00:00 - This program has been paid for by the sponsor and does not reflect

00:03 - the views of PCN.

00:07 - Hello and welcome to this

00:08 - edition of Inside Pennsylvania Burrows.

00:12 - Borough leaders and nonprofit organizations across Pennsylvania

00:16 - are actively working to enhance

00:17 - the sustainability of Pennsylvania's Main Street downtown centers.

00:22 - Targeted investments in revitalization initiatives

00:24 - often promote the continued viability of core communities.

00:28 - Borough leaders are planning and collaborating with various local

00:31 - stakeholders to advance the sense of place, quality of life,

00:35 - and economic vitality of the Commonwealth's downtowns,

00:38 - traditional neighborhood business districts, and nearby residential areas.

00:43 - Joining today's discussion are Jared Heuer, executive director

00:46 - of the Clarion County Economic Development Corporation.

00:49 - Liz Wall, consider Main Street manager of Ambler Borough in Montgomery County.

00:54 - Ellen Ruby, interim

00:55 - executive director of the Lewisburg Downtown Partnership in Union County.

00:59 - And Lynn Weller,

01:00 - executive director of Our Town Foundation in Hamburg, Berks County.

01:05 - Now, here is your host and executive director

01:08 - of the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, Chris Kapp.

01:12 - Good day.

01:13 - Pennsylvania borough communities are thriving.

01:15 - In fact, our downtown centers have become

01:18 - major economic engines for this great Commonwealth.

01:21 - Ellen, welcome back to the show. Tell us about Lewisburg Borough.

01:24 - Thank you. Chris. Lewisburg is is doing well.

01:26 - Lewisburg is preparing right now for our annual Heart of Lewisburg Ice Festival.

01:31 - And that will be February 6th through the eighth.

01:33 - We're also in year three of our Main Street Matters designation.

01:37 - And having received some of the grants that were eligible to us through DCD

01:42 - for that,

01:42 - we are working our way through and hoping

01:44 - to see some of those projects close this year.

01:46 - And Liz, of course, Ambler Borough and Montgomery County.

01:49 - We are doing well as well.

01:50 - We're also preparing for our Fire and Ice festival, our starts

01:53 - February 7th, and it lasts as long as the ice lasts.

01:57 - We've got a lot of fun activities in store for the community to come out.

02:00 - And, you know, we'll just walk around the town and see everything that's new.

02:03 - We've got a bunch of new restaurants

02:05 - and a lot of things to see when you're outside walking around.

02:08 - And then Amber Borough, of course, a wonderful downtown.

02:12 - Hamburg with in Hamburg.

02:14 - We are, really excited.

02:16 - We are stepping forward with all year one of our Main Street designation

02:22 - and, getting the ball rolling with our strategic plan.

02:26 - Currently we've been working on, upping the events that we run in town.

02:31 - We are finishing up our State Street Square event venue,

02:35 - which is really exciting.

02:37 - And we are, working on a lot of different initiatives

02:40 - with our facade improvement grant, another, program that was funded by DCD.

02:45 - So we have a lot of things moving and growing in Hamburg

02:47 - and, Jared, a lot of ambitious initiatives up and Clarion County.

02:51 - Definitely, we are pushing forward

02:53 - a lot of initiatives that have to do with downtown revitalization,

02:57 - and also how that incorporates into, better access to outdoor recreation,

03:01 - as many of our natural assets really tie in directly to our downtowns.

03:05 - And our office organization has been, looking to spearhead

03:09 - that, push that forward.

03:10 - And, Ellen, tell us about the strategic plan.

03:12 - How important is that?

03:14 - To engage stakeholders, to advance the mission and objectives of your downtown.

03:19 - It's critical. It's critical.

03:20 - We spent a great deal of time on our five year strategic plan

03:24 - while we were preparing for our designation application.

03:27 - We've always had a plan in place, but,

03:30 - I would say we dove deeper than we ever have before.

03:33 - We came out with two transformation strategies.

03:35 - One was, our goal to make downtown Lewisburg the core region for arts,

03:42 - dining, shopping and entertainment in our area, the core downtown.

03:45 - And the other was related to our goal to be

03:49 - a premier, university college town.

