In the last few weeks about 200 residents have gathered, first in Iola and then in Humboldt, to devise ways to perk up local economies.
Focus of the two summits have been downtowns in Allen County’s two largest towns, ways to fill vacant stores and draw shoppers — and new residents.
What is certain, none of that can be accomplished with the touch of a magic wand. We wish it could, but that happens only in fairy tales.
So what to do?
Among outcomes in Iola was a proposal for three working groups to examine in detail marketing, recreation and infrastructure. In Humboldt, participants thought encouraging youth with activities and appraising them of local opportunities, along with short-term housing — a hotel or bed-and-breakfast — would the ticket.
All good ideas, but ultimately the key is to find some magnetism to bring people to town, and for it to be strong enough to prompt some to say: “Wow, this a place I’d like to live,” and then follow through.
Iola and Humboldt have advantages of having premier industries. Gates Manufacturing, Russell Stover Candies and, from the long-term, Columbia Metal, prop up Iola. B&W Trailer Hitches and Monarch Cement are Humboldt’s mainstay.
Humboldt has an edge from that perspective, in that both its industries are locally owned, with Monarch having had a presence for well over a century.
What is occurring in downtown Humboldt is ample evidence of what it means to have companies that want to have more of a role in their town than just being employers.
The two have extensively improved infrastructure around Humboldt’s historic square and Joe and Jane Works and their B&W employees have gone a step further by restoring several stores to useful presence. Two will house restaurants by early summer.
HOWEVER, more much can be done to regain at least some of the commercial fervor that each downtown area was noted for only a few decades ago.
We all know that large stores such as Walmart have made the mom-and-pops, or even smaller chain stores, difficult to resurrect. J.C. Penney just announced closing many stores, including the one in Chanute.
The answer, it would seem, is specialty shops — think Audacious Boutique in Iola — and perhaps more to the point a covey of such stores that would make Iola or Humboldt, or the two of them in concert, an attraction that would bring visitors in numbers, even perhaps by the busload. That has occurred elsewhere, such as with the proliferation of quilt shops in Hamilton, Mo.
The good news is Thrive Allen County, whose successes are approaching legendary, has dedicated itself, along with Damaris Kunkler, program director, and Bill Maness, new economic development director, to help locals find ways out of the economic wilderness.
At some point soon, depending on its obligations elsewhere, G&W Foods will start construction of a new grocery on the old Allen County Hospital site. That isn’t exactly in downtown Iola, but it’s close enough to have a spin-off effect.
