[SPEAKER_04]: I had five people from out of the community complaining to me because they couldn't find a parking spot.

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[SPEAKER_04]: And I said, that's a good problem to have, but you wish you had it.

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[SPEAKER_04]: And they laughed and they said, yeah, that just means that our downtown's thriving when you can't find a parking spot.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Now, don't get me wrong, they're in our awful.

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[SPEAKER_04]: There's plenty of parking, you just may have to walk a block or two.

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[SPEAKER_04]: It's a good problem to have.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Wallbash Marketplace, Economic Vitality Committee, identified available buildings and trying to figure out how we get a marketed firm investment.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Eric just opened the copper tooth.

30:50.733 --> 30:56.498
[SPEAKER_04]: He came to Wallbash and visited and fell in love with the downtown and saw the opportunity.

30:57.518 --> 31:11.484
[SPEAKER_04]: and as continued to make some investments into the city, I think once people come and visit downtown Wallbash as it is now, they see how vibrant it is and it's full of life and they wouldn't be a part of it.

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[SPEAKER_04]: The mainstream organization and the events that you hold, the first Fridays, the various events that we have, lends itself to help in those businesses out because your draw on people downtown and hopefully they're popping into the stores and buying some of the items that they're selling.

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[SPEAKER_04]: We're all in this together.

31:33.993 --> 31:40.996
[SPEAKER_01]: Kelly Beaver, owner of downtown nutrition, explains what it means to run a business downtown today.

31:42.008 --> 31:46.113
[SPEAKER_10]: I do think that being downtown is a big advantage for us.

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[SPEAKER_10]: Once people are downtown and are they going to benefit my business, but other businesses down here, they can go to and walk to.

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[SPEAKER_10]: You don't have to drive to every store.

31:56.044 --> 31:56.925
[SPEAKER_10]: So being in this

31:57.786 --> 31:59.747
[SPEAKER_10]: kind of like little strip helps.

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[SPEAKER_10]: And we do have people that come in for the Honeywell concerts and stuff like that that have never been to downtown.

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[SPEAKER_10]: They usually stop in there.

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[SPEAKER_10]: They also love the feeling of downtown.

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[SPEAKER_10]: They always make the comment that it is one of the beautiful places that they've seen as far as downtown.

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[SPEAKER_10]: Down here is important to me.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And through it all, first Fridays became the modern heartbeat.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Kelly Brace reflects on how first Fridays weren't about nostalgia.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They worked about connection.

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[SPEAKER_08]: It was always kind of a social thing.

32:34.528 --> 32:39.634
[SPEAKER_08]: We always were trying to figure out how to get people to come down and actually shop.

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[SPEAKER_08]: But my theory was people kept out and they looked around and they might be back the next day or whatever to buy something.

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[SPEAKER_08]: We would pick a theme but we would not.

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[SPEAKER_08]: have the whole community involvement that you guys have got now.

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[SPEAKER_08]: But we just figured we had to get somebody downtown at some point.

32:57.896 --> 33:00.939
[SPEAKER_08]: And the hotel had just been finished.

33:01.260 --> 33:07.647
[SPEAKER_08]: If that wouldn't have been there, I don't think anybody would have come back downtown to open a business.

33:08.593 --> 33:13.456
[SPEAKER_01]: In a world full of stories about loss, here's one about recovery.

33:14.577 --> 33:17.699
[SPEAKER_01]: Main Street isn't a relic, it's a resurrection.

33:18.639 --> 33:25.523
[SPEAKER_01]: And a Steve Down puts it, we're not trying to make it like it was, we're trying to make it better than it is.

33:26.344 --> 33:32.087
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, from the revival of a single street, the future of a town was rewritten.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Christine offers a reflection on what revitalization really means in a world filled with disconnection.

33:41.814 --> 33:48.739
[SPEAKER_02]: The attention span of consumers have shifted and the way we relate with our environment has shifted.

33:49.359 --> 33:51.701
[SPEAKER_02]: Some ways it's made a much more convenient

33:52.637 --> 33:56.841
[SPEAKER_02]: We can be more productive with our time and how we spend it.