03:52 - It's critical the engagement of our board, of our volunteers,

03:56 - of the Bucknell students and staff, of the community and local government,

04:01 - all of our partners was really important and part of the process.

04:05 - I would agree.

04:06 - I mean, I think we are

04:08 - such a great organization and community because of all of our partners.

04:12 - We're the downtown for 3 or 4 different municipalities.

04:15 - We're the only downtown street, so we're kind of the host of the party

04:19 - all the time.

04:21 - And it takes cooperation

04:22 - from everybody to make a good party and to make a good downtown.

04:25 - And without their support, you know, we'd be in trouble.

04:28 - We have sponsors, we've local sponsors, business people that help us.

04:32 - So, for example, we're hosting Art Music Fest on Father's Day weekend.

04:35 - We have,

04:37 - nine bands from all

04:39 - over, actually all over the country coming.

04:42 - And we have sponsors that help us out and we wouldn't be able to do what we do

04:45 - without the support of our sponsors, our volunteers,

04:48 - you know, our local government and officials where we are, you know,

04:52 - rising tide lifts all boats, and we have a lot of rising tides

04:56 - that help us lift our boat.

04:57 - I agree, and the having the our strategic plan has been crucial, with

05:01 - the direction of where Hamburg's going and listening to our community members.

05:06 - It's not just the direction

05:07 - of the organization, but it's talking to our businesses,

05:11 - our community members, the residents in Hamburg.

05:13 - For us, our transformational strategies rely

05:16 - on, building Hamburg up as a family friendly place.

05:20 - Looking at our natural connections with outdoor recreation

05:24 - or really enhancing the arts, culture and entertainment that Hamburg has to offer.

05:28 - So we've been really lucky to be working closely with our supporters and,

05:33 - making sure that we're on track to make that progress.

05:37 - The planning process for us has been absolutely critical.

05:40 - So much of our efforts began, with a ten year strategic plan.

05:45 - The Clarion County 2030 strategic plan.

05:47 - And that has been jettisoning us forward for the past 5 or 6 years.

05:52 - And, from that point,

05:54 - we are in the middle of implementing a Clarion River access management plan.

05:58 - We are building a regional Mainstreet visioning and action plan

06:02 - that has to do with five downtowns within Clarion County.

06:06 - And we're also building an area wide plan, with some funding we got from the EPA.

06:10 - As far as brownfields go.

06:12 - The planning process is crucial in the fact

06:15 - that the planning brings people together.

06:19 - It brings stakeholders together and acts as that North star.

06:23 - So even if the recommendations

06:24 - that come out of those plans are and exactly what happens,

06:28 - it's been that galvanization to keep people together to move forward.

06:32 - Governor Shapiro has been a major proponent of downtowns.

06:35 - How important are the resources offered by the Department of Community

06:38 - Economic Development and other, grants and other legislation that you see

06:42 - that are, pertinent to the continued success of our downtowns?

06:46 - They're very important.

06:47 - And I know that, projects that we're working on.

06:50 - Right now,

06:51 - have been created as part of our strategic plan.

06:54 - And then we were able to apply for funding for an implementation grant that we are

06:59 - currently working on, both gateway signage at our east and west end of town.

07:03 - Wayfinding signage and other things that will mark clearly our historic

07:07 - district downtown and, more importantly, to our businesses.

07:11 - We were also the recipient of a business improvement grant, which is a new grant,

07:15 - I believe, with the 2024, applications and what that does is allows us

07:20 - to provide up to $5,000 to businesses

07:25 - for improvements that are either inside the business they can be related,

07:30 - certain related to operations in the sense of, you know, it could be putting in

07:34 - a new point of sale system, upgrading your security system.

07:38 - Things like that, things that hadn't been addressed before in grants,

07:41 - to our downtown.

07:42 - So we're in the midst of that grant process right now as well.

07:45 - Well, we've received the funds, but we're working with the businesses.

07:49 - We don't have any irons on the fire right now.

07:51 - We are in the process of working through.

07:53 - We just got a new borough manager,

07:54 - so we're all getting acclimated to to life with our new manager.

07:59 - We recently received grants

08:02 - for our sidewalks to make our sidewalks more accessible, handicapped accessible.

08:05 - And believe it or not, we're less than a square mile.

08:07 - But we needed to have a lot of them taken care of and modified.

