Emporia Main Street
E-Newsletter
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Greetings!
Midnight Madness is this THURSDAY, we have a ton of cool events including Welcome Back Block Party, Great American Market and much more coming up QUICKLY! Plus, we have results from a local survey and community questions answered. This summer is flying by! Keep reading for more information.
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For more information on the Emporia Arts Center, Click HERE.
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Barn Quilt
American's rural barns have been decorated for centuries. Barn quilt and barn quilt trails have made a resurgence in the past two decades, including a quilt trail in the Flint Hills. Participants will create a 2x2' barn quilt appropriate for outdoor display. Includes all supplies except for those required for framing or hanging. If possible, please bring a hair dryer and a yard stick. If you have a favorite quilt block pattern you would like to recreate you can bring that, we will also provide possible patterns that night.
Instructor: Mandy Kern
Schedule: Tues, July 14, 6:00pm-9:00pm
Fee: $45
Location: FHTC
Soapmaking 101
Learn the art of soap making with the Farmgirl Fresh mother-daughter team-how to make skin healthy cold process lye soaps with quality oils, modern conveniences and embellishments. Each participant gets to take a bar of homemade soap home with them as well as our tried and true recipe and tips of the trade!
Cost: $29 includes $3.75 bar of soap
Instructor: Mary Allen and Megan Allen
Location: FHTC kitchen
Schedule: Sat. July 18, 1-3:00pm
Beginners Chalk & Milk Painting
You're ready to dive into a project but want a little hands on experience first, this is the class for you! We will walk you through the steps of Milk and or Chalk paint to create your own piece of wall art. We offer hands on assistance and easy to create designs. No artistic ability? NO PROBLEM, if you can color in a coloring book you can create a gorgeous piece of art. We provide everything needed to finish a great signboard for your home or as a gift.
Schedule: 2 hr class, July 23, 6-8pm
Price: $35
Julie J. Cooper, Director
Flint Hills Technical College
Community Connections, Customized Training and Career Services
Office: 620.341.1377
Cell: 620.343.0258
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.fhtc.edu
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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!
For the Web Version, click here:
www.etownapp.com
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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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Survey Says!
A spot survey conducted revealed your thoughts
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In an effort to stay more "in tune" with your wants and needs, Emporia Main Street Special Projects Coordinator Shane Wilson recently hit the streets to collect a randomized sample of responses to a very basic survey. We weren't asking businesses for anything except for some honest feedback. Normally, we try to simply upload raw data from surveys to give the public a more unmitigated view of survey results (we still have the raw data if anyone wants it), but we are trying to disseminate information more via infographic to aid in its absorption.
Here is what you had to say:
Before we get into qualifying some of the survey sample results, we want to make sure everyone has a chance to share their voice.
CLICK HERE to participate in our business feedback survey!
Because so many of you responded with information about customer service, we want to give you the opportunity to CLICK HERE for our Secret Shopper form, that allows you to give anonymous feedback (positive or negative) of area businesses.
The feedback we have received thus far as a "sample" is good. We need to hear both the good and bad from membership and potential members so we can either adjust or at least explain our reasoning. From a "we need to do a better job" department- it looks like we need to be more explicit in our descriptions of how businesses can get more visibly involved in community projects. A project guide, with suggestions, more individualized communication, and additional focus group approaches to carve out niches for businesses that are easy to execute is in order.
From a street closure standpoint, a lot of the feedback centered on businesses that wished larger events were centered in "their area". While we understand the desire, and we do our best to rotate when possible, we have to remind people of a few things. First, we can't close down 6th Avenue. It's a federal highway and takes an act of Congress to close, so activities are generally restricted on streets that have an easily accessible detour route in lower speed areas with a defined pedestrian accessibility. Downtown fits those attributes nicely. Secondly, we partner with other agencies, entities and businesses to execute some of the different large scale events, which sets a geographic location. The Granada Theatre holds the liquor license for events like the Dirty Kanza and Cinco de Mayo, and thus, events take place in proximity to the Granada Theatre. One of the major partners for the Welcome Back Block Party is Emporia State University, and thus the event is held adjacent to the university. The Great American Market starts from a centralized point and stretches south to the railroad tracks and north to 12th avenue IF we have enough vendors. Third, public safety officials would rather any pedestrian based event not cross the railroad tracks for obvious safety reasons. We attempt to vary locations the best we can, but there are some geographic hosting reasons that are outside of our control.
Emporia Main Street is the antithesis of a static organization. We constantly strive to evolve to meet opportunities and mitigate threats on behalf of your business and the future of this community. Over the next weeks and months, you will have the opportunity to see some new concepts that we are rolling out in a testing phase. Some will target specific business types, some will facilitate new levels of community integration, some will make it easier for people to get involved in specific projects, new access to financial programs to allow for specific types of startups and expansions will come to fruition, and others will serve as traffic builders to benefit the community.
Keep providing feedback! Remember, we work for YOU and YOUR Emporia. When businesses take advantage of communication programs, we all win!
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Did you know???
