Friday, April 30th

Mike Whelan and Matthew working out 'the shot' of Brad Fitter, with Ian Cull of KAPP (ABC-Tri Cities) looking on.



We’re on our way to the National Main Streets Conference!

It’s going to be a very exciting time as we learn about Main Street and what others are doing, but also to meet new friends.

Let’s rewind for a moment first, and talk about the last few days in review.

This past weekend we started gearing up for the trip. The first order of business was to make contact with several people we wanted to speak with on camera about the complexities of Main Street.

We’ll introduce each person as we shoot the interviews, so stay tuned as we progress through the conference.

After that we prepared for filming our first segment with Brad Fitterer of Fitterer’s Furniture, and coincidently our first news pickup with KAPP-TV (ABC affiliate) out of the Tri-Cities.

The shoot with Brad went well. Mike Whalen, who is our lead film student on the project setup a great shot using existing lighting in the store to maximize the scene, and we put together a small interview portion for Brad.

To introduce Mike a little more, he’s been working on a documentary film being put together for Anderson Hay Company, and is winding down from that project just in time to wind up in ours.

Mike has a variety of experience in film ranging from shooting news stories to corporate video documents. We’re very excited to work with Mike and we think he will add a very audience-centered point of view to the shooting.

Directly after the segment was shot, Ian Cull from KAPP interviewed us about the project and what our experience has been in putting it together and how do we personally feel about Main Street.

It was great to see the interest in our project, and Ian did a good job of capturing our view of Main Street.

Later that day we planned our days at the conference out with Timothy Bishop from the EDA. One of the subjects that is always stressed to us in the classroom is how we are using social media. Professors talk about personal use, but more so the use professionally. In the field of public relations, the use of social media for clients is important.

The majority of the conversation revolves around being able to evaluate which applications to use, what kind of messages to deliver to those audiences, and how to capitalize on with new audiences.

As we read the various workshops that will be hosted at the conference, we noticed there is a distinct emphasis on the use of these tools as well.
While it’s safe to say that almost all businesses would benefit from some social media, it’s not always realized.

We’re impressed by the fact that ‘Main Streeters’ as we’ve heard conference attendees referred to, are cognizant of the ever revolving ways we communicate with one another.

As we all know, you can have the greatest product in the world, something all could use. But if you can’t communicate the message, the story, and process of that product you’ll be lucky to gain an audience.

As we see it, Main Street is not current when it comes to social media. It’s ahead of the curve and in a very big way.

The audience is getting bigger every day that much is clear. In fact, we think it won’t be too long before we start seeing major research emerging showing that the majority of social media users are each following or engaging at least one Main Street program.

The next few days were research days on a variety of topics, along with a few planning sessions for filming.

This morning we secured our camera and we’re on our way out of town. First to Redmond for an unrelated event, and then Sunday we’ll be in the air most of the morning.

We’ll see you then!

Friday, April 23 2010

Linda Schantz operating the wine bar for "Business After Hours" hosted by Fitter's Furniture
Mingling is networking at "Business After Hours"









Last Wednesday we were able to photograph a very important event to Main Street in Ellensburg. Actually, it's important to all Ellensburg businesses.

"Business After Hours" as it's known, is an event where a business "shuts down" and then hosts the community beyond their scheduled hours for refreshments, conversation, and a chance for people to get to know one another.

Sounds fun, but not significant at first.

Until you think about it from this perspective.

When you invite your neighbors, who tend to be business owners to your business for a social event, a very essential component for businesses occurs. And that is networking.

Even we were involved in the networking to a degree. Meeting people who served in non-profits, government agencies, and other business owners whom we did not know previously.

Now consider this kind of event occurring on a regular basis, and you begin to see how businesses can meet and form a plan on how to survive together.

It all stems from opening the doors a little longer, and inviting your neighbors in. An oft overlooked gesture by some, but one that is not when it comes to independent business owners.

This particular event was hosted by Fitterer's Furniture, and was a great success. Linda Schantz, owner of Gifts from the Vine provided an excellent array of wine and beer, and Greg Beach, owner of the Valley Cafe provided hors d'oeuvres to the crowd of roughly 80 people.

We saw people introduce themselves to strangers, and friends catch up, and collegues share information.

It's easy to see why this event is so helpful to a community full of independent businesses.

Yes indeed, a very simple gesture of opening your doors after hours can lead to very big things.

Wednesday, April 21 2010

Donna and Alisa German discussing their salon with Matthew






What a week!