08:10 - So that was our biggest, greatest, DCD success in the last few years.

08:16 - Beyond that, we're still working on it.

08:18 - We're we're, we're newbies at this.

08:21 - Having the support for the Main Street Matters program

08:24 - has been so important, and really, I it's just incredible.

08:30 - The influence that, you know, the government, the,

08:33 - the state can have on our local communities, our small communities.

08:37 - Hamburg is a small borough, 40, 500 people.

08:41 - Everything that we do

08:42 - is about supporting our downtown, supporting our Hamburg area.

08:45 - You know, we know the benefit that that has on our local businesses,

08:49 - you know, bringing the focus back to local, back to coming into the town,

08:54 - you know, that's been really, really important.

08:56 - And we've been lucky to also have received the facade improvement grant.

09:00 - So we're working on that to to bring that facelift to Hamburg.

09:03 - We're working through and getting support, on local projects,

09:07 - for the facade improvement.

09:09 - And hopefully we'll be, announcing another,

09:12 - grant that haven't heard, word yet through the Main Street Matters program.

09:16 - But I'm hopeful.

09:18 - And that would contribute to the completion of our, outdoor event venue.

09:22 - Our relationship with DCD, is another critical piece.

09:26 - It's what happens on the ground.

09:27 - The success of what happens on the ground is all about relationship building.

09:32 - And that also has to do with CCD

09:35 - and the relationship that we can build within that office from top to bottom.

09:39 - We received a Keystone Communities Program grant the very last round of,

09:44 - Keystone Communities programing, back in 23, 24.

09:48 - And that has been pushing forward our planning

09:50 - for our regional Mainstreet program and going to the well

09:53 - for for Mainstreet matters and advocating for that.

09:57 - Continued funding is also a critical piece.

10:00 - The Mainstreet Matters

10:01 - program, I think, really hit the nail on the head

10:04 - in terms of what downtown, particularly rural downtowns, need.

10:08 - And, Clarion County, we are certainly a collection

10:12 - of rural small towns and being able to bring that funding there

10:17 - to understand, directly what the businesses need is critical.

10:21 - I think Mainstreet matters. Does that.

10:23 - And we would love to see more funding in the budget for it.

10:26 - And can I just say one more thing?

10:28 - I left it out and I shouldn't.

10:29 - It's so critical is the Main Street Matters program as you're designated.

10:33 - You also receive funding for operations to to assist with, you know,

10:38 - paying for your executive director and all those things that are necessary

10:43 - to actually have an organization and have it fully staffed.

10:47 - And, and that has been, you know, critical not just for Lewisburg,

10:52 - but for so many, downtown Main Street programs.

10:56 - So I, I can't say enough about how helpful that is.

10:59 - So we we're self-funded.

11:00 - We don't participate in Mainstreet matters yet.

11:03 - So all of our programs run on the events and the money

11:07 - that we make from the events, and we put it right back into the town.

11:11 - So we're a little bit of a dichotomy from what everyone else does.

11:14 - How important are your, social media strategies,

11:17 - and galvanizing, support for your projects?

11:21 - What are you liking?

11:21 - What kind of platforms are you using?

11:24 - To attract interest from residents and more support?

11:27 - Well, we, you know, we spread it across.

11:29 - We've got, you know, you've got Facebook, Instagram,

11:32 - we've just recently, connected with a federal work

11:35 - study from student from Bucknell who's going to help us get on TikTok.

11:39 - So, you know, we have a website

11:42 - that that we, you know, engage with people as well.

11:45 - It's different demographics are looking at different platforms.

11:49 - So we try to hit all of them.

11:51 - I mean, we still print posters, we still print put fliers out there.

11:55 - So we're trying to, you know, kind of cover everything.

11:57 - And it's really critically important to get the word out.

12:00 - And also, you know, to get the most efficient way

12:03 - of spreading information and promoting what you do.

12:05 - We do the same thing. We do the same thing.

12:07 - We still have billboards.

12:08 - We have a kiosk where we put posters.

12:11 - We do Facebook and Instagram.

12:12 - And it's interesting, if you miss a post on one of the different

12:16 - platforms, you see a different demographic respond more.

12:19 - Figuring it out has been a challenge, but I think we got TikTok.