33:57.482 --> 34:01.585
[SPEAKER_02]: But sometimes with convenience you lose connection.

34:01.705 --> 34:16.559
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think one of the biggest challenges organizations that have built their success upon connection will have is the disconnect people have with one another.

34:17.700 --> 34:19.981
[SPEAKER_02]: and within interacting with the world around them.

34:20.761 --> 34:37.367
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that is going to be one of the key elements that non-profit organizations, all organizations and companies are going to have to address is how do you engage with your client base, your customer base, your community base?

34:38.594 --> 34:43.018
[SPEAKER_02]: in a way that shifts in conforms to the way the world is right now.

34:43.298 --> 34:52.766
[SPEAKER_02]: The way people consume how they plan and how they are entertained is so different and it's so quick and it's so fast.

34:53.426 --> 35:03.094
[SPEAKER_02]: What downtown Wabash Inc has an advantage on is that during the programs, the events, this organization hosts,

35:04.474 --> 35:06.116
[SPEAKER_02]: There is no choice but to connect.

35:06.916 --> 35:19.108
[SPEAKER_02]: It's authentic relationships and it is a time people get out of their homes and get out from behind their phones and their computers and see their neighbors and see their friends and I believe in my heart.

35:20.053 --> 35:37.378
[SPEAKER_02]: that while the growers and makers at the farmers market have wonderful wares to sell, I think it's also the connection of people have to see each other on a Saturday morning, getting their local produce or their locally made wares.

35:37.818 --> 35:40.958
[SPEAKER_02]: The same can be said for first Fridays, that's what's different.

35:41.419 --> 35:46.280
[SPEAKER_02]: You can shop any of these stores, any other time of the day or the year.

35:47.180 --> 35:53.584
[SPEAKER_02]: or the week, but those special moments are built upon connectivity and relationship.

35:54.605 --> 35:59.388
[SPEAKER_01]: That sense of connection is something you can feel at Monox Market.

36:00.468 --> 36:05.130
[SPEAKER_00]: Modox Market is a hub for the community.

36:05.510 --> 36:12.133
[SPEAKER_00]: What's really exciting about that is we've seen a lot of different things happen in Modox.

36:12.613 --> 36:17.575
[SPEAKER_00]: Like three weeks ago, we saw a marriage proposal at the coffee bar.

36:18.196 --> 36:20.757
[SPEAKER_00]: We've seen people come to Christ.

36:21.357 --> 36:25.618
[SPEAKER_00]: In Motox Market, then actually there's a couple that come.

36:25.999 --> 36:33.841
[SPEAKER_00]: They drive about three hours every year to celebrate their anniversary because that's where they've got engaged with Motox Market.

36:34.221 --> 36:39.743
[SPEAKER_00]: We actually have a photo of what the building looked like when Mike and Angie Beacham purchased it.

36:40.183 --> 36:48.518
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was very rundown, as well as the Charlie Creek Inn, which was a hotel, but all the buildings were pretty rundown.

36:48.598 --> 36:52.565
[SPEAKER_00]: And most of them have had a facelift, obviously, since then.

36:53.402 --> 36:57.604
[SPEAKER_00]: It's definitely a different environment and a different feel.

36:57.624 --> 37:04.846
[SPEAKER_00]: So like for me, I feel like out on the highway, it's more, it feels more commercial to me.

37:05.307 --> 37:09.988
[SPEAKER_00]: And downtown, it's like you almost, it feels like more of a family setting.

37:10.969 --> 37:16.031
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that's what, I guess it just depends on which feel you want.

37:16.511 --> 37:17.712
[SPEAKER_00]: You want the commercial.

37:19.244 --> 37:22.465
[SPEAKER_00]: or do you want more of the small business?

37:22.805 --> 37:26.687
[SPEAKER_00]: If you want all the fields, you're going to be in a small business downtown.

37:27.007 --> 37:34.110
[SPEAKER_00]: In relationship wise too, with not only your customers, but also with the downtown community.

37:34.610 --> 37:42.234
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's important that they realize, I mean, whether they're downtown all the time and, you know, have a reason to come down or desire to come downtown.

