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Emporia Main Street
E-Newsletter
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Greetings!
Veteran's Banners are up, and we are preparing for a weekend full of Trick or Treating, Haunted Tours and Public Improvement Auction preparations! It's a busy time in the Emporia Main Street office, but we are looking forward to some community fun! Keep reading for lots of upcoming events and activities!!! |
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Are you ready for some Halloween Fun? This Saturday, from 1-3 p.m. we will host a Trick or Treat Downtown (look for the map below). Friday and Saturday nights we will have Haunted Tours starting at 9:00 p.m. from White Memorial Park outside of the Gazette Building on 6th and Merchant, and don't forget the Emporia Main Street Public Improvement auction (costume themed) on October 30th!!!
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The Wave Halloween Ad package giveaway!
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Learn more about local amenities, organizations, businesses, events and more with the E-Town Mobile App! The ETown App is a joint project among Emporia State University, Flint Hills Technical College, USD 253, The Emporia Gazette, the City of Emporia, the Emporia Convention and Visitors Bureau and Emporia Main Street.
For IPhone Users, click here:
For Android Users, click here:
For the iPad Version, click here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/e-town-app-emporia-kansas/id712001984?mt=8
For the Web Version, click here:
www.etownapp.com
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Vegetarian Cooking Class
Trying to go meatless a little more often? World Vegetarian Day is Oct. 1st and we thought we'd show you how to prepare an easy fall vegetarian meal to help you get started! The menu includes a pumpkin soup with fried sage and roasted cauliflower croutons, cornbread biscuits, and mini cranberry cakes for dessert. In honor of Eat a Cranberry Day on Nov. 23rd there will be a bonus recipe of spiced cranberry 'Martinis' (no booze, these will be mocktails)! Bring a container to take home some leftover soup!
Cost: $29
Instructor: Gretchen Russell
Schedule: Tuesday, Oct 21st, 6:00-8:30pm
Bulk Meal Prep - Take Control of Your Life!
Making several healthy, home cooked meals to keep for those hectic days has become increasingly popular as schedules get busier. In this class, learn the tips and tricks behind the planning, shopping, and prepping process of making bulk meals for breakfast and dinner. Bring a few family favorite recipes and a laptop (not required) to begin your own bulk meal plan.
Cost: $18
Instructor: Michelle Ernst
Schedule: Saturday, Nov 1st, 10:00am-12:00p
To enroll in any of these classes please visit http://flinthills.augusoft.net or call Amy at 620-341-1392.
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Public Improvement Auction
Proceeds from the Public Improvement Auction this year will go towards banner replacement and some other very needed aesthetic upgrades downtown. The Public Improvement Auction is Thursday, October 30th at the Granada Theatre. Silent auction begins at 5:30 p.m. and the live auction begins at 7:00 p.m. Auction donations and participation are appreciated!
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Emporia Arts Center Pottery Classes
For more information about the Emporia Arts Center, upcoming classes and events, please CLICK HERE. |
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Freedom Fest
Freedom Fest, a fundraiser for the local All Veteran's Memorial, is Sunday, November 9th at the All Veteran's Memorial and Soden's Grove. A new addition to this year's activities is the "tanker tough" obstacle course challenge which will raise funds for the families of reserve duty military personnel. For registration information, please CLICK HERE. |
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Property Availability Guide
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For property owners with property available for rent or sale, this is a free service to collect information and post it on the Emporia Main Street Web Site. With other market information available, we hope this site makes it easier for potential businesses and property developers to find spaces they need.
CLICK HERE to enter information about your available property and view previously submitted information.
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Business Investment Guide
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Do you know a business that should locate in Emporia? Maybe you know an entrepreneur looking for resources or a business owner looking to expand? The Business Investment Guide is community information designed to help you point your contacts in the right direction!
CLICK HERE for the INVESTMENT GUIDE
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The Veteran's Banner Project
Way to step up, Emporia!
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All of the Veteran's Banners are now placed on poles due to the quick work of the City of Emporia Public Works department. Since the public announcement of the Veteran's Banner Program, Emporia Main Street has been inundated with questions about creating the concept, implementation, hang ups along the way and future plans. Because a lot of requests from information come to us from out-of-state or other distant regions, the e-newsletter is the perfect format to talk about the project in a little more detail and include the newest updates. We have approximately 4,000 people within our e-mail database, and our ability to replicate the e-news through social media makes this format the quickest and easiest way for us to communicate with masses. The following is a little more information about the Veteran's Banner Project:
1. The Concept- The concept for the banner project initially came from Ron Slaymaker, a staple (fixture) in the Emporia community from his time as an Emporia State University Basketball Coach, and as an owner of a downtown business ( Poehler Mercantile Antiques). A little over a year ago "Coach Slay" took a photo of banners highlighting active duty personnel in another city to various organizations in the city, one of which was Main Street. This summer, Dr. Kevin Coulsen, a business professor at Emporia State University, sent an e-mail out to several groups containing digital photos of a similar project that focused on active duty personnel from various branches of the armed forces. When none of the other organizations that were approached expressed interest in the project, Main Street decided to take it on.When we talk about creating volunteer opportunities and community buy in, we understand that community members approach people that have a history of getting things done. When we can successfully partner with community members for the public good, more community members are drawn to Main Street. We can't do everything, but we do like to try and implement projects that meet our community mission and vision. 