12:22 - We'll get there.

12:25 - Promotions has

12:26 - been a huge priority for our town foundation since I,

12:30 - stepped in as executive director middle of last year.

12:33 - And, we are currently undergoing a rebranding.

12:37 - We'll have a new logo reveal, which I'm really excited about next month.

12:41 - And, with that, we have been really pushing out,

12:45 - on Facebook, on Instagram, exploring some other networks and,

12:50 - making that a key priority because we want Hamburg to be visible, you know, and,

12:56 - where we are located, it's, you know, a place that can be overlooked.

13:00 - And, and so it's been important to me to make sure that doesn't happen.

13:03 - So we've been stepping up our promotions.

13:05 - And if I can just add that last year we had,

13:09 - a few different business workshops that something we do for our business

13:13 - community is we have speakers, we have conversations

13:16 - with our business leaders, and we brought in a few speakers about how

13:20 - small businesses in our town can, improve their social media impact.

13:24 - So we've been taking some of that advice.

13:26 - I think it's working.

13:28 - Facebook is definitely the primary driver, for social media within Clarion County.

13:32 - I would say that we need to be careful to not just rely on Facebook

13:38 - and the social media, especially with the various algorithms

13:40 - that are always changing and hard to sort of pin down.

13:43 - Word of mouth is is really critical.

13:45 - Still, especially within some of our older populations, we still do

13:50 - traditional press releases, etc.

13:52 - pushing Facebook is something that we want to do more

13:55 - because it really opens up a much wider net.

13:59 - And that's something that I think will continue to pay dividends.

14:03 - What we just try to remain

14:06 - mindful of is to not solely rely on it.

14:09 - We still have lacking internet in various parts of the county,

14:12 - and that's another initiative that we continue to push.

14:15 - And we can't discriminate against that.

14:17 - We need to be careful.

14:19 - And many of the folks who lack internet

14:21 - have been living in the area for their entire lives.

14:23 - They care deeply about the work

14:25 - and care deeply about our success, and they should be able to know about it

14:27 - as well.

14:28 - So how important is the housing stock and revitalization

14:31 - of local properties and preservation of historic, properties?

14:36 - In your strategic plan?

14:38 - Well, again,

14:39 - all these things are important, and, housing stock is very important.

14:44 - We have, a lack of housing in recent two years, maybe,

14:51 - Lpea Lewisburg Downtown Partnership has has worked

14:53 - alongside our Lewisburg neighborhoods, which is our Elm Street

14:57 - and, done work to create an ordinance that allows

15:01 - accessory dwelling units within the borough.

15:03 - And we've seen some action taken on that.

15:05 - As a matter of fact, I live in a renovated carriage house

15:08 - on right off of Market Street.

15:09 - So so we've seen some success with that.

15:11 - We'd like to see more.

15:13 - But there is a need for more housing that is,

15:16 - not just high end housing, you know, high end

15:19 - expensive for everyone to be able to live in town if they'd like to.

15:22 - When it comes to the historic district, it covers about

15:25 - 90% of our borough is within our historic district.

15:29 - So we definitely consider it, you know, key like I said,

15:32 - we actually are using part of our signage grant to identify through,

15:38 - specific street signs,

15:39 - like a different color

15:40 - there, brown street signs that indicate you're in the historic district

15:44 - by the end of the year. We should have that throughout.

15:46 - If you see that that street sign, you know you're in the district.

15:49 - So our whole town is a historic district.

15:51 - Like it's just it's so diverse with the buildings that it has.

15:54 - We have buildings from, you know, back to the 16th century.

15:57 - The whole place is a historic district.

15:59 - And just we don't have very much to build on,

16:01 - but we do have some projects happening, and we felt the need to go back

16:06 - and look at some of the things

16:07 - that are historic about our buildings and about our developments,

16:10 - and incorporate that into all of our, you know, building resolutions.

16:14 - The these if you're going to build, you need to incorporate these aspects

16:18 - of the pieces of the town that make the town historically relevant.

16:22 - That was a big deal.

16:22 - And, you know, we were kind of looking for would we know

16:25 - Septa is going to do a big development for us?

16:27 - We've got quite a few things happening on the little postage

16:30 - stamp of land that we have to develop.

16:32 - And we do also need more dwellings.