When you're busy, time just flies!

The good thing is we've been working and accomplishing more tasks. And best of all, learning. We believe learning is a life long process, but more so when you're working a project such as this.

Last Friday we had the privledge of interviewing Alisa and Donna German, mother & daughter-in-law, and co-owners of Bahama Bronze.

Alisa and Donna remind me of what we've typically come across in our travels. Hard-working people that are true innovators, who are extremely humble. When you talk to them, it's as if someone in the back of the store is doing all these great things in business.

This is a quality in people we all admire, but sometimes you want them to grab the microphone and brag a little.

But alas, that's not how it works in small towns, or Agurbs as some call them. The people here are just as innovative and savvy as those you would interact with in a big city, but here, they don't let you know about it very often.

They're more interested in action doing the talking. Maybe that has something to do with their innovation not always being front and center.

Case in point. Over at Bahama Bronze, it started off as a spray tan business. Now from our view, that doesn't sound like a very convincing business model. But there was a market for it, Alisa saw it was there, and she put it together.

Along the way she added other services, the one's that we might all be more familiar with as a stand-alone business. Those being nail service, and hair cutting.

And since then, she's added other beauty services to turn her store from an innovative, one-service shop, to a full-service salon that one could spend an entire day in receiving everything from eyelash extensions to pedicures.

To hear Alisa say it, you wouldn't think she's as innovative as she truly is. When she talks about the things she's incorporated into her salon, like "bling strands" you almost leave the subject alone.

In case you're unfamiliar, bling strands are an emerging trend in the beauty industry that serves as an alternative for people seeking to dye their hair. They are synthetic, and can attach to existing hair follicles.

Why is this important?

As we know, most work places are revamping their rules of appearance for employees with less room for interpretation.

This means that people they may want to indulge in personal expression by dyeing their hair may not be able to because their employer only wants natural colors.

So for someone that wants to add color to their weekend appearance, bling strands may give them an option to still express themselves, while maintain an appearance that their employer won't balk at.

Also, when it comes to options for kids, dyeing is not exactly in the list. For one, many school districts have policies stating children cannot attend classes with unnatural hair color because it becomes a distraction in the classroom.

So now, kids can do something "adult" with their hair, that is effective in style, easy to control, and above it all temporary.

While some salons have incorporated this into their services, many have not. And even further, Alisa and Donna had the foresight to add this service into their store from the time it started, realizing the potential from market standpoint.

It probably wasn't the most popular service when they started, and it may not be even now, but story is how it has grown from being a once in awhile request, to a regularly scheduled appointment now.

As entepreneurs, they both saw the potential for this service and have capitalized on it. This all happened on Main Street, in a small town.

It is truly amazing the kinds of stories one can find on Main Street, and we look forward to many more.

Tuesday, April 13th

Located on Main Street at 3rd Avenue, Ellensburg, WA
People making their way across Main Street










Greetings again!

This week has already been eventful.

Throughout the weekend, and into this week we've been answering questions from our peers.

I would contribute their awareness to our interview on 88.1 FM The Burg. But it was exciting to see college students taking an interest in the issues of Main Street.

We were quizzed on everything from design, to businesses and their support mechanisms, to how a community effort is beneficial instead of businesses working for their own gain.

It's great to see that there is such a wide array of interest from a younger group of people. Maybe their interest will turn into a passion for working to strengthen small towns.

The Facebook Page (Ellensburg Main Street Project 2010) has been receiving a lot of traffic.

And we are moving into another phase of photography. We know that the photos so far have been of the stores and of Main Street, but they've been missing a key ingredient: PEOPLE!

So as we transition from the "mapping" photography, we'll be showing Main Street for what it is, and that's a hub for business and social interactions.

We will also be taking profile shots of the people that will be in the film at this time. A sort of "meet the stars" portion, and we will post those photos separately.

We interviewed Michael Bello, owner of Cedar Mountain Woodwrights. His story is unique from those on Main Street because while just about every other business is involved in the retail-end exclusively, Michael's shop is where creation of product occurs.

If you haven't looked at any of Michael's creations, head on over to their furniture page and look over the array.

Michael is truly an artist, and for those that are not familiar, he built the furniture and the display cases at Puget Sound Energy's Wind Farm Visitors Center. Some of the step-by-step photos of that project are at the site referenced.

