Small Town Money

Originally Published October, 2011

I found this and thought you might appreciate it. It was a heartening little story, just one, representing a small town in rural America, one obviously committed to their kids, education and rodeo. Personally I've known nothing about rodeo, but my daughter is a new member on her school's barrel racing team, so I'm trying to learn fast. This little clip brought to mind a couple of other similar small town stories from my state, both places that used creativity and community to revitalize their economies.

One, Toppenish, did it through art. Their motto: "Where the West STill LIves in the City of Murals and Museums." They hired local artists to paint murals on the sides of the buildings in town. These murals feature stories from the history of the area, and are painted in a 24-48 hour period, I believe. They set up bleachers for for visitors to watch the mural unfold. The rest of the year they have horse drawn cart tours of the murals. It was named a "Must-See Old West Destination by True West Magazine in 2010." Pretty cool for a formerly disenfranchised bunch of 9,000, mostly Native Americans.

Another small town, located in the mountains, created an economic upturn for themselves by adopting a cultural heritage as their own. They took a vote and agreed to turn themselves into a little Bavaria. All the architecture has Bavarian details, there are German restaurants, gift stores, music at the pavilion in summer evenings. The best is winter, of course, where they display all kinds of German Christmas decorations and tree ornaments, and have a great lighting ceremony. This brings in tourists also taking in local x country ski trails.

I'm always tickled when I see art and ingenuity making money. Ever notice how in any given city whenever the artists stake out an area, within 5-10 years that area becomes the hot new place to be? Then the property values rise, restaurants cook, stores sell, services serve... So many times these kind of decisions are based on human factors. How a place feels, the "vibe." In the rodeo story it's about how the community feels, the warmth, the hope, the support they see for kids and family life. Economic drivers.

what's your experience? Ever see an economy transformed by ideas?