16:34 - We need more apartments.

16:36 - We need everyone needs more affordable housing.

16:38 - It's just tough to build apartments and make them affordable with the cost

16:42 - of building and the whole nine, but we're working on it.

16:44 - Hamburg is definitely in a in a similar situation.

16:47 - Of course, we're affected by the, you know, national housing crisis

16:50 - and a shortage, and rents in Hamburg are going up.

16:54 - Property values are going up.

16:56 - Which

16:57 - is not always bad for, for the, you know, but those changes are happening in town

17:01 - and, you know, with our town foundation, we are put a lot of significance

17:06 - and promotion on maintaining the historical integrity of the town.

17:10 - And that's built into our facade improvement program as well.

17:13 - We run a historic, one screen theater in the downtown.

17:18 - So that's an important part

17:19 - of what makes Hamburg special is keeping that historic nature.

17:23 - Housing has really risen, to the top as one of the top 2 or 3 issues

17:27 - as far as economic development goes, particularly in rural areas.

17:31 - It's right up there with broadband, and others really thinking about this more.

17:35 - Our organization has a countywide mandate.

17:37 - So when we're thinking about housing,

17:41 - much of the work that we're doing right now is seeking to understand

17:44 - what is stopping development from happening,

17:46 - and how can we look to our partners to be able to shrink that gap

17:50 - between what it takes to build a house and what it takes to sell a house?

17:53 - There is currently no subsidy available

17:56 - for market rate housing or for attainable housing, whatever.

17:59 - Or do you might want to call it.

18:01 - And that's what's missing in Clarion County and other areas,

18:04 - to be able to build more market rate housing.

18:07 - And that's something that we continue to advocate for,

18:10 - particularly the creation of something new, within Harrisburg

18:13 - that can help incentivize more development.

18:16 - And that has a direct implication on our downtowns.

18:19 - If we want to build our downtowns and develop our downtowns

18:23 - and attract residents and not just visitors, these residents

18:26 - need to be able to find a place to live is as simple as that.

18:29 - And that's something that is a serious problem

18:31 - and will continue to hold communities like ours back until something can change.

18:36 - What sorts of businesses are you attracting to your downtowns?

18:39 - Post-pandemic in this economy, and how are you assisting them?

18:42 - I mean, you're creating walkable communities,

18:44 - but how are you helping those businesses compete against e-commerce?

18:48 - To help those businesses remain viable over the long term?

18:51 - I know we've done some work and some consulting with businesses

18:55 - to help them, connect with resources so that they can if they're interested

19:00 - and if it makes sense to, set up an online store, make,

19:06 - you know, make them competitive, at least with other

19:09 - similar businesses that you know, where the products are available online.

19:12 - We have with local stores, with niche, type businesses and boutiques.

19:18 - Not everyone is interested in that.

19:20 - I've top of my head is a, a shop we have downtown Lewisburg

19:24 - that is art supplies and 5000 other things that that are in there.

19:29 - And it's an extremely popular destination downtown.

19:33 - Always busy.

19:35 - Their concern was that the number of inventory items

19:38 - was just not where they wanted to go in terms of getting online,

19:42 - but in their case, they don't necessarily need it.

19:43 - There's others who it would be a nice accompaniment to what they already offer,

19:48 - or even if it's in some cases we have restaurants who will fail you.

19:53 - I'm thinking of a restaurant bakery where they were selling macarons

19:56 - and you could order them.

19:57 - They were selling them to people

19:58 - in other states that had come through and continue to purchase them.

20:01 - And then they were also selling them and shipping them to people in Lewisburg,

20:05 - because, you know, not everybody wants to get in the car and drive over.

20:08 - Some people want it delivered to their door. So

20:11 - I think for

20:11 - us, most of our businesses have the online option.

20:14 - We have some some nice boutiques, some women's stores.

20:18 - We have a baby store.

20:19 - We have a few closed stores.

20:21 - The most important thing I can just try to express is that,

20:25 - my friend had a store that closed, and when she was closing it,

20:29 - she was just closing it because it was too much.

20:31 - But people would come in and go, oh, this is my favorite place

20:33 - to shop at Christmas.

20:35 - I can't be it.

20:36 - You have to shop all the time.

20:38 - Right now it's February, it's cold, they're dying.