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Last week we held a meeting with ESU Work Study officials, talked to a local professional about streamlining business and organizational finance options, held a promotions meeting,
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This Emporia Gazette Photo from the ESB Financial Homegrown Celebration features Casey Woods demonstrating prior to the watermelon eating contest. Click HERE for the Gazette photo gallery.
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hosted a design meeting, attended Brown Bag, hosted multiple meeting for upcoming projects, met with some new businesses interested in teaming up with Emporia Main Street, conducted a finance call with a governmental organization that had programs that could potentially benefit Emporia, hosted a fundraising meeting for upcoming projects and participated as a judge in the ESB Financial Homegrown Competition at the Emporia Farmers Market this past Saturday. Summer is just flying by! With all the fun events and activities we are getting some
good questions from all of you
1. "Where the heck were you last week?"- From a volunteer. Becky Smith and Shane Wilson "held down the fort" last week from late Tuesday afternoon to Friday afternoon. Evidently, a case of adult strep throat has been circling around Emporia and it landed squarely on me with a big "thud". I apologize for any inconvenience my absence may have caused, and now I'm ready to get back at it!
2. "Can we simply volunteer for a function within Main Street instead of being on a committee?" From a local professional. Sure! We are always looking for creative ways to get people involved. As this particular individual was talking to us, he said "the less time you are spending on _____, the more time you can spend on everything else you do." He had a good point. We need to be more flexible in adjusting to how people want to volunteer, and we look forward to instituting some of that flexibility in this year's work planning.
3. "How will Main Street handle inevitable volunteer turnover?" From a city leader. Turnover in any organization is inevitable. People move, valued members pass away, people's lives change, some individual's priorities change... This year, more than the past few, we will engage a new transition program to identify new volunteer opportunities that target a wider demographic range, skill sets and other attributes that mirror our holistic approach. In Emporia we are blessed with a wide range of volunteer opportunities that fit a number of different skill sets, schedules and personality types. It's not difficult to find a way to volunteer in our community, but we understand that not every organization is a great fit for every individual. This year, we want to find more of those individuals that want to take an active role in creating the type of Emporia we can all be proud to call home! If you know people that fit that description, please contact Emporia Main Street so we can get them involved!!!
Riverside Elementary will be holding a walk-about on September 22nd to learn more about their city. If your business would like to host a tour for the students or provide something that shows off your business, please contact Randielle at 620-757-9916 or Tracy at 620-481-9987.
4. "Do you have to be on Commercial Street to participate in Midnight Madness?" From a business outside of the downtown. No. Our map is designed and promoted to support any member that chooses to participate, regardless of their location. We do have some businesses that choose to open a "pop up shop" in the downtown area to take advantage of a vacancy, but any member that is willing to stay open late and offer some sort of special is eligible to participate.
5. "If I want to anonymously give feedback to a business, how would I do that?" From a call to the office. We get calls at the Emporia Main Street office, maybe a couple of times a month, that want to provide some directives to an Emporia business. Sometimes it's as simple as "they should really clean up their sidewalk", and other times it may be more service or pricing related. Some people naturally avoid confrontation, but it is important to communicate expectations to local businesses to improve customer service and overall business quality. The customer isn't always right, and sometimes unrealistic expectations are communicated that the business has little control over. Regardless, Emporia Main Street created an anonymous on-line secret shopper form, that allows you to communicate positive or negative experiences to a local business. CLICK HERE for the form. Once filled out, we send a copy of the form to the business in question to do with as they wish. It's really that simple.
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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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Brickyard 20 Ale House
402 Merchant
www.brickyard20alehouse.com
2326 Industrial Road
620-342-0150
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Emporia Main Street Calendar of Events
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July 15
Emporia Main Street Board of Directors Meeting
8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street office
Drum Safari
Emporia Public Library
Brown Bag- Noon at the Library
July 16
Midnight Madness
July 22
Business Enhancement Team Meeting
8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street Office.
Live in the Lot- featuring Kenji Bolden and Fast Times- 7:00 p.m. in the Farmers Market Parking Lot
August 5
Board of Directors Meeting
8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street office
August 12
Promotions Team Meeting
8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street office
Design Team Meeting
Noon in the Emporia Main Street office
August 14
Mix and Match
August 17
Welcome Back Block Party
August 19
Board of Directors Meeting
8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street office
August 26
Business Enhancement Team Meeting
8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street office
September 12
Great American Market
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
Bath Expressions
The Beauty Bar
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
DG Wingz
Disciple Shoppe
Dorsey Eye Care
Douglas Chiropractic
Dr. Kerri Thompson, DDS
Dynamic Discs
Eastwood Lake Apartments
Eclectic Bikes
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
Little Red Rooster
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
Paper Moon Antiques
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
Rockin' Accessories
Sauder Custom Fabrication
Schellers Lawn and Landscape
Scott's Lawn and Landscaping
Second Love Gifts
Stanley Jewelry
Studio 11
Studio 50.4
Subway
Sunflower Gymnastics
Sutherlands Lumber Co.
Sweet Granada
Textbook Corner
Thompson Auto Repair
Thrifts and Gifts
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
Mary Kay- Lori Engle
Origami Owl- Angela Dowell
Paula's Creations
Pampered Chef- Chelsea Gerleman
Purse Lady- Nancy Crawford
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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