37:42.794 --> 37:48.797
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's important to remember that that's a big part of the community as a whole.

37:48.817 --> 37:55.140
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, just think if, you know, what if right now there were ten empty buildings downtown or storefronts.

37:55.300 --> 38:00.003
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, really, wallbashes becoming a destination place.

38:00.923 --> 38:10.191
[SPEAKER_00]: And without the downtown, whether you appreciated or not, that's part of why Wavash is becoming a destination place.

38:10.551 --> 38:15.635
[SPEAKER_00]: So without the downtown, I don't feel, I don't know how it could be.

38:16.236 --> 38:21.420
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, even with the Honeywell Center, that's one little piece of the downtown.

38:22.140 --> 38:27.104
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think it's important that even if you aren't downtown that you

38:27.885 --> 38:51.528
[SPEAKER_00]: definitely whenever you can support the local downtown businesses, whether it's an mentioning it to people or maybe coming down and visiting and seeing what is actually downtown because sometimes I don't think people really realize what all is downtown and instead of driving an hour out of town to get a gift or something like maybe you could just purchase that in downtown wall bash.

38:54.308 --> 38:58.429
[SPEAKER_01]: For decades, Canal Street was Wabash's beating heartbeat.

38:59.430 --> 39:04.972
[SPEAKER_01]: Its storefronts packed shoulder to shoulder, because everyone wanted a piece of the action.

39:06.332 --> 39:12.915
[SPEAKER_01]: Then the crowds then, Canal days faded, and the bright lights dimmed.

39:14.115 --> 39:16.816
[SPEAKER_01]: But every comeback begins with a spark.

39:18.243 --> 39:30.491
[SPEAKER_01]: In two thousand and two, a handful of shopkeepers dragged bright red chairs onto the sidewalk, kept their doors open late, and dared the darkness to swallow them.

39:31.951 --> 39:37.015
[SPEAKER_01]: The experiment flickered out, yet the idea lived on.

39:38.255 --> 39:40.577
[SPEAKER_01]: Out of those ashes rose first Friday.

39:41.626 --> 39:46.749
[SPEAKER_01]: And this past June can now street was closed to cars for the first time.

39:48.050 --> 39:49.591
[SPEAKER_01]: Vendors hugged the curb.

39:50.631 --> 39:52.412
[SPEAKER_01]: Music spilled from doorways.

39:53.493 --> 39:56.915
[SPEAKER_01]: And kids dipped brushes into fire engine red paint.

39:57.675 --> 40:02.178
[SPEAKER_01]: Coloring chairs outside the former bite-minute wolf department store.

40:03.209 --> 40:06.510
[SPEAKER_01]: the longest operating clothing store in Indiana.

40:07.571 --> 40:11.633
[SPEAKER_01]: Those red chairs will now sit out at every future first Friday.

40:12.673 --> 40:15.354
[SPEAKER_01]: They remind us that unity isn't a memory.

40:16.215 --> 40:18.315
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a muscle we keep exercising.

40:19.356 --> 40:23.998
[SPEAKER_01]: In a world full of stories about loss, here's one about recovery.

40:25.572 --> 40:27.473
[SPEAKER_01]: Main Street isn't a relic.

40:28.353 --> 40:29.234
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a resurrection.

40:30.114 --> 40:35.296
[SPEAKER_01]: So if your own small town Main Street feels stronger than it did in the nineties.

40:36.156 --> 40:37.077
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't ease up.

40:37.617 --> 40:43.520
[SPEAKER_01]: Momentum is fragile and progress isn't permanent unless we protect it.

40:44.460 --> 40:51.423
[SPEAKER_01]: While that shows us what's possible, if you've been waiting for a sign to start, consider the light lit.

40:55.480 --> 40:58.763
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Shane Waters, and this is hometown history.

40:59.924 --> 41:05.188
[SPEAKER_01]: If today's episode inspired you, share it with a friend or leave a review.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Until next time, keep looking closer.

41:10.233 --> 41:12.775
[SPEAKER_01]: Your hometown has a story to tell.