2. The Tweak- As the founding city of Veteran's Day, we wanted to "tweak" the concept from the beginning to create a more Veteran oriented slant by including both active duty and retired military personnel. Personalizing concepts that you R & D (ripoff and duplicate) is an important part of the process because activities that aren't adjusted for the local culture seem inauthentic.
3. The Process- Within Emporia Main Street, we have work plans where various staff members "take lead" depending on our own skill sets, passions and the workload at the time. In this instance, Becky Smith, the Events Coordinator for Emporia Main Street "took lead". The rest of the staff worked with Becky to develop paperwork and talk through the process so we could establish a quality program from scratch in a limited amount of time. The amount of records that needed creation for each honored veteran was substantial, and we needed to plan for interaction with family members and veterans that accommodated for changes in information over time. Without Becky's leadership, this project simply would not have happened.
4. The Design- IM Design Group is the best graphic design firm we have ever worked with. Hands down. It's not even close. We knew that to create a successful project, we needed to work with a design firm that could create a static background, drop in images (of varying quality) and input unique data for each individual banner that had no room for error. IM Design created a banner "shell" and we worked with them to submit data and  images for the project, while requiring "proofs" for each completed banner for approval from banner sponsors.
5. The Partnerships- Emporia Main Street works with the Freedom Fest Committee each year to raise funds for the All Veteran's Memorial. They were a natural partner from the beginning of the Veteran's Banner project. The City of Emporia was a critical partner (more on that later) because the banners needed public lamp posts and banner brackets for display. Others were contacted, but sometimes a small group for a "first time" project works better because you need to make quick decisions to take advantage of opportunities that arise or mitigate threats.
6. The Communication- Utilizing local media, social media, the Emporia Main Street E-News system and good old fashioned "word of mouth", information about the Veteran's Banner Project was released. But, communication is a two way street. We quickly learned that many people had limited access to technology we used for proofs and photo transfers, so staff had to quickly adapt to local sponsors to make the project work. Collecting information and sending proofs to individuals was sometimes difficult. Recognizing that we had limited room for text on each banner (we couldn't redesign every banner to accommodate all text and other items each sponsor requested) meant that we had to adhere to a set of design guidelines. But, by listening to people as they interacted with us about their veteran, we were able to produce a secondary piece that has been one of the coolest additions to this project.
7. Adapting to Change- When we started the Veteran's Banner Project, we planned for forty sponsored banners, and we hoped for sixty. We ended up with 104, and if we would have extended our deadline (we couldn't because of production time tables) we probably would have ended up in the 160 range. At the start of the project, we had about 55 different banner brackets capable of holding a banner of this type downtown. So, we had to work with the city to quickly supplement existing banner spaces with new brackets. The City of Emporia and the Public Works Department stepped up to the task and made banner placement possible. When people wanted to add more information to their veteran's information, Becky Smith volunteered to input all the veteran's "bio" information into a booklet to record stories and make them readily available to individuals researching the people behind the banners. We had to adapt quickly to the overwhelming response to the Veteran's Banner Project, and our partners made sure that we could meet the demands of the public.
8. Placement Communication.- Obviously, most sponsors first question about their Veteran's Banner was "where will they be placed". With 104 banners, we needed to work with the Public Works Department to place a few banners in certain locations, and then record the placement of the rest of the banners that were placed en masse. We couldn't communicate placement until all banners were hung, and once the banners were up, Becky Smith recorded the blocks where each banner was placed. The placement locations will change from year to year, but we have a current map that shows the general location of all banners. Within our communications efforts, Becky Smith created a biography booklet. Because the Veteran's Banner locations will change every year, the biographies were  listed in alphabetical order by the veteran's last name. Lauren Woolard, the Special Projects Coordinator for Emporia Main Street spearheaded the effort to load forms on the www.emporiamainstreet.com website and create a social media album that contained all of the banner photos and biographies (a substantial task).
