Guest blogger Jen Carpenter has been the executive director of Main Street Buena Vista for almost two years. She is also a co-owner of a downtown bookstore, Leaf & Lore, and an author.
Main Street Buena Vista hosted our own “Downtown Walking Tour” on Wednesday, Aug. 9, where community members had the chance to walk alongside our staff and board, as well as city employees, to showcase the various businesses and buildings that make up the heart of our beautiful community — the pretty and the ugly.
This idea certainly wasn’t created in a silo. In fact, it had been brewing in my head since the Main Street America conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, earlier this year. I flew 900 miles to learn a lesson I could have easily learned right here in Virginia — Phoebus, to be specific!
It was my first national Main Street conference. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I got even more than I hoped for: new friends, new direction, and renewed energy to keep moving this needle of revitalization along.
My biggest regret? That I couldn’t clone myself to go to all the other sessions too!
My need for a clone aside, I did manage to attend my fellow Main Street director Gina Facteau’s session, “Walk the Block,” where she led a guided tour for fellow Main Streeters. She shared how they brought local leaders and decision-makers out to the sidewalks to actually see their downtown — parking, buildings, trash collection, redevelopment opportunities, all of it. I was floored and eager to bring these ideas home to Buena Vista after attending Gina’s session.
This was also an excellent opportunity to activate our board! For us, our Main Street board president, Tyson Cooper, led the charge. He’s dipped his toe into all aspects of being a citizen and has made quite a name for himself: he’s a former mayor, a downtown building owner, a business owner, and, very conveniently, gives historic ghost tours!
During the “Downtown Walking Tour,” we showed examples of downtown’s strongest investments, including renovated historic properties like the Virginia Innovation Accelerator building, the newest mixed-use construction project that the commercial district has seen in roughly six decades. But while it is important to showcase the beauty of your district, my philosophy is that it is just as important to shine a light on the not-so-great side of Main Street. Some of our most prominent downtown properties are still vacant or underused, and several more have sat vacant for more than a decade, like the long-vacant buildings that have fallen into disrepair. We showcased one: the former Bank of America building, which is nearly 11,000 sq. ft.! By showcasing these properties, we could, one, stimulate people’s connections they had with place; and two, hopefully, catalyze local investment into the revitalization of the property.
I didn’t want to have a polished tour. I wanted it to be an honest one. A community conversation.
I experienced professional property tours before, and they changed the way I saw buildings I had driven past for years. I wanted our community to have that same experience, because it is easy to drive past an empty building often enough that eventually you stop seeing it.
Then somebody opens the door, you walk inside, and somebody says, “Wait. We have THIS in Buena Vista? What could we do with it?” That question is powerful.
In total, we had a little more than 40 attendees join us. Most were residents; others were property and business owners, EDA members, city council members, and the newly hired City Manager!=
The moral of the story is, “Being honest about the ugly didn’t make people care less about downtown. It helped them see more of it.”
And I think that is where stewardship starts. Getting more folks to care and really see what’s possible for Main Street Buena Vista.
One of my favorite things about the Main Street network is that we do not have to figure all of this out alone. We jokingly call it “R&D” or “rip off and duplicate” in the industry. Take a great idea, give credit where it belongs, bring it home, and shape it around your own community.
Phoebus gave Buena Vista a great idea.
Surprisingly, sometimes the first step is remarkably simple: put on some good shoes, open the door, and go for a walk.
Virginia Main Street 