20:42 - So if you have something that you need to buy as a consumer,

20:46 - that's what it is important to our little businesses.

20:48 - Because when you're sitting there

20:49 - and it's freezing cold and you need a shirt for a party,

20:52 - it's so much easier to go online and order it and not have to go out in the cold.

20:55 - But for our businesses, it's so important just to be there to go in and shop.

21:00 - You know, you can even order online from them and our restaurants.

21:03 - Same thing. It's cold. Nobody wants to go out but just go out.

21:06 - We had Restaurant Week last week and we were encouraging people with,

21:09 - you know, different price weeks, venues just just to go out and try

21:12 - something new just because they've you're in January or so-called and boring.

21:15 - So that's just something to remember that these guys are here

21:19 - all year round and they depend on consumers all year round.

21:22 - They do a lot of them have online presence, but

21:25 - it means so much to shop local lives.

21:28 - That's a really important reminder.

21:30 - And I think that is, you know, something that we do to support our businesses

21:35 - just with our general promotions is to,

21:38 - remind people to shop local, remind people to come downtown.

21:42 - We've been fortunate in the last year and a half.

21:44 - It's been about, some new business growth.

21:48 - We've had additional health

21:50 - and wellness businesses, coffee shops and makers markets.

21:54 - There's been even a record store, a local grocer.

21:57 - A lot of the new

21:58 - places come in, so there's a lot in town, but people need to come in town.

22:02 - And part of what our organization does that I mentioned before, we are

22:06 - there as a resource and we are providing

22:09 - different educational, meet ups.

22:12 - I do a monthly business workshop, and that's really important to me to,

22:18 - bring business owners together

22:20 - and to have us have a conversation so we can talk about things.

22:25 - When I know that there's a need, I want to bring that speaker

22:28 - education into the town to support the businesses.

22:32 - Creating that business community has been really important to me.

22:35 - And I think, creating

22:36 - some additional value and support because the businesses do need that.

22:40 - There's been some businesses in town

22:42 - that have developed online sales and are doing well.

22:46 - And and that's great.

22:47 - But like Ellen said, it's not it's not every business.

22:50 - It's not a good fit for every business.

22:51 - But we definitely, you know, try to be a resource for our business community.

22:56 - Developing that business community is huge.

22:59 - And I often hear from businesses that they want to be able

23:03 - to have the opportunity to engage with other businesses,

23:06 - and it may not be within their industry or their field.

23:09 - They just want to know what makes other businesses tick,

23:12 - and how can they maybe implement some of those ideas.

23:15 - As far as a e-commerce and looking to really, I guess, compete

23:19 - with in the digital world, this is a bit aspirational for us,

23:22 - but something that we'd like to do is help businesses improve their websites.

23:26 - Many businesses rely on a Facebook page

23:29 - as their digital presence, and that often just does not cut it.

23:33 - Having a true website that you update that you can,

23:38 - continue to populate is critical in order to really instill confidence

23:43 - in and new shoppers, especially those from out of town.

23:47 - That is likely a bit down the road for us to be able to build that capacity

23:51 - within our office, since we're still doing a lot of planning and organizing,

23:54 - but being able to be online, it's it's imperative.

23:57 - Can I just say one thing in just in response to that?

24:00 - Because you made me think of like,

24:02 - all the advantages we have being where we are in Lewisburg,

24:05 - we have that opportunity to offer website building to our businesses

24:11 - and to other entrepreneurs in our downtown, or that are working

24:14 - with the Small Business Development center that's in our downtown.

24:17 - And then they work with Bucknell students, and I don't know if there's

24:20 - any opportunities for you there, but that's it's not on our plate to do it.

24:24 - And we're so appreciative. But it's available.

24:26 - We have the same.

24:27 - So we have the Penn West Clarion Sbdc right in our backyard.

24:31 - And that's a resource that we tap into all the time. So,

24:35 - really it's it's directing

24:36 - those resources and helping business owners understand that, hey, this is here.

24:41 - And it's free.

24:42 - Like, you don't need to do anything except reach out.

24:44 - How did you first get involved in this profession?

24:46 - Oh, I started as the bookkeeper.

