July 2016

Wall Economic Development Blog

Another month has come and gone, summer is in full swing and we have now entered July, a month for celebration! We were able to celebrate Independence Day with an amazing fireworks display at the Golf Course on July 2nd. We are able to celebrate our community with the annual Wall Celebration starting this Thursday, July 7th. Wall is an exciting place to live, work and (especially) play this month! 

WEDC has had several reasons to celebrate this summer!

On June 3rd, Dan and Cindy Hauk with 4th Avenue Floral won the Black Hills Community Economic Development Small Business of the Year Award. Make sure to stop by 4th Avenue Floral to congratulate them! 

WEDC celebrated new and changing business in Wall this month. On June 17th, two new businesses, Wall Car Care Center with M&M Sales and The Vintage Soule Boutique held ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Farm Bureau Financial Services also had a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate their relocation into the “Wall Mall.” 

Along with celebrating current business successes and new business openings, WEDC has celebrated progress toward our goals.

What’s Up with WEDC?

• Housing: The first draft of the “Town of Wall Housing Study” is complete. Following final reviews, WEDC will plan a public study presentation. This is one meeting you will not want to miss!  
• Community Development:
  • Badlands Community Farmers Market: Unfortunately, the Badlands Community Farmers Market had to postpone their projected June 30th start date. However they are still planning to have a farmers market later in the season. The group will meet at 5:15 pm, July 11th, in the WREA boardroom. If you are interested in being a vendor or want to help get the farmers market off the ground, please join!
  • Wall Archery Day: Wall Archery Day is coming soon! The event date has changed to Friday, July 29th. Please join us at the Wall Golf Course from 5 – 7 pm to try archery, view an ancient hunting demonstration, and enter for a chance to win prizes!
  • Potential Community Updates: WEDC has the opportunity to apply for a Wellmark Community Foundation Grant to help make Wall a healthier place to live, work and play. The grant is for up to $10,000. If you have ideas for a project, contact WEDC by Wednesday, July 6th.
• Business Retention and Expansion:
  • Business Education Classes – What’s Ahead?: WEDC held a meeting with the South Dakota Center for Enterprise Opportunity (SD CEO) Thursday, June 30th. We discussed SD CEO services and educational opportunities. Our current and future business owners shared exactly what business classes they need to succeed. Watch for WEDC updates about future business education classes!

What are we learning?

I attended the “Morning Fill Up” at The Garage, a coworking space in Rapid City, with speaker Pam Moret, chair of the board of The Bush Foundation. She discussed overcoming challenges, being an effective leader, and inspiring others to action. Following the main event, I participated in coffee and conversation with the speaker and other rural change makers. We discussed workforce issues, diversity and change in rural communities. I was able to connect with inspiring individuals, including a group working to establish a “Start-Up Black Hills” weekend. I look forward to continuing this conversation to inspire even more innovative thinking for our community.  

I also attended an “Outlook for the West River Economy” session, hosted by Black Hills Knowledge Network’s consulting economist Dr. Jacob Mortenson. Topics discussed included: coal, agriculture and tourism. Dr. Mortenson discussed several economic downturns. However, he was optimistic about two of Wall’s major industries: agriculture and tourism. The information shared was informative and useful for Wall’s future economic development planning. 

The word is out!

Finally, I wanted to celebrate one more success with all of you. Wall and WEDC were recently featured in a nationally distributed newsletter, written by Becky McCray and Deb Brown from www.saveyour.town. They described Wall’s projects as “created out of gathering their local crowd together.” Please read the rest of the article here: “How to Peel an Orange.” Becky and Deb will be speaking at the upcoming “RuralX” conference July 19-20th, which I will be attending.

We are seeing such amazing progress in Wall! 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