9. Planning for the Future- We will have a limited number of banner spots available in the future, because we have limited pole spaces available. Some people have already donated funds to the Emporia Community Foundation, where Emporia Main Street has a Public Improvement Fund housed (simply denote Main Street Banner Project in the memo field if you are interested in donating). Each banner bracket will cost approximately $150, and the more brackets we have available, the more Veteran's Banners we can display. Banners will be displayed for about one month each year in conjunction with Veteran's Day activities. Once the banners have been displayed for three years, we will give the banners back to their sponsor, and ask if the sponsor would like to "re-up" for a new banner. Kansas wind isn't kind to banners, and the level of detail on each photo means that we must limit the time each banner is displayed. We are sure that other changes will occur in the program, but we are excited about the amount of positive feedback the City of Emporia, and our awesome veteran's have received through this project. We are thankful for the local support this project has received, and we are honored to share the stories of our local heroes.
We are often asked "what's next" immediately after a new event or activity. The Shop Hop, Trilogy Open support, the How It's Made Tour and Historic Playing Cards are new initiatives that have hit in just the past few months. The Veteran's Banner project has a lot more meaning to the community (and to staff personally), but the project is another example of finding ways to execute projects brought to Emporia Main Street from the community. We hope all of you take some time to walk downtown and look at the banners, read the corresponding biographies and tell the world about the home of Veteran's Day. Emporia is a great community that is getting cooler by the minute due to your work, your advocacy and your support. Actually, Emporia volunteerism is thought of so highly, a statewide organization recently wrote an article using Emporia as an example. CLICK HERE for the article.
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Did you know???
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Last week, we held an Adopt-A-Garden judging, met with some local officials about upcoming projects, conducted some business counceling, hosted a board meeeting, participated in a "Leadership Forum", did a lot of work with Veteran's Banners, attended an ESU Project Meeting, held a Kansas Main Street meeting, volunteered for Art-Oberfest and worked on the ever-increasing amount of activities about to hit the Main Street office... All the cool things going in town means some
good questions from all of you
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1. "Who won the Adopt a Garden this round?"- From a local volunteer. Rockin' Accessories & Little Red Rooster, Emporia Next, and Beginners Luck Day-lilies were the three winning gardens for this round, per your votes. Each winning garden received Emporia Main Street gift certificates. Normally, this would be our last "Adopt-A-Garden" project of the year, but we are encouraging those that adopt a garden to decorate their garden for the Holiday Season this year. We will have an additional round of holiday judging that corresponds with holiday window judging on December 2nd.
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2. "What is your business conversion rate?" From a participant in Leadership Emporia. This question was comparing different economic development strategies to determine what percentage of people we work with actually start "doing something". First, I wouldn't suggest comparing methods on a percentage conversion basis. Emporia Main Street targets business types for locations, targets entrepreneurs through educational opportunities and fosters entrepreneurship through some of our events. Our method is much different from dependency on "walk ins" or contacts from outside entities. Because we target and develop, our conversion rate is around 40%, which is pretty good for an economic development agency.
3. "How did you feel about the Shop Hop?" From a local community member. As it pertains to the ESU Homecoming Activities, it needs reworked. Participants were almost exclusively community members that went on ESU's campus, which tells me that we need to run subsequent ESU Homecoming shop hops as a community based activity with passports at participating businesses and marketing materials at alumni events that encourage people to participate.
4. "Did you think the Granada Theatre's Art-Oberfest was successful?" From a friend the day after. I did. The Granada Theatre decided to run an event with limited help from agencies like Main Street (we simply helped with fencing and food vendors) and convert the event to a more family friendly activity. Attendance was good and the mixture included more ESU Alumni than in past years. I think those are indicators that the event met organizers goals, and that this version of the family style event has the potential to grow in the future.
5. "Do you think things associated with ESU are job creators?" From a community leader. Undoubtedly. Sometimes we think of economic development in terms that are too linear. Each additional ESU student adds a tremendous value to our local economy through housing, shopping and other monetary activities. Increases in enrollment generally result in staff increases, and that means more jobs in the local area. ESU athletics and other assorted events draw people into the community. Actually, I would argue that ESU is one of our (if not THE) most successful job creator in the community. And, the activities that we can participate in to build gateways around ESU, develop adjacent housing and build student/alumni-centric areas simply improve the job creation ability of our most important economic engine.
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President's Circle
Emporia Realty Group
www.emporiarealtygroup.com
608 Commercial
620-412-9850
IM Design Group
www.imdesigngroup.com
17 W. 5th
620-343-3909
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541 Sherman
www.kiss103.1.net
620-343-6144
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Emporia Main Street Calendar of Events
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October 18
Art-Toberfest
4:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. at the Granada Theatre.
October 22
Business Enhancement Meeting
8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street office.
