Terry Beckerman
Zach Bickline
Brittany Campagna
Rob Dean
Matt Fowler
Wayne Henegar
Natalie Hodgson
Bill Hudson
Judy Larson
Amanda Macer
Robert Marshall
Mike McPherson
Ciara Miller
David Miller
Megan Patberg
Cathy Renner
Shari Ross
Rachel Smith
Jackie Summers
Clint Witsman
Cori Witsman
- Researching evolving community wants, needs and interests
- Defining and developing assets based on the wants, needs, and interests that serve residents, tourists, and newcomers to the community.
- Developing a critical mass of assets that would serve the community and progressively lure tourists to Wabash County overnight, then over a weekend, then for longer stays.
- Explore experiential and agri-business tourism
- In the area of retail, pick one project that showcases local flavor, local ownership, and local investment. Rather than trying to attract another chain store to replace the recently lost Target, the region might try to create a locally owned and operated Mercantile store or organize uptown businesses to expand in a way that provides a wider range of products, but done in a thoughtful way that enhances the variety and pleasure of the overall shopping experience.
- Focus tourism efforts on business expansion, such as “agri-tourism” visits of local farms and “entrepreneurship tourism” visits of local businesses.
- Create one recreational business that provides an anchor of weekend activities for residents. (A very successful recreation center in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, might serve as a model.)
- Make better use of existing assets. For example, food entrepreneurs might set up business next to the indoor pool at the community college. Downtown development might focus on razing and repurposing the Hadley Site.
- Developers might expand the attractiveness and uses of waterfront areas.