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 Emporia Main Street Calendar of Events 

Board Meeting

8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street office

 January 12-13

Kansas Main Street Quarterly Training- El Dorado

April 1-4

National Main Street Conference- Baltimore, MD

April 13-15

Glass Blown Open Disc Golf Tournament by Dynamic Discs

April 19-20

Kansas Main Street Quarterly Training, Dodge City

April 21

The Taste

Civic Auditorium

May 19

Downtown Car Show by the Flatland Cruisers

June 2

The Dirty Kanza

June 9th

Symphony in the Flint Hills

  
Do you have an upcoming event for your business or organization?  Let Emporia Main Street  know and we may include it on our upcoming calendars! 

Benefactors 

The City of Emporia

Lyon County

Bobby D's BBQ

Caribbean Sun Tanning

CoreFirst Bank & Trust

The Emporia Gazette

ESB Financial

Emporia's Radio

StationsKVOE, 104.9, Country 101.7

Longbine Auto Plaza

Roberts Blue Barnett Funeral Home

T2 Verizon Wireless

AKA Marketing/The Sports Fan

Amanda's Bakery

Applebee's

Ash, LLC.

Atherton & Huth Attorney at Law

Barden & Thompson

Bath Expressions

Bennett Dental Group

Best Western Hospitality House

Black Heart Cherry

Brown's Shoe Fit Co.

C & J Woodworks

Cable One

Cable One Advertising

Capitol Federal

Cassell Insurance

Chester Press, Inc.

Clark Carpet & Tile

Coffelt Sign Co. 

Commercial Street Diner

Complete Works

Country Mart/Price Chopper

Dan's Hands

Dorsey & Wise Family Eye Care

Douglas Chiropractic Center

Dynamic Disks

Emporia Chamber of Commerce

Emporia State Federal Credit Union

ESU Memorial Union

E-Town Solutions

First Community Bank

Flint Hills Eye Care Associates

Flint Hills Lanes

Flint Hills Music

Flint Hills Tech College

Flint Hills Mall

Forget Me Not Productions

Four Seasons Apartments

Furniture Loft

Genesis Health Club

George Groh & Sons

Gerald Schumann Electric

Glendo

Granada Coffee Company

Granada Plaza & Lofts

Graves Drug Store

Hair Krafters

Helbert & Allemang Attorney's at Law

High Gear Cyclery

Hornet Residential

IM Design Group

Inno-Vest Corporation

Java Cat 5

Jimmy John's

Kansas Radio 96.1 The Wave

Kari's Diamonds by Design

KISS 103.1

Krueger & Williams Law Office

L & L Pets

Little Acorns

Little Caesers Pizza

Lyon County State Bank

Lyon County Title

Marion National Bank

Mark II Lumber

Mathis Physical Therapy

McDonald's on 6th Ave.

McKinzie Pest Control

Menu Foods Midwest Corp.

Midas Touch Golden Tans

Modern Air Conditioning

Muckenthaler, Inc.

Nature's Paradise

Navrat's Office Products

Pizza Ranch

Plum Bazaar

Poehler Mercantile

Pool & Wright

Prairie Sage Apartments

Prairie Land Partners

Pro Cuts

Pyramid Pizza

Redi Upholstry

Redline Trucking

Ru Yi

Sauder Custom Fabrication

Scheller's Lawn & Landscape

Simmons Pet Food

SS Graham Insurance Agency

Stanley Jewelry

Studio 11

Subway

Sunflower Gymnastics

Symmonds & Symmonds Attorney at Law

The Help Desk

The Henrikson Team

The Medicine Shoppe

The Sweet Granada

The Villiger

The White Rose Inn

Thompson Auto Repair

Toso Appraisal Service

Total Technology, LLC

Town Crier Bookstore

Town Royal

Wash House

Water's True Value

Westar Energy

Wheat State Pizza

Williams Automotive

 Big Brothers Big Sisters

Community Theatre of Emporia

Corner House

Emporia Arts Council

Emporia Farmer's Market

Emporia Granada Theatre Alliance

Emporia High School Future Business Leaders of America

Emporia Public Library

ESU Foundation

Small Business Development Center

First Presbyterian Church

Flint Hills Optimists Club

Jayhawk Area Council (Scouts)

