Grassroots of Tarboro

We've been looking for some recognition for our pretty little town, and recently we got it!

Tarboro was chosen as one of the top 3 Fit Communities in North Carolina!  (Here's more from the Daily Southerner ).

As for attracting those pesky retirees, I think we're on the right track.  People are retiring much younger than they once did and these 55 -65 year olds are not ready for rocking chairs on the front porch.  They want to walk, jog, bicycle, canoe, do yoga, do taichi, lift weights and have fun! 

Well, we've got all that right here in Tarboro, bike paths and canoe trails, along with a brand new sports complex, tennis courts, fitness centers and the Quigless Center of Vibrant Health.  The FIT Community classification is ours from 2008 to 2011 and I think we need to make the best of it.  Let's start thinking "FIT" and doing things a little bit differently to enhance our FITness status.

Let's grow our Farmer's Market into a place where we can get all sorts of local produce.  Let's support local growers of organic produce.  Let's get that food co-op off the ground.  Let's start riding bikes and walking more around town, we'll save money on gasoline and get healthier, too.  Let's see if we can make Tarboro the Number ONE fit community in North Carolina.

If we want our town to stand out above all of the other small historic towns as THE best place to live in North Carolina, we need to focus on and promote all of the existing amenities as positive attributes.  We don't have to reinvent the wheel, we just have to recognize what kind of wheel we have.

Speaking of wheels ...  at the next T2S event, I'll be introducing my own eco-friendly fitness-related addition to the "things to do" in downtown Tarboro.  I have purchased a pedicab, a bicycle-powered taxi, which will start off as my personal mode of transportation downtown and hopefully become an "attraction" during the 2nd Saturdays events.  If it's a "hit" we may want to consider a small fleet of pedicabs for in town transportation.  It's SO cute, perfect for touring our historic district, and not nearly as messy as a horse and buggy.

A fellow Tarboro resident and G.O.T. member offered a comment a few entries back with a different idea for town branding. 

"According to the history section of the (outdated but paid for :)) town's website, the town was once widely known as "Tawboro" from the Indian word "Taw" meaning "river of health."

It seems to me that, more and more, people are becomming more concerned about their health--we've even talked about how great it would be have a Whole Foods grocery store or a vegetarian restaurant in town. With Curves, a karate dojo, 3 gyms and the Quigless clinic, maybe we're on our way to becomming the healthy town or "the healthy harbor." " - E.T.

As far as town branding goes, you may be onto something.  You're right about people becoming much more health conscious.  Tarboro, "home of healthy living" ... there is a lot of town promotion that can be built on that theme. 

When we are thinking of what can be done to make Tarboro OUTSTANDING in a literal sense; shining brighter than other small towns and being recognized as offering something better, the theme of health-consciousness has great potential.   

Not only might it have a draw to attract new residents, visitors and the economic growth we need, but even if it didn't do those things, being a more health-conscious town would be good for all of us.

After last night's Kiwanis Club meeting, Terry Smith (Daily Southerner) pulled a chair up beside me and pulled out his notepad. 

Today I opened the paper to an article headed Nesmith wants town to subsidize rent to attract new businesses.    Terry wasn't totally correct in that statement, but he wasn't far off base.  It's true that I think the money that the town council is considering to spend on an internet marketing firm should be spent on revitalizing the downtown.  It's also true that I admire how Selma's town council chose to subsidize rents for Antique shops and thus turned their little town into an antique-shoppers' Mecca.  Subsidizing rent to fill empty shops downtown is an avenue our town council should explore.  Our downtown needs revitalization both physically and economically.   A thriving downtown is essential to the health of a small town like ours.  Be it antiques, or arts and crafts, or casinos, or kaleidoscopes (it was just an idea), we need to determine what will draw people to OUR town. What will make Tarboro unique and ATTRACTIVE to visitors.

Just yesterday morning at 10:30 am I stood with my camera on Main Street looking north and took a picture of empty sidewalks and a few cars in the street. I turned looking south and the view was the same. 

I found a video online about Downtown Tarboro.   Watch it and tell me what you think.

"Shop til you drop in our wide array of unique specialty stores... be sure to bring your appetite when you come downtown because we have a number of restaurants specializing in world class cuisine guaranteed to tempt even the most finicky of taste buds...  "  

Sounds terrific, and may attract people to town, but what happens when they get here and find empty streets, a few stores, and restaurants that are closed on Saturdays. Even our visitors center is closed on Saturdays.

Do you think these folks will be pleased or disappointed?  Will they describe Tarboro as it was described in that video?  Will they recommend it to their friends? Will they come back again? 

As I pounded the pavement again this morning, delivering notices of an upcoming meeting to downtown businesses, I chatted with a few of the business owners about something Terry Smith had said to me the night before.  While discussing the idea of subsidizing rents for new businesses, Terry said "having a business downtown and paying my rent, I wouldn't like it if new businesses had their rent subsidized."  My reply to that, as a person who has a downtown business, "if subsidizing rents for one year helped to establish a strong and vibrant downtown then we would all benefit from the subsidies.  All businesses would do better,  folks owning the businesses would be making more money, they could hire employees, who in turn would be making money, this extra money would be spent in other businesses around town and VOILA our economic outlook is a little bit brighter."  Anything that helps the economy of this town, helps everybody in this town directly or indirectly.

I continue to give thought to how we, the citizens of Tarboro, could give our town a branding that in itself would be an attraction. 

I learned recently about Spruce Pine, North Carolina, "Home of the perfect Christmas Tree" . 

" During the Christmas season of 2003, author Gloria Houston gave a gift to the small town of Spruce Pine, North Carolina. She gave the rights to her award-winning children’s book, The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree. Over the preceding twelve months, Spruce Pine and Mitchell County had suffered serious economic challenges, losing over 2,500 textile, furniture and other manufacturing sector jobs to outsourcing.

From that original idea, the Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree project was born. With entrepreneurial development as a primary focus, the project has created 60 individual small businesses that have produced quality, handmade products as part of the Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree collection". . .  in 2006, 250 locally-made ornaments from the town's "collection" were used to decorate Christmas Trees in The White House. - from their website.

What can Tarboro use to create a marketable brand?  It could be something made here.  It could be something in our history.  It could be whatever we choose.

I had one of my many far-fetched ideas. I thought I'd throw it out there and get your creative juices flowing.

Tarboro, The Kaleidoscope Capital.   I know, we don't have any kaleidoscopes, but bear with me here.  What I like about the kaleidoscope theme is that it lends itself to so much variation and kaleidoscopes are very attractive in themselves.  Who can resist taking a peek inside when you know it will be like candy to your eyes. 

Come to Tarboro, The Kaleidoscope Capital,  Take A Peek Inside

Sounds like a terrific day-trip destination to me.  Kaleidoscopes are colorul and vibrant and come in hundreds of different styles.  The kaleidoscope theme can be represented in other arts and crafts, such as stained glass, quilts, pottery, rug-making, the list goes on and on.

It may be a stupid idea. It may be a genius idea. 

I can see Kaleidoscope banners hanging throughout town. I can visualize businesses producing kaleidoscopes and kaleidoscope inspired products. I can see shops full of merchandise, and better still, I can see sidewalks full of visitors. 

Which sounds like more fun ... a cantaloupe festival or a kaleidoscope festival? 

Hmm... could we make kaleidoscopes out of cantaloupes?  Tarboro, home of the Cantaloupe Kaleidoscope?

Ok, I'll stop. I know when I've gone too far.