This Moment in Appalachia - Notes from Pikeville

As morning rose over Pikeville, we wondered what the future holds for Eastern Kentucky.

We woke this morning in the pre-dawn hours to view the rolling hills of Pikeville. This was a sort of Homecoming because our first visit to this area was in December last year. At that time we joined with around a thousand other Eastern Kentuckians to participate in the Shaping our Appalachian Region initiative kick-off. The genesis of this initiative was the loss of thousands of coal jobs over the past several years, and the economic crisis this has created.

The mission of SOAR is as follows:

SOAR's mission is to expand job creation, enhance regional opportunity, innovation, and identity, improve the quality of life, and support all those working to achieve these goals in Appalachian Kentucky.

A series of listening sessions have been held all throughout our region since then. There is a SOAR Report, a website, and an Executive Board chaired by our Governor and US Congressman Hal Rogers who are working hard to advance our region in several key areas. Last night we had our first opportunity to provide input and to join with about a dozen other people for a Tourism, Arts, and Heritage Listening Session. This was held at the Kentucky Highlands Innovation Center in Pineville. For two hours we had a wide ranging conversation about the constraints that communities in our area face - from limited resources, gaps in expertise at the local level that are not being filled, but the most important theme that emerged was limited regional collaboration and sharing from one community to the next.

As if a perfect counterpoint and answer to the many hopes, dreams, and aspirations expressed by participants from Clay, Estill, Knox, Bell, and Laurel counties - today we are in Pikeville again for the Capitalizing on Culture conference. Over the next two days we'll participate in a variety of trainings, discussions of the more formal and less formal varieties, and have a chance to network with leaders not just from Eastern Kentucky but from all throughout the Commonwealth. The convener of the conference is the Kentucky Heritage Council along with several partners including Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) and Community Trust Bancorp Inc. Other presenting partners are Preservation Kentucky Inc. (PKI), the Kentucky Main Street Program, Friends of Kentucky Main Street, Pikeville Main Street Program, the City of Pikeville and Pike County. A full schedule of the proceedings is here.

Hopefully this convening will build on earlier events, and infuse an appreciation for heritage, arts, and culture in to these discussions about the region that we're having. For many people heritage and art may seem to be intangible things that the region simply cannot afford given the stark economic challenges we face. In Middlesboro we have taken a slightly different take - we realize that our history, historic buildings, natural resources, and local artisans and crafters are assets that need to be cultivated.  

These lessons were reinforced in January when we were one of seven communities in four states invited to participate in the Appalachian Gateways workshop held in Abingdon, Virginia, by The Conservation Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Appalachian Regional Commission. There we learned about asset based approaches to community and economic development and how to apply them to our most pressing challenges. What came out of that was formation of the Passage Through the Gap Partnership and a plan to develop a regional Certified Tourism AmbassadorTM training program. This program will help to train ambassadors who will tell the story of our arts, heritage, and unique Appalachian culture for the more than million visitors who pass through the Cumberland Gap each year. Already a $7,500 grant has been secured to launch this program and we're partnering with the Tourism Ambassador Institute® that has already trained over 10,000 ambassadors in 16 states.

Our activities in Middlesboro don't stop there. In the past year we've developed a Makers Market in a vacant storefront now representing two dozen artists. We've become a nationally recognized leader utilizing tactical urbanism to transform our downtown through low-cost DIY interventions. This is what helped us become one of two communities nationally named "Ones to Watch" by the National Main Street Center in May. 

What has worked in Middlesboro better than anything else is our volunteer grassroots-led approach to revitalization. Since 2006 our hundreds of volunteers have spent thousands of hours holding popular events to draw people downtown, restored buildings to make them attractive, and worked to transform the business environment to support entrepreneurs and local businesses. Last year we reported our best economic impact yet with over $2.7 million of investment, 13 new businesses, and over 100 jobs created. We're on track to surpass those numbers for 2014. Even despite our great success, we are excited to hear what leaders from throughout the Commonwealth and beyond have to share that will make our place based revitalization efforts even more successful.

Editorial note: Periodically through the conference we will post updates below. At the close of the conference we'll share our thoughts about what these couple of days meant and where we go from here as a community and region.

Notes from Pikeville

• Friday morning, breakfast, 7:45am. Waiting for the Capitalizing on Culture folks to wake up and head down for breakfast. Had some good discussions from the DAR that are having a separate conference. While watching WYMT in the hotel lobby wondered whether they plan to show up and cover the event.
• Friday morning, post-breakfast, 8:22am. Rep. Hal Rogers just retweeted our post. Nice to see that our national leaders are following our proceedings in Pikeville. Few Congressional districts have had a greater champion for heritage tourism that Rep. Rogers. Thanks for your hard work. By the way, we never would have been able to get to Pikeville last night after the listening session without that Parkway. A double thanks to you for that.
• Friday morning, post-breakfast, 9am. Just had a great conversation with Betsy Hatfield, Executive Director of Preservation and Rachel Alexander, Chief of Operations for the same. Both were eager to hear about our work in Middlesboro and enthusiastic to explore areas to collaborate with communities throughout Eastern Kentucky.

Our ED posing by the Nationally Accredited Main Street program sign. We want one just like it for the Boro! 