October 25
Eek Town Trick or Treat and Haunted Tours
October 30
Public Improvement Auction
November 9
Freedom Fest
November 29
Small Business Saturday
December 2
Chamber Christmas Parade
December 4
Horse Drawn Carriage Rides
Main Street window judging
Main Street Garden Judging
December 6
Breakfast with Santa
December 9
Quarter Mania
December 11
Midnight Madness
Horse Drawn Carriage Rides
December 19
Horse Drawn Carriage Rides
For more community event listings, please visit:
www.etownapp.com
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!
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General Level Members
AKA Marketing
Amish Woodworks
Applebees
Ash LLC
Atherton & Huth
Bank of America
Bath Expressions
Ben Moore Studio
Bennett Dental Group
BG Consultants
BLI Rentals
Bluestem Farm and Ranch
Brown's Shoe Fit
Bruff's Bar and Grill
C & J Woodworks
Candlewood Suites
Capitol Federal
Cassell Insurance
Chester Press
Clark Carpet and Tile, Inc.
Coffelt Sign Co.
Complete Works
Country Mart/Price Chopper
Dan's Hands Massage
Davis Paints
Disciple Shoppe
Dorsey Eye Care
Douglas Chiropractic
Dr. Kerri Thompson, DDS
Dynamic Discs
Eastwood Lake Apartments
Ek Real Estate
Emporia Construction and Remodeling
Emporia Radio Stations: KVOE, 104.9 & 101.7
Emporia State Federal Credit Union
E-Town Solutions
ESU Memorial Union
Evergreen Design-Build
Flint Hills Eye Care
Flint Hills Mall
Association
Flint Hills Music
Floyd's Automotive
Forget Me Not Productions
Four Seasons Apartments
George Groh and Sons
Gerald Schumann Electric
Granada Coffee Company
Graves Drug Store
Haag Management
Hair Krafters
Heart Center Studio
Helbert & Allemang
High Gear
Java Cat Coffeehouse
Jimmy Johns
Junque Drawer Emporium
Kansas Radio 96.1 The Wave
King Liquor
L & L Pets
Lyon County State Bank
Lyon County Title
Mark II Lumber
McDonalds
McKinzie Pest Control
Midas Touch Tans
Mike Alpers Agency
Mr. Sisters Sweets
Modern Air Conditioning, Inc.
Mulready's Pub
Navrats Office Supply
Papa John's Pizza
Pizza Hut
Pizza Ranch
Plum Bazaar
Poehler Mercantile
Pool and Associates
Prairie Sage Apartments
Pro-Cuts
Rand Simmons Law Office
Redline Trucking
Reflxns Salon
Rhinestone Cowgirl Salon
Sauder Custom Fabrication
Schellers Lawn and Landscape
Scott's Lawn and Landscaping
Second Love Gifts
Stanley Jewelry
Studio 11
Subway
Sunflower Gymnastics
Sutherlands Lumber Co.
Sweet Granada
Textbook Corner
Thompson Auto Repair
Toso Appraisal
Total Technology
Town Crier Bookstore
Triad Leasing
Uncommon Threads
Value-Net LLC
Waters True Value Hardware
Westar Energy
Williams Automotive
Wright CPA Group PA
Wright's Furniture
Xan-A-Do Salon
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Non Profit Level Members
Big Brothers Big Sisters
Cradle to Career Cneter
Emporia Eastside Community Group
EHS- FBLA
Emporia Arts Council
Emporia Chamber of Commerce
Emporia Farmers Market
Emporia Friends of the Zoo
Emporia Presbyterian Church
Emporia Friends of the Library
ESU- Alumni Association
ESU- Small Business Development Center
ESU- Memorial Union
ESU- Theatre Dept.
Flint Hills Community Health Center
Granada Theatre Alliance
National Teachers Hall of Fame
Saint Francis Community Services
Salvation Army
SOS
TFI Family Services
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Home Based Business Members
Avon- Amanda Hopkins
Gold Canyon Candles- Stephanie Morgan
Green Door Recycling
Interdependent Web, LLC
Longaberger Independent Consultant -Judy Dieker
Mary Kay- Lori Engle
Nicole Bradshaw Designs
Origami Owl- Angela Dowell
Paula's Creations
Pampered Chef- Chelsea Gerleman
Purse Lady- Nancy Crawford
Scentsy/ Grace Adele- Kelly Long
Tastefully Simple- Vanessa Apodaca
Thirty One Gifts- Linsey Hopkins
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Individual Supporters
Amy and Rick Becker
Amy Evans
Brad Harzman
Dale & Carolyn Davis
Don Hill
Erin and Casey Woods
Joyce Zhou
Julie Johnson
Kayle Oney
Kelly Wade
Lynn Knechtel
Mark and Amy McAnarney
Michael and Karen Shonrock
Valerie and Matt Zimmerman
Roger Heineken
Smitty Smith
Sue Blechl
Tim & Mary Helmer
Tyler & Melanie Curtis
Yvonne Pool
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