September 2016

Wall Economic Development Blog

Welcome to September, Wall! School is almost back in session, fall sports are under way and we have so much to look forward to as a community! August was another exciting month for WEDC. From marketing Wall during the 76th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally to introducing the long awaited “Marketing Hometown America” program, WEDC kept busy working toward building and growing our community.

What have we been up to?

Wall Community Calendar

WEDC and the Wall Chamber recently hosted a “Coffee and Calendars” event, designed to encourage community collaboration, communication and idea sharing. We hope to make this a quarterly meeting, so stay tuned! Following “Coffee and Calendars”, WEDC took all the community information and created a Community Calendar. The Community Calendar can be found on the Wall webpage.

Community members are encouraged to submit upcoming events. Event submissions will be approved by WEDC and added to the Community Calendar. We hope to make this a great community tool to aid in future event planning. 

New Business in Wall 

There is a new business in Wall: The Kodiak Coffee Club. It is located in the basement of the Wildlife Museum on Main St., next to the Post Office. They are open 7 am to 7 pm and have coffee, sno cones, locally made treats and much more! Make sure to visit them soon!

Marketing Hometown America

WEDC and SDSU Extension held the first Marketing Hometown America program information session on Monday, August 29th. We had a great turnout of dedicated and motivated community members, ready to make a change and help market our community!

Marketing Hometown America starts with a community kickoff, designed to share information about the program and gather small group participants. Throughout the program, small groups meet four times to discuss their ideas for marketing the community. Then, all ideas are gathered for a community action forum where goals are set and we get to work!

If you could not make the meeting, but would still like to be involved, you can! You can join Marketing Hometown America in three different ways: 

1. You can join as a member of the advisory committee. The advisory committee meets prior to the Marketing Hometown America kickoff and determines when the kickoff will take place, when the facilitators will be trained, how long the community will have to complete the program (4 or 8 weeks), and finally, they determine when to hold the community action forum at the end of the program.
2. You can join as a facilitator. Facilitators are small group leaders. They attend facilitation training, plan when they want to hold their small group meetings and help recruit meeting participants.
3. You can join as a participant. If you have ideas about how we can market and better our community, or if you would simply like to get involved, please join a small group discussion. We would love to hear any and all ideas.

If you would like to be involved in any way, please contact WEDC.

Wall Archery Range

As many of you know, WEDC held Wall’s first Archery Day on Friday, July 29th and it was very successful. This success, followed by community feedback, has prompted WEDC to apply for a Wellmark Community Foundation Kickstarter Grant of up to $10,000 to get a community archery range started. WEDC is excited to pursue this opportunity to provide an active, fun, family activity for the entire community and region. Community members will have to vote for our project, so keep an eye on the WEDC Facebook Page! 

Available Buildings and Sites 

 WEDC has been working on providing a list of available buildings and sites in Wall where a potential business could start or expand.

The site lists details about the following opportunities:

1. Space in the “Wall Mall” on Main and 6th Streets
2. Office space below the Wall Building Center and Construction building, 109 South Boulevard
3. Farm Bureau office space, inside the Wall Mall on 6th Street
4. The Wall Meat Processing Plant

If you or someone you know has an available building or piece of land that should be listed on our webpage, or if you have any questions or need more information about the above business opportunities, please contact WEDC right away.

Marketing Wall

As part of the Rushmore Region Economic Development Alliance, WEDC had the opportunity to attend events associated with the 76th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. These events provided an opportunity to spread the word about why Wall is a great place to live and do business. You can listen to a South Dakota Public Radio interview we participated in here: http://listen.sdpb.org/post/economic-development-leaders-court-manufacturers-sturgis-rally?utm_content=buffer405d6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

What’s Coming Up?

Housing

Don’t forget! A representative from Community Partners Research will present the housing study findings during the September 15th City Council meeting, 6:30 pm in the Wall Community Center Meeting Room. Don’t worry if you cannot make this meeting. WEDC is planning to present the findings to the community more than once. Stay tuned!

Community Development

“Wall in the Fall”

WEDC and the Wall Chamber are currently working with the community to plan the first “Wall in the Fall” event. The event will be Sunday, October 2nd from 11 am – 5 pm in the Wall City parking lot, between the Wall Library and Wall Community Center. We held a community planning session Wednesday, August 31st and came up with many new ideas, such as a fall dessert contest, old-fashioned games, and other fall-inspired event additions.

We are asking for widespread community involvement! If you, your business, your club, team or group would like to join “Wall in the Fall,” contact WEDC right away. 

Business Retention and Expansion

Entrepreneurship Opportunity

Are you an entrepreneur or business owner looking for a network of like-minded people you can turn to for advice and inspiration? Do you feel isolated or alone as a rural entrepreneur? Would you like to know how other entrepreneurs build success? Has your business progressed beyond survival or filed a tax return for at least two years, and have at least one employee or hire contract labor?

If you said yes to many of these questions, you may be the perfect fit for the Dakota Rising Fellowship. Applications are due by September 15th. Find more information here: http://www.dakotaresources.org/dakota-rising

If you are interested in learning more about WEDC and our goals or projects, or would like to be involved, never hesitate to contact me.

As always, thank you for being such a great community. It is because of you we have it all in Wall! 

Cheyenne McGriff
WEDC Executive Director
?(605) 279-2658?
walledd@gwtc.net