24:48 - I had a small bookkeeping business, and I was the bookkeeper for the Lewisburg

24:51 - Downtown Partnership and for several other nonprofits in town,

24:55 - and then just took on more and more in the organization.

24:58 - And eventually, in 2018, I became the executive director.

25:01 - Mine's a little bit different.

25:02 - My dad was the mayor, and he started the revitalization.

25:06 - And when he left his term in office, I saw a hole there where he used to be.

25:10 - And I love a party.

25:12 - So I thought, well, you know, I'll give it a try.

25:14 - So I started, I applied to be the Main Street manager,

25:17 - and when I began, I was allowed to work two hours a day.

25:19 - That's it, to prove myself.

25:21 - So I worked my way up into this position and it's been interesting.

25:24 - It is a party.

25:26 - I moved into Hamburg 14 years ago

25:29 - and started to volunteer with the organization on different events,

25:33 - including our taste of hamburger Festival, which is every Labor Day weekend.

25:37 - I got involved through volunteering and then, you know, was able to step in

25:41 - when the position was open.

25:42 - I had a bit of a traditional path.

25:43 - I studied economic development, at Eastern University, and,

25:47 - we made a family decision to move to Clarion County.

25:49 - And I got involved with the Economic Development

25:51 - Corporation there, and I've been there ever since.

25:54 - What are you most proud of?

25:55 - Back in Lewisburg and some of your recent accomplishments?

25:59 - I'm really proud of how we pull so many partners together.

26:02 - That's the community.

26:03 - It's the local nonprofits.

26:06 - It's the university, it's the Sbdc.

26:08 - There's so many that come together and work.

26:10 - And also, you know, the events that we have

26:13 - and how exciting they've been and how they grow.

26:15 - Every year.

26:16 - Our fall festival is in conjunction with the unpaved gravel cycling race,

26:20 - and that gets bigger every year.

26:21 - And lots of people enjoy it.

26:23 - A lot to be proud of in Ambler.

26:25 - I'm most proud of everything.

26:27 - I just think it's it's we've done so much work with so little resource.

26:31 - We have the most amazing volunteers and we could never do it

26:35 - without our volunteers.

26:36 - My kids started in high school

26:37 - dragging their friends and help, and then they still

26:40 - they come back for all of our events and they look forward to them.

26:42 - I think the things that we do engage a lot of the community,

26:46 - you know, the young kids all the way up to the to the older folks,

26:50 - there's so much to be proud of.

26:51 - But simply for me coming, being able to live in the community,

26:55 - being able to work in the community, coming to work every day, knowing that

26:59 - I'm benefiting our town, the place where I love, the place where I live

27:03 - and I'm a part of.

27:04 - I'm really proud of that.

27:05 - And I think I would encourage all residents to get involved in their towns

27:09 - in any way, through volunteering, through even on a local government level.

27:13 - But to get involved

27:14 - and to get out and come into your downtowns will make a big difference.

27:18 - So far, much of what our accomplishments

27:20 - has really been strengthening our organization internally.

27:24 - Over the past three years or so, we've went from a staff of one to a

27:28 - staff of five.

27:29 - Our budget has quadrupled, bringing those stakeholders together

27:32 - to be able to narrow that group that is looking to move forward

27:36 - is very, very important so that we can be more effective.

27:40 - And I would say what gives me encouragement is hearing

27:43 - that the work that we're doing is being felt and that it's

27:46 - meaningful because, you know, we don't sell products or create widgets.

27:50 - We are working in people's communities, gives deep meaning to the work that we do,

27:54 - a force.

27:55 - That's all the time we have for this wonderful subject.

27:57 - Thanks so much for joining us today, Ellen.

27:59 - How can we get more information on the Lewisburg Downtown Partnership?

28:03 - Lewisburg, Paycom

28:05 - and Liz, of course, Ambler Borough, Dot Ambler Main Street Dawg,

28:10 - and then of course Amberg a real gem in Berks county.

28:12 - Visit Hamburg Pago org Jared.

28:15 - You get the last word to the Clarion County edc.com.

28:18 - I like to thank our guests

28:19 - for their efforts to revitalize and advance Pennsylvania's downtowns.

28:23 - Thanks for joining us.

28:24 - Have a great day.

28:43 - This program has been paid

28:44 - for by the sponsor and does not reflect the views of PCN.