Aside the wonderful work that Michael does, he's also very well spoken on the aspects of operating an independent business. For Michael corporate chains do present a looming direct threat. They are able to reach into communities outside of their geographical area by signing on third parties to install their products.

One thing that stood out in my mind as interesting bit of information from Michael's interview was the concept of leasing a building versus owning a building.

Earlier in the day a professor of mine made the point of how a retailer of fans during the 80's on the east coast went from being a thriving outlet, to suffering during a recession.

However, what they had done differently than their competition, was that they owned every store front they were in. So they made the decision during the recession to go from being a retailer of fans, to a commercial real estate trust, because that's where the money was being made at the time.

So they supplied their product to the store fronts, and leased the buildings to independent businesses.

Since then they've become one of the biggest commerical real estate trusts in the nation.

In Michael's interview, he discussed why as an independent business it's important to own the property you operate in. And that's because it's easier to make changes, and control the look of your store front. But most importantly, commercial real estate will always appreciate, save for extreme conditions.

As an independent business, this gives you the ability to re-locate your business, while collecting on a lease on your original building. That equates to being able to diversify your business.

Instead of having to rely on your choosen trade, you can then take large steps toward the ultimate goal, retirement.

In Michael's case, there may come a time where he can no longer work with his hands. And although he has employees, he's not quite to the point where he can remain completely hands off of the products his shop produces. Owning the building he's in would give him something to fall back on if he couldn't expand his business.

That is a one piece of the gold that is the information we are getting for this project.

It may seem like such an obvious connection, but when a business owner personalizes that point, it resonates so much clearer.

And with that, we will see you later in the week.

Tuesday, April 6th

Another day, more progress!

Spring time in Ellensburg is a very interesting time.

The CWU student body is making their last push for the year before breaking for summer, restoration projects in town start to multiply, more families walk around during the weekend, and business owners start adding to their store fronts.

Most everyone has potted flowers in front of their store front. Others put in new lighting or local art in their windows.

It's a community that really commemorates the coming of sun!

Today we spent the day interviewing and being interviewed.

We started the day by interviewing on 88.1 FM, The Burg along side our advisor, Timothy Bishop. For those that may not be aware of the station, it's a radio station located on the CWU campus and acts as a college radio station. Here's a link to their site: 88.1 The 'Burg

We were on for about thirty minutes talking about our project and the progress we've made thus far, what we're going to accomplish, and other information.

If you missed the interview, or we unable to hear it, request it here: Email Chris Hull. Let Chris know you want to hear it and they'll get it arranged.

Right after that we conducted a conference call with Doug Loescher, Director of the National Trust Main Street Center. Mr. Loescher provided great information about Main Street programs, their intentions, the trends seen nationally, and kind of effort and vision it takes to shape a community.

Not too long after we were talking with Jeff Milchen of the American Independent Business Alliance. Our discussion revolved around the experience of an independent business, how it must separate itself from chain competition, what the effects of the recession have truly been, and what have been the major challenges in networking businesses with one another.

After that, we broke for dinner and then headed over to Bailey's Bibliomania and interviewed John and Mary Varner.

This set of interviews went extremely well, both John and Mary are characters who really add to the culture that is Main Street. Their story is uniquely theirs, but it's one that many can relate to nationwide.

We still have a few more preliminary interviews to go, but as we are closing out that chapter, we will be opening another. And that involves more photography. This time we'll be taking photos of each business owner and the second part to this will be photographing the businesses doing what they do most, and that's being open for business!

Yes, spring time sure is interesting in Ellensburg.

Until we meet again!

Tuesday & Wednesday

We’re combining the entry for the last two days.

The reason for this is that classes have both started up for us again, and that takes away from our time spent each day to the project.

However, that does not impede our schedule, as we planned the project accordingly from day one.

On Tuesday we interviewed Kelly Parke, owner of Ace Apparel and Body Piercing.

We feel her story as a Main Street business is very compelling and really shows that determination and self-discipline will lead to prosperity.

That theme is consistent with all the businesses that we contact on Main Street.
Each business has a different purpose, a different owner, and arguably different values. No matter how we categorize each business, hard work and dedication are a constant.

And with that, we transition into Wednesday.

Today, we were able to speak with Kim Holland and Hildi Neff, co-owners of Lotus Clothing & Jewelry Design about their perspective on Main Street and committing to environmentally sound purchasing. They also have a commitment to working with other small companies internationally, rather than large factories, and in the case of American made goods in their stores, they aim to work with companies in the Pacific Northwest.

