Envisioning the future

After Hours Dozens of people from a wide cross section of the local community, including area business leaders, citizens, chamber of commerce members and members of various local organizations gathered for an After Hours event with refreshments at the Fox Playhouse in Nevada, home of the Community Council on the Performaing Arts. After the open house-style event, Main Street Nevada hosted a community meeting in an effort to begin the process of forming a solid vision for the future of Nevada's downtown and other business development.

By Ben Holman

Nevada Daily Mail

Thursday evening the CCPA hosted the chamber After-Hours event at the Fox Playhouse in Nevada. Chamber members gathered to enjoy each others company and to see what the CCPA had planned for upcoming events.

After the social time, Main Street Nevada held a public meeting to discuss the future of Nevada's Main Street District -- the area roughly from the old east end to about Ash and Austin.

Sheri Stuart, program associate with the National Main Street Center, was on-hand to conduct the meeting. "I feel very strongly that the visioning process is a great opportunity to bring ideas together about where the community wants the district to go," said Stuart. She said that the purpose of the meeting was to give the main Street association a sense of direction, a course of action and to set goals for what Nevada's Main Street district will be in the future. "In stead of letting change happen to us, we can direct the change," she said.

Approximately 20 people attended the visioning session and everyone had some clear ideas about what they would like to see Nevada's business district become. The meeting was divided into three parts; in the first, attendees all filled out individual questionnaires asking things such as, "What are the district's challenges," and, "What are the district's opportunities."

After everyone filled out several pages of similar questions, small groups were formed in order to discuss the topics and to decide on group responses to the same questions.

After that, group answers were compiled and posted on the walls of the auditorium so that everyone could see what other groups had developed and then vote on which statements were the most important.

Stuart said that the information compiled would be used to compile a vision statement that was to be announced at a meeting at noon today.

Mike Seitz, president of the board of directors for Main Street Nevada, said, "We're thrilled at the turnout and participation of individuals. We're excited that they are interested in the growth of the district and what it can be in the future."

Bushwhacker Museum Coordinator Terri Ramsey, who took part in the meeting, said that she was disappointed in the turnout, "I think a lot of people who should have been there weren't."

Still, she said that she felt that there was a good discourse and that some good ideas were gleaned from those who did attend. "There were several good points that came out of it. I think they'll be able to devise a good mission statement out of what we got," she said.