Learning from Our Neighbors: An Expedition to Arkansas with Main Street Directors and Board Members
April 30, 2024 | Keith Winge
Missouri Main Street Connection sponsors an executive director’s experience every other year. Over the course of a four-year cycle, MMSC rotates between an in-state leadership retreat and out-of-state Main Street Expedition. The Main Street Expedition takes full-time executive directors and a board member on a two-day tour of Main Street programs in neighboring states. This started five years ago when a busload of us visited several Main Street districts in Iowa in 2019. This year, we made the journey in two buses to traverse the winding, hilly roads of Northwestern and Central Arkansas.
This year, our staff worked with Arkansas Main Street Coordinator Greg Phillips to assist with logistics and identify themes for the selected Main Street destinations. Our staff knew that the travel times, Arkansas roads, and overnight accommodations involved in this two-day Main Street Expedition would require proper logistical planning. With the assistance of Main Street Arkansas, MMSC chose five Main Street districts in the Northwestern and Central Arkansas: Siloam Springs, Fort Smith, Conway, Russellville, and Eureka Springs.
This expedition involved 42 people, including full-time Main Street directors, local program board members, Missouri Main Street Connection board members, staff, and two bus drivers. The time spent traveling between each of the featured destinations allowed participants to network, connect personally, and learn from each other. Each bus participated in a guided round robin discussion featuring topics chosen by the directors and local program board members. Everyone engaged in sharing ideas around preservation, volunteer and board engagement, and small business recruitment that they can use to refine what their own programs currently implement.
The first stop was the Siloam Springs Main Street district. Siloam Springs has a population of 18,654 and the Main Street program has three staff members. The Downtown district featured its connection to its spring water, blend of historic preservation and economic vitality, and a recent streetscape project while touching on its upper-story successes. Main Street Siloam Springs met us for a presentation at a rehabilitated, historic Chevy dealership that is now a thriving event venue and loft rental. During the presentation, the Main Street director, Stacy Morris, amazed us with an elegant feature from their website where you can view historical and current-day photos of the buildings in their district using a slider tool. This reinforces the historic preservation ethic that we all support as Main Streeters. Their Events and Marketing Coordinator, Abby Trinidad, demonstrated that ethic even more on the tour by pointing out buildings and businesses with a rich history as we made our way to the spring and park, where we ended our tour.
Our next stop on the tour, Fort Smith, boasts a population of almost 90,000. 64.6 Downtown highlighted their organizations and community’s walkability, creative use of downtown buildings, and working partnerships. We started with a dynamic presentation by 64.6 Downtown’s director Talicia Richardson on the history of Fort Smith, the Main Street program, and some of its accomplishments. She inspired us even more, as she did not skip a beat during the wet walking tour. We viewed some of their murals and a fun food and event park with a metal rooster, train car, bus, and a Ferris wheel. They also featured a nice outdoor skate park and event space in the downtown district.
Conway, population of 67,617, was the last stop of the first day. Kim Williams, Executive Director for Conway Downtown Partnership, welcomed us and provided a short presentation on the layout of downtown before handing out maps for everyone to explore on their own. Conway’s district focuses on the arts, a good combination of restaurants and retail establishments, and infrastructure improvements resulting in over $5 million in infrastructure improvements. Later that evening at the dinner presentation by the partners working in the downtown district, we heard about an overlay district that established the design standards for rehabilitation and new construction in the commercial and residential districts of the downtown area. And by the way, the dinner presentation was held at a very cool restaurant/brewery called Rogue Roundabout. Chris Smith, owner of Rouge Roundabout with his wife Jessica Smith, shared that he created the space to be the opposite of most microbreweries he knew. He made his space light and airy with many windows and family-friendly. He even added a coffee shop when the community requested one.
After departing from Conway bright and early on the second day, we arrived in Russellville, our first destination for day two with a population of 29,000. It is the county seat and houses Arkansas Tech University. The Main Street Russellville‘s director, Danielle Housenick, shared how hosting thousands of people for the total solar eclipse complimented their strategy of driving economic resiliency through events. During the eclipse, Russellville hosted both NASA and The Weather Channel who reported from Conway. Additionally, music and art are a huge part of their downtown vibe, with Depot Park and its amphitheater hosting many live events. Many of our communities were interested in their implementation of an entertainment district. The partnership between the City of Russellville and the Main Street program is strong, with the City owning the historic Union Pacific depot that houses the Main Street program offices.
The last destination of the expedition was Eureka Springs, the smallest community we visited, with just over 2,000 residents. Despite its small size, this quirky, tourist-focused community sees over a quarter of a million tourists annually. It offers various festivals, art activities, parades, hotels, soft adventures, and shopping/dining options for all ages. Our group spilt into two groups and enjoyed a tour of Eureka Springs’ downtown district. Jacqueline Wolven, the executive director of Main Street Eureka Springs, spoke to our hearts when she shared, “Figure out what you have in your community and make that the best it can be because you don’t want to be like everyone else.” This message resonated with everyone present and stuck with us as we departed for lunch and to explore the district on our own to shop and visit with business owners.
The Main Street Expedition follows the Main Street mantra, “R&D”—which for non-Main Streeters means rip off and duplicate— by providing an amazing opportunity to gather ideas, network, and see other Main Street programs’ initiatives and programming firsthand. The discussion on the way back to Missouri bustled with new ideas to try in their district, how they could apply what they learned to enhance a project, and how they now have connections in other Main Street programs. The attendees were already talking about the next expedition in four years.