And for them, their business goes beyond passion. It’s a source of satisfaction. Both owners have a personal interest in world traveling, and though their work does not take them to every single place they’d like to go, it does afford them the opportunity to go many places on their personal checklists.

Getting back to Lotus’ commitment to buy from other small, independent businesses for a moment. We both find that this strategy is truly beneficial for all within a given “Main Street’ community. What better way to show your support for your own community but to buy from other independent businesses.

It could be a store next door that sells cleaning supplies that are created 50 miles down the road. Or from a little known company in Mongolia that sells commercial furniture. Granted these are fictitious examples, but the point being that when independent business supports independent business, the largest form of support in the chain is complete.

Next comes ensuring the customer base swells. If we believe that one good deed leads to another, maybe it’s only a matter of time.

But we still see Main Street in Ellensburg as a thriving commerce corridor, and so do the business owners.

It may not be ideal, but it’s in a very good position, and maybe because it’s not ideal makes it something worth fighting for.

Until tomorrow!

A New Week!

Happy Monday all!

Over the weekend the two of us worked on researching Main Street as a theory, specifically reading several books on the subject of small towns, independent businesses and how the two can sustain one another in harmony.

A few of the titles are Boomtown USA: The 7 ½ Keys to Big Success in Small Towns by Jack Schultz, The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Business Are Beating the Global Competition by Michael H. Shuman and Growing Local Value: How To Build Business Partnerships That Strengthen Your Community by Laury Hammel and Gun Denhart.

We have plenty of reading still to go, but we both get the sense of what has been working for small communities, but more importantly what hasn’t.

And that transitions us into a fantastic interview we conducted with Mia Peterson this afternoon. She is an extremely business-savvy woman and we both walked away from our time with her having learned something about entrepreneurship and the conclusion that she is a tremendous asset to Ellensburg, and could be an asset anywhere.

We’ve both been excited since we dreamt up this project, but not a day passes that we don’t reach a new level of excitement and the interview we had today only continued that trend.

Mia asked for our help with a small task related to her business as well, and we were happy to oblige.

And aside from her knowledge on her industry and retail operation, she is also extremely knowledgeable on building design, both interior and exterior.
And she also has great understanding of the concept of branding and what it means from a community perspective.

We’re looking forward to continue our work with Mia and seeing what she has planned for the future, because we both know that she is an important voice to this community.

We wrapped up the day working on press releases for some of the different organizations involved in our project and getting paperwork in order.

They say cleanliness is close to Godliness. I wonder if organization is included in that statement.

Until tomorrow!

Friday!

Hello again!

Today’s activities were a little more organizational than the rest of the week.
We started by conducting interviews with John and Brad Fitterer of Fitterer’s Furniture in the morning.

That went quite well, we received a lot of information about sustaining an independent business on Main Street throughout economic peaks and valleys.

We then had our weekly “wrap-up” meeting with Timothy Bishop, CMSM and the Executive Director of the EDA.

We then had a break in the action and posted two businesses to the Facebook group page found here Ellensburg Main Street 2010

We then returned to Main Street around 10:30 PM to photograph the street and store fronts at night.

We may return another time for night photography in the future, and we’ll keep everyone updated on that possibility.

The reason behind the night shots is just to show Main Street in a different “light” so to speak. It’s fair to say that any street in America lives one life during the day and another life at night.

When comparing to news reports on America’s financial outlook, I am surprised by the positive outlook by all the people we’ve come in contact with. If someone was to base their opinion of business in America off of the news, it would not be very good.
But what we are finding are business owners and employees who are excited by the positions they find themselves in now, and are ready to move forward.

The only time the recession has been mentioned is in past tense. Not one business we’ve talked to finds the situation to be impossible.

And with that, we sign off for the weekend.

See you on Monday!

Success!

It’s a fantastic Thursday afternoon!

The weather? Oh, it’s raining and overcast with a mid-40’s touch.

What makes it fantastic, is that the first set of photographs we sent to NPR’s project, Mapping Main Street were published into their "Main Street" slideshow.

When you click on the participate tab on their website, it brings up a slideshow on the right of the page and that’s where our photos are currently. Here’s a link to that page: Mapping Main Street 'Participate'

The site editor has not linked our photos to the category “Ellensburg, WA” so if you currently type in the city’s name into their search function, there is one photo from the EDA.

We are not sure what the time frame is on that task on their site, but seeing as their slideshow has the photos, it’s probably only a matter of time before we see our photos linked to “Ellensburg, WA.”

