Ritzville confab to focus on small town growth Sept. 21
Ted Escobar/The Sun Tribune<br /> A horse show runs down Main street in Ritzville during the mid-20th century.
Courtesy photo<br /> In 1907, Robert Chavis took money he gained from the sale of his homestead to create businesses in the new town of Othello. The area where Reichert's Showhouse stands today was known as Chavis block.
RITZVILLE — Some of the most creative minds in the state will gather in Ritzville on Sept. 21-22 to brainstorm on ways to revitalize small-town downtowns across Washington.
Adams County Economic Development Director Stephen McFadden urges representatives of every community in Adams and Grant Counties to attend. He said EDDs don’t develop economies on their own; It takes the entire community.
The Reviving Rural Downtowns workshop in historic downtown Ritzville will offer downtown district members, city council members, planning commissioners, economic developers or anybody interested in improving their community the opportunity to generate ideas in a creative setting.
More than 120 people attended the inaugural workshop last year. Organizers are expecting more this year.
“I’m a resident of Ritzville and there are a lot of us that served on the various community organizations in Ritzville with a passion for our historic buildings in the downtown,” McFadden said. “We got to talking and said why don’t we try and have a workshop.
“The development council partnered with the city of Ritzville and the chamber of commerce. We were working on a lineup (of speakers), when we turned to the Washington Main Street folks. Their manager at the time said ‘You should open this up to all the small rural towns in eastern Washington at least because you’re talking about the same issues those small towns are dealing with.”
There is a wide range of topics on the slate and a variety of speakers during the two-day workshop. Small community success stories are expected to be enlightening, McFadden said.
“We think the Your Town App is going to be a big deal,” McFadden said. “We will have a version of that app made for Ritzville, so when people check in we’ll ask them to download the app, so they can see all of the points of interest in Ritzville as a live demonstration.”
The small communities success stories on Thursday will feature discussions by presenters from the towns of Dayton, Soap Lake and Palouse.
“They’re going to spend an hour talking about some great accomplishments they’ve had, even though they, quote/unquote, are small,” McFadden said.
Pre-conference workshops will begin at 1 p.m. on Sept. 21 with discussions by Janet Rogerson and Lissa Kramer of the Washington State Historical Society. Their focus will be on the Heritage Capital Projects Fund. Terry Lawhead with the Washington Department of Commerce will address preparedness, recovery and continuity on Main Street.
“This is for anyone that wants to be involved in restoring and improving their downtown area. It doesn’t have to be a historic downtown,” McFadden said.
The opening day keynote speaker will be Tripp Muldrow of Arnett, Muldrow & Associates.
One benefit of the workshops being held in Ritzville is an opportunity to learn about the transformation behind this central Washington town’s downtown.
The theme of the day is, “Yes, Your Town Matters,” and Sept. 22’s agenda will focus on how to make that happen, with discussions by Kathleen Ryan, an assistant professor of Washington State University’s rural communities design institute. Her organization designed the Mattawa Makeover, which is in progress.
The second day will also highlight topics like promoting your town, demolition by neglect and lost community treasures.
Advanced online registration is required and can be done by going to www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2593927.
For more information call 509-331-2042 or email Stephen McFadden at stephenm@co.adams.wa.us.