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By centralpark at 2008/04/22 - 4:00pm
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We are tasked with working in a rural community that has few assets, not even enough to put together an agritourism map with the area cooperative extension folk.
I need some ideas of things that people have seen elsewhere that I might suggest to citizen groups in this community as projects they would support. I'm trolling through 'best practice' sorts of websites to try and find something, anything that is a project that was successful elsewhere and might transfer here.
BTW - there is interest in hunting by the people who live there and those outside the area. I was thinking of maybe putting together an initiative to build a community-owned and operated hunting lodge. That would be seasonal, though, and it would be great to have something that is year round.
Any and all ideas welcome.
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Find five or six already existing ideas and float them in front of the community to see what might work for the area. If there is no budget and no resources, why not steal the best ideas from around the country and do this on a shoestring budget
I've heard that 1/2 marathons are a BIG deal right now and draw people from all over the place.....
4 wheel drive tours?
Tours of any interesting places
Find a working farm that is willing to do the bed and breakfast/farm thing
Nature tours
Fishing tournaments
and of course, since I'm in Arizona, couldn't forget to mention the swap meet
A festival featuring local art, music, or a local product. "Come to Podunk - The ***** Capital of the World!" My city touts itself as The Best Small Arts Town. We also have the Last Chance Stampede, which is the yearly rodeo and county fair. Rodeos are a big deal in Montana (who woulda thunk it, huh?). Even an event that only runs for a few days a year can be a big boost to the local merchants.
Sad to say, but another trend and can be profitable to a rural community - PRISONS. Whether private-run or government-run. With about a million people in some form of the penal system, it is a growth industry. Creates good paying jobs. Motels and restaurants benefit from the patronage of those visiting the inmates. It is one that needs careful research and planning to work.
The rural community I live in began a community project about 5-years ago. To give you a history, the community used to have a small family owned grocery store about 5-years ago. At that time the owner retired and no one stepped up to take over the business so the grocery store closed. This led to s situation where community members needed to drive 25 minutes to the next town that had a grocery store, which was difficult especially for the elderly population.
So the community stepped up to the task and opened a new cooperative grocery store that was owned and operated by the community. The store had your basic needs, including a place to sit and gather and it was really something that everyone could get involved in as unlike hunting, everyone likes to eat.
IÂ’m sure there was a market analysis completed to look at the viability of such a venture and because of the low and sparse population, the viability of a grocery store probably showed that the business would not survive. Thus, it was developed as a community cooperative and more so as a community centerpiece which in theory would encourage locals to patronize their locally owned cooperative store.
I recall in the beginning there was a requirement to reach a certain number of committed members with an initial membership fee of $100.00. They reached their goal and the store opened. For 5-years the store struggled asking for more and more financial support from its members and it finally closed just this last weekend.
At any rate, grocery store story aside, if it is to be a community project, it needs to be something useful for the entire community. At least that is my opinion. If you are looking to draw people to the community and it is a grocery store—make it stand out by offering products and services that no other grocery store has to offer—like fresh game meat from your hunting lodge—complete with grills out back. Grill you own (insert here)! You won’t see me there though unless I can grill some green pepper and zucchini .
Let us know what you finally choose for your project.
One of the most inspiring places I've been to is Rapelje, Montana, population 100. Several years ago the only restaurant in town shut down and, in the words of one of the locals I met there, they didn't even have a place to sit around and complain in anymore. So they bought the restaurant. turned it into a coop. Next, they started hosting little events - a 24 hour mountain bike ride, a prairie dog shooting contest, etc. - that brought a few people in and caught some money. Mostly, though, it was just tremendously inspiring to the few folks left. One guy told me, "we might not grow anymore, but at least we're going to die with dignity". Pretty cool place, and likely some of the same dynamics you're encountering. You can probably find an article or two online.
We deal with a lot of communities and all of them have some of this to some degree but this one is shot through with poor attitudes SO ... we're going with choosing a project, having it attract support, making it sustainable, and hoping the town sees that we actually want to help.
I really like the coop general store BTW -- I have wanted to do that in a community but noone has needed it/expressed interest just yet. May actually be paying a visit to one in Saranac Lake, NY this summer if I can swing it.
So, I like the ideas so far ... I just need something more "top down" that can be implemented. And hey, if a rodeo does it for one community then maybe the hunting can become something for this community AND provide a community center while we're at it.
Traditionally (ie. before the US government came to NM, but after the Spanish were well established), the economy of this area was built on herding Churro sheep. After the US government came in, they took control of many communal grazing lands, and the wool economy became more automated and moved away from the Churro type of wool which does not work as well in machine spinning and has an inconsistent color.
As part of a university project to try and provide a model for preventing outmigration and addressing poverty, the communities (particularly Los Ojos and Tierra Amarilla) worked to revive the traditional activities of sheep herding, wool spinning and weaving. They have built it into quite a successful enterprise and you can link to the cooperatively run general store place where they sell handmade wool, woven products and provide demonstrations for visitors (http://www.handweavers.com/links.htm). The economy is partly built on tourism, but not entirely. Here are a few things that have made this approach work:
They sell lambs to high end Santa Fe restaurants and lambs and grown sheep via tele-auction that allows them to reach national buyers. Thus they can get the most value for one of their products, even though they are geographically isolated.
The general store is cooperatively owned and run. It features work by member-artisans and also a space where expensive equipment used for dying and other processing is collectively owned and open for use by all members.
They handmade yarns, hand dye them and weave rugs and other textiles. The Churro sheep wool, as a handmade product, has tremendous value these days. Also, this particular area devised some weaving forms that are unique to the area, lending some authentic "clout" to their work. This recent development initiative has revived this tradition.
They created a "sheep bank." If I participated, for example, I might get 4 sheep with a nominal fee. Within the next year, I must breed my sheep and return 4 lambs to the flock, plus some more for "interest." This is how I can start a new flock for myself.
They negotiated with the BLM to have grazing access to areas that historically been communal grazing lands. The small 1/4 acre plots they ended up with after the government took the common lands were inadequate for grazing anything more than 1 or 2 sheep per household.
They also established a lending bank among community members. They make micro-loans for small enterprise start-ups. Since the money is from members of the community, applicants must go before a community board and pitch their idea. Those on the board (the community lenders) help that person devise an effective small business plan based on their experiences. They have an interest to make sure the project is successful because they want to see a return on their investment.
Personally, I think the cooperatively run hunting lodge or general store are both intriguing ideas. Its not so much about the hunting, I think (although that might be a viable tourist draw and maybe could build on local knowledge of the fauna, animal migration patterns, etc.), but providing a setting for learning a variety of useful skills. Regardless of the killing of animals, there are still contracts to sign, money to handle, upkeep and maintenance on the building, etc. All of these are useful skills to cultivate and therein lies the wider value of such a project.
I would try somethign alogn those lines of revaluing the rural heritage of the place. There is a solid, growign demand for authenticity and quality in products, especially food and clothing. To that, one can associate the experience (agritourism). Also, going less mechanical / more organic is labor-intensive, which is good for employment (as long as you can charge a premium for the product, obviously).
You can find many resources on the web for more information, and here's a nice example of one in operation:
http://www.yorkcountyshelterprograms...nity%20Kitchen