Lyon County Historical Society

National Teachers Hall of Fame

Plumb Place

The United Way 

Boyzen Bunny Fiber Arts- Tracey Graham

Energy Innovators

Family Jewels-

Leticia Rust

Gold Canyon Candle- Stephanie Morgan

Green Door Recycling- Amy Becker

Independant Longaberger Consultant- Judith Dieker

Interdependent Web- Ben Stallings

Joe the Furniture Doctor- Joe Kurzen

Kynda Kreative- Amanda Mendoza

Mary Kay- Brenda Braynard

Pampered Chef- Chelsea Gerleman

Patti Cakes- Patti Lipson

Paula's Creations

Paula Roper

Premier Designs Jewelry- Nikki Simmons

RossTography

Mike Ross

Scentsy- Deann Rose

Scentsy- Kelly Long

Stampin-Up

Darcy Johnson

Tastefully Simple- Vanessa Apodaca 

Anne Strobel

Brad Harzman

Dale and Carolyn Davis

Erin Woods

Fred and Patricia Gilligan

Julie Johnson

Kayla Oney

Mark & Amy McAnarney

Mary & Tim Helmer

Matt & Val Zimmerman

Pam & Fred Stephenson

Peggy Mast

Rob Gilligan

Sue Blechl

Tyler and Melanie Curtis

Victoria Partridge 

Emporia Main Street E- Newsletter

The Start Your Own Business Class is a joint effort between Flint Hills Technical College, the Small Business Development Center at Emporia State University and Emporia Main Street.  Classes run from February 14th through March 15th. For more information on the class CLICK HERE! 

Flint Hills Mall Upcoming Events

"Cutest Couple Contest"....Entries taken at the Mall up to February 9th, with the Winner announced on February 11th.  The Winner receives a "$100 Gift Certificate" to the Mall!

"3rd Annual Kansas Hunting & Fishing Expo"....March 3rd & 4th .   Activities for all ages.

By the Numbers...

Local economic data shows a community core moving in the right direction.

How do you gauge success?  That's a question every organization receives, and the answer is simple: production.  Do the decisions you make, do the promotional activities you work, do the incentives you utilize, do the recruitment efforts you undertake result in recordable production?  As an economic development agency, we know that you want to see production for your membership dollar.  Taxpayers want to see tangible results from their Main Street organization and volunteers want to know that their hard work makes a difference.  Well, here is the production, results and difference YOU made in 2011.

For the calendar year 2011, Emporia Main Street recorded the following results in our quarterly reports.  Information for the Emporia Main Street quarterly reports are gathered from a variety of sources.  Facade and Building Improvement Data comes from the City of Emporia Code Department.  Public Improvement Data comes from both the Engineering and Public Works departments at the City of Emporia.  Building Sales information comes from the Lyon County Appraisers office.  Businesses opening, moving, expanding or closing information comes from observation of the downtown area and we utilize internal mechanisms to count volunteer hours.  The results below were recorded from a static defined area identified by the Department of Commerce within the community core.

2011 Economic Development Numbers

New Businesses Opening: 16

Jobs Created from New Businesses: 58

Business Expansions or Relocations into Downtown: 5

Businesses Lost: 7

Building Rehabilitation & Facade Projects: 20

Monetary Value of Rehab and Facade Projects: $2,182,685

Buildings Sold: 6

Monetary Value of Buildings Sold: $596,000

Public Improvement Projects: $775,709

Volunteer Hours Worked: ~3,000

State Assessed Value of Volunteer Hours: $13,162.56

Total Economic Impact: $3,567,556.50

These economic impact numbers do not take into consideration

If you notice the building photos in the sunglasses of out Membership Photo, you can see the transition of the Broadview; one of many wonderful investments made in the downtown area during 2011.

financial impacts from Emporia Main Street or Main Street partner events.  For example, the Great American Market, Dirty Kanza Finish Line Party, Midnight Madness or the litany of other events that Main Street coordinates to help improve the economy posses economic benefits that are not listed.

In addition, Emporia Main Street offers "gap financing" and exposure to other forms of development incentives.  Currently, we have close to $200,000 in zero interest loans outstanding over three different loan funds, and we have supplied information to local businesses concerning tax credits, grants and other programs designed to encourage business start ups and expansions.

Over the past fifteen months (the city recording period): Main Street held 32 Clean Up activities with approximately 350 hours worked and approximately 68 bags of debris removed.

As an organization, Emporia Main Street could talk about all the entities we've communicated with, the current business climate for existing businesses, the leads we are working on for the future and the successes of years ago...  We have all of those things, but true success is measurable and independent.  The numbers above show an unfettered depiction of 2011.  Can we do better?  Sure!  We want to improve every year and make sure that we are providing all of you with the capable Economic Development agency you've come to expect.  We have an internal list of things we think we need to work on, and we want to continually reach out to you to determine other areas of improvement.  You can see evidence of that in the "Did you know?" section below.  We also understand that the data listed above is not due solely to the work of Main Street staff. 

Community successes are due to the hard work and dedication of the community.  Entrepreneurial successes are due to the dedication of entrepreneurs.  Community improvements are due to the collective will of citizens.  Investment improvements are due to the foresight of local investors.  We are simply happy to facilitate community growth through our proven development method.  Things get done when organizations committ to doing things that meet a specific mission and goals.  Through achieving benchmarks, we create tangible results like those listed above.

