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!

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!