• Friday morning, downtown Pikeville, 9:45am. Saw the great Nationally Designated Main Street Community signs about to go in for Pikeville. Proud for Middlesboro to be one of among two dozen communities to receive national certification. So proud, in fact, that we just had to take this photo.
• Friday morning, Expo Center, 10:00am. Just heard introductions from Craig Potts, State Historic Preservation Officer and Executive Director of the Kentucky Heritage Council.
• Friday lunch, 11:30am. Headed out for lunch with Sandi Curd from the Promise Zone and several community leaders from within the Zone including Bobbie Gothard from Cumberland and us in Middlesboro. Kitty Dougoud with the Kentucky Main Street Program joined in the discussion, talking about the role of downtowns to generate economic development and job creation benefits.

Panel on heritage tourism at Pikeville conference Friday afternoon.

• Friday afternoon, Expo Center, 1:25pm. Talking about National Park Service Heritage Tourism itineraries right now. One of speakers from Lexington mentioned the Lewis & Clark Expedition Travel Itinerary that passes right through Middlesboro. Another mentioned the iron furnaces in the Daniel Boone National Forest as an attraction and how one is also located in the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.
• Friday afternoon, Expo Center, 1:50pm. SHPO Craig Potts asks to go beyond creating great visitor experiences, to ask the role of historic sites promoting economic development in their host towns. Suggest possibility of tying all EKY downtowns together in to a NPS travel itinerary, similar to a travel itinerary that has been developed for downtown areas throughout Kentucky.
• Friday afternoon, Expo Center, 2:30pm. Betsy Hatfiled, Executive Director of Preservation Kentucky calls for forming a regional and local preservation non-profit group that brings preservation, heritage tourism, and economic development under one umbrella... A few minutes later the concept of sharing our ideas, sharing our donors, and sharing our resources was emphasized. Nice to hear such a collaborative approach. This is DEFINITELY something that EKY needs more of.
• Friday afternoon, Expo Center, 2:45pm. Tim Belcher from the Elkhorn City Area Heritage Council speaks about role as the gateway for the Breaks Interstate Park that covers Kentucky and Virginia. 
• Friday afternoon, Expo Center, 3:00pm. Just received word that @ExploreKentucky has been following our proceedings and will be joining us in Pikeville later today. They have a great project where they work with local partners to promote special places from throughout the state.
• Friday afternoon, Expo Center, 3:08pm. Helen Dedman from Harrodsburg talking about attracting money from outside of Kentucky to help with historic preservation. Rocky Point Manor as an example of local property being sold to out-of-state investor site unseen and they proceeded with restoration.
• Friday afternoon, Expo Center, 3:26pm. Conversation on a regional organization shifts to community philanthropy and inviting a younger generation in to the process. Health care sector from University of Pikeville mentioned along with others to be on the ground floor of such an organization. Request for Preservation Kentucky asked to be a convener of conversations regionally. Absence of a single local elected official was mentioned.
• Friday afternoon, Expo Center, 3:30pm. Announcement made that the University of Pikeville is convening a gathering next week to schedule next year of activities for Pikeville and surrounding counties, also to market collectively rather than individually.  Call for folks interested in forming an organization to meet by a couch in the lobby after the session.
• Friday afternoon, Expo Center, 4pm. Had a group of about a dozen leaders from EKY gather to discuss forming a heritage tourism and preservation organization. Passed off the names to Preservation Kentucky that has agreed to have a series of one-on-one discussions with those interested in participating, and to facilitate a large group meeting later this fall.
• Friday evening, Main Street Live, 7pm. Had a great discussion with Superintendents of Daniel Boone National Forest and Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area. Met an aspiring Main Street program from Louisa, Kentucky, and caught up with our SHPO Craig Potts a bit. Sometimes what's nice at these events is just planting down in one spot for a while and seeing what comes your way.
• Friday evening, Main Street Live, 9pm. Gerry Seavo with Explore Kentucky arrives in Pikeville. We meet for the first time ever at Main Street Live, then spend the next couple of hours talking and getting to understand one anothers work better. Spoke with him about Better Block, #SharetheLex, and had a great talk about his work too. Put Explore Kentucky stickers in several spot all over downtown Pikeville. Probably one of the smartest and most talented guys I've ever met. Glad he made it to the conference.
• Saturday morning, breakfast, 7am. Had a great conversation with staff from The Center for Appalachian Philanthropy. 
• Saturday morning, Expo Center, 9am. Main Street managers gathered for an update. Brilliant presentation by Diane Comer who serves as public information officer for the SHPO. She had several insightful and at times challenging recommendations for how we can do a better job managing our downtown programs as a brand, and improve the connection with our state and national partners in this effort. Encouraged her afterwards to share her presentation with the National Main Street Center.
• Saturday morning, Expo Center, 11:45am. Heard the creator of Shop Local Kentucky speak. He's working to get the first week of December named Shop Local Kentucky week by the Governor.
• Saturday morning, Expo Center, 12:00pm. We say good bye and then head off for Middlesboro to participate in the Ducky Dash later that day. While driving back along US-25 towards Virginia, reflected on the beauty of the mountains, how isolated each of these towns are from one another and the vast open spaces in between. 
• Saturday afternoon, streets of Pikeville, 12:05pm. Meet Rachel Alexander from Preservation Kentucky as she is heading back to the hotel to check out. Have a nice recap of the conference. Spoke about how excited we both were about the regional preservation organization that PK is now helping to form. Left her with the words, "new we have to go and perfect preservation in Kentucky."

There is a long way to go, to be sure, though some important connections were made and steps taken by all the people who came to Pikeville for this event. More to follow.