Stefanie started a Flickr account as well, and started uploading pictures that we have edited. It will take some time to edit every photo, but we are moving as fast as we can, and we will upload them as soon as they are ready. Here’s a link to her photo stream: Stefanie's Photo Stream

Today we also were able to complete our photography of Flirt/West Coast Men’s and Cedar Mountain Woodwrights. Matt ended up conducting an impromptu interview with Cedar Mountain’s owner Mike Bello, and was able to gather a lot of knowledge on the challenges a woodworker in today’s business climate faces.

We were able to photograph half of the Palace Cafe, and will be shooting the other half on another day, when there are less patrons. While we want to highlight the businesses are doing well, we don’t want to interrupt commerce with our project either.

We shot the front half of Ace Apparel’s store yesterday, but we will return next Tuesday to complete photography. They are remodeling some of their store, and also the store front, so we will re-shoot their business, and then publish those photos. It will be an interesting twist to the story we are putting together, showing a business before a remodel, and then after.

We are now moving into preliminary interviews, and have several lined up starting tomorrow and into next week.

These interviews will give us a framework for what kinds of questions we will be asking each business owner/representative.

We will also want to solicit some commentary from the general public, and we will update this blog when finalize the plan for that part of the project.

Happy Thursday, see you tomorrow!

Hitting the pavement

Chris and Matt discussing high-tech business in a small town

Hello again!

Another day down and more progress made.

We are continuing to photograph downtown, our focus as of late is the interiors of each business profiled.

We still have some exterior shooting to complete, but we are waiting for some stores to complete remodel work.

We also completed our first preliminary interview, and that was with Chris Schmidt of KValley Computers & Internet.

It was a fantastic interview, and we really appreciate Chris taking time out of his schedule to chat for awhile.

We’ve both conducted a lot of interviews over our time, and we both agree that Chris’s was one of the best we’ve seen or been a part of.

We have posted a picture from the interview with Chris here in this blog entry.

We will be posting the remainder of the pictures to the Flickr account as soon as we can!

We’re also developing workshops for businesses and consumers on how to use Foursquare, a social media app that allows consumers to inform their friends about places they frequent rapidly.

If you’d like to learn more about it go to Foursquare to learn more. Send a friend request to Matthew Ballantyne and Stefanie Burger while you're there!

The weather couldn't be better as we're doing this first and second phase of work, and we are anticipating getting the first phase done this week!

We're lining up more dates for interviews, and should have a great framework for the final part relatively soon.

More in store for tomorrow!

Main Street photos being posted.....NOW!

Hey Hey!

Just a quick note on the photography we are capturing.

We've started posting photos on Flickr, a photo sharing site that is part of Yahoo!

The reason for this, is that the national Mapping Main Street program is using Flickr to capture all photos used to document all Main Streets throughout America.

The photos are being posted through Matt's Flickr account, here is a link: FreeOperator.

Please understand that we will upload photos as fast as we can, Flickr does have a limit to how many can be uploaded per month, so we will try to get as many up as possible.

You can find all the photos there, but if you want to see what Mapping Main Street uses, follow their group page by going here: Mapping Main Street Group also, you can see the final results of their selections at this site: MappingMainStreet Website.


We'll be sending sets of the photos all over the internet as well, including the Ellensburg Downtown Association's group page on Facebook: EDA Group Page.

Stay tuned for more!

Main Street, Ellensburg (USA)

Welcome!

We are excited you are here to read our journey down Main Street, Ellensburg.

This blog is an account of a tremendous project in recording and detailing the true state of America, found on Main Streets throughout.

Many media outlets make a reference to "Main Street vs. Wall Street" as they dissect the problems occurring in the stock market.

But as they detail the exchange, they forget to talk about the other half of the reference, and that is Main Street, USA.

Follow along as Matthew Ballantyne and Stefanie Burger document an actual Main Street, in the heart of Washington State, Ellensburg.

Our focus will be on businesses within 3rd and 4th Avenue, and they will show a living, breathing street that envokes community, commerce, and ingenuity.

Rich in history and culture, Ellensburg joins classic country living with innovative entreprenuership creating an environment that is truly second to none.

In the next coming months, we will be working directly with area businesses to show Americans and Washingtonians alike, that historic Main Streets are the heart and soul of this country.

Come along as we embark on a beautiful journey through historic downtown Ellensburg!