Last week, we met with the Traffic Safety Board to discuss potential changes with a few spot parking regulations to help area businesses, we met with an individual about community recycling

Can you identify the name and location of some of the historic photos listed in this section?

planning, we attended a Community Initiated Development Meeting called by the City Manager, we picked up several Moonlight Madness and Taste participants for April, we spoke about Passenger Rail to the Lyons Club, we held a board meeting, we continued our work with three potential entrepreneurs, we had a couple of professionals that wanted to work on entrepreneurship training projects stop by the office for some clarification, we finished some economic data compilations and we worked on some web site revisions.  We received calls from both the Chamber and the CVB that they were interested in hearing more about the community mobile application project citizens are working on, and we helped answer some questions for one of our business members on West 6th that was concerned about changes within governmental approaches to local business.  Last week was the first week in a long time that we didn't have some sort of major event/activity, so it was a good chance for us to work ahead on some upcoming projects.  It was also a good chance for us to do some communications outreach, which leads to good questions from all of you!

1.  "Where can I find out what the value of local commercial property is?"  From a member.   Lyon County is a part of a great site called "beacon" (Click HERE). In addition to mapping, pictures and building conditions, the beacon site also gives the appraised values of different properties throughout Emporia and the county.  Now, we must warn you that the appraised may be different than the sale price for a property, and depending on the property owner the rental price may not be related to either of those prices.  If you have a question about a building, contact the Emporia Main Street office and we will do our best to connect you with the appropriately individual.  If you have questions about the valuation of property, you can contact the Lyon County Appraisers Office by clicking HERE. 

2.  "What are your thoughts on "on-street" parking for businesses?"  From a local official. Malls often require employees of businesses to park on the edges of parking lots.  Strip centers generally do the same thing.  Why?  Because the most important component in a business is the customer.  We believe that "on-street" parking should be reserved for customers, not only because it gives the shopping public easier access to your business but because employees that park in front of a business reduce the parking available to everyone else.  Not only do you hurt yourself, you hurt your neighbors.  Buildings have owners, but the sidewalks and streets downtown are owned by the public, for the public good.  The public is repaid for their investment through both property taxes and sales tax revenue.  This revenue is generated through successful and occupied buildings with customer turnover that results in appropriate revenue streams.  We understand that employees and business owners need a place to park, unload their vehicles and obtain quick access to run errands.  We have several parking lots throughout the downtown, and we have alleys that allow for loading and unloading.  Let me reiterate, no commercial property type encourages employees to park directly in front of their building.  It hurts the existing business, neighboring businesses and your customers.  None of us want that, right? 
 

3.  "Can you hold community visioning and entrepreneurial training in the same class (paraphrased question)?" From local individuals working on a few community projects. No.  Not if you want to have success in either.  For those of us that work in both fields, community visioning and entrepreneurial development are very different thought processes.  Entrepreneurial development is very goal oriented and requires tangible, benchmarked results.  Visioning, by its very nature is more ethereal.  In visioning, everything is possible and people are encouraged to dream and "brain storm".  Entrepreneurial development starts with a dream that is then reworked into a concept that produces profit and is actually initialized.  When people try and reign in a vision process with real world data and talk about realistic implementation, they aren't always greeted kindly.  If you try and take a dream concept without realistic implementation steps to a bank, well, good luck with that...  Both vision and entrepreneurial development are critical to a community's success, but because they employ very different thought processes, they should not be part of the same educational session. 

I know this one is tricky, but trust us, it's still standing...

4.  "Is the Governor's budget plan final?" From a volunteer. No.  Legislation is considered by both the House and Senate that may or may not be the same as the Governor's budget plan.  Our local elected leaders will have the opportunity to debate, revise or consider an entirely new budget while debating other legislative issues this session.  Our elected leaders are elected by you to serve the best interests of their constituencies.  Often, whether in favor of issues or opposed, our elected leaders wish they heard more from you.  A call, a letter or an e-mail can help them better serve your interests or at least give them the opportunity to discuss how they feel on a particular topic.  Below is the contact information of three local individuals that represent Emporia in the Senate and House.  Make their difficult job easier by telling them what you think, and remember to thank them for their service! (Click the name for the corresponding legislative contact information page).

Jeff Longbine

Don Hill

Peggy Mast

5. "A QUESTION FOR ALL OF YOU!!!" From those of us attending the National Main Street Conference. Each year, Emporia traditionally sends several people to the National Main Street conference.  During the conference, we are exposed to a series of national experts and informative sessions that we could never afford on our own as individual speakers.  We get crash courses in the newest economic trends, community development techniques, better ways to help our member businesses and new assets available.  Generally attendees meet prior to the conference and we all decide which sessions we will attend to maximize conference coverage.  This year I thought we would do something slightly different.  WE WANT YOU to look through the conference guide by CLICKING HERE.  THEN, tell the attendees which sessions YOU would like to see us attend.  The information we bring back will be the basis of future e-news articles and information for individual businesses and organizations that need assistance.  E-mail us your thoughts at main.street@emporia-kansas.gov .  All of us are excited for Baltimore, especially because it was the site of Emporia Main Street receiving the Great American Main Street Award a few years ago!