The next Shenandoah Vision Team meeting is scheduled for the Community Center on First Street (across from the tennis courts) at 6:30 on the evening of Thursday, June 29, 2017.
Below are the minutes from the last meeting as posted on The Shenandoah Vision Team Facebook page.
On June 17th, 2017, the Shenandoah Vision Team met at the Shenandoah Community Center on First Street. This meeting was the first that was open to all residents and others interested in Shenandoah’s growth and development.
Sara Levinson from the Small Business Development Center opened the meeting by introducing Vice-Mayor Bill Kite who welcomed participants on behalf of the town. He thanked the Vision Team for working for the benefit of the town and assured the group that the Town Council was backing it.
The original plan was to break-out into groups, but as attendance was not as large as hoped, we remained in a unified group to discuss how we might proceed in improving Shenandoah's prospects.
Jackie Sullivan-Smoot, of Sullivan Mechanical Contractors, said that if we don't start putting Shenandoah out there, the public won't find us. We need to publicize Shenandoah. We need to let people know what Shenandoah has to offer. While there are many larger communities in the Commonwealth, Jackie observed, I'll take one stop light anytime.
Craig interjected that he has long maintained that we need a dedicated person, even part-time, for communications and public relations, to send news releases and even complete news articles after events to publicize what is happening in Shenandoah.
Jackie said a lot of old thinking is that things have been the way they are for a very long time, but she said it takes the whole town to turn it around.
We need to get our youth involved, she said. We don't usually include them. We need to visit schools, classrooms. It doesn't stop here.
Sara Levinson gave a brief overview of the Vision Team’s history since the original meeting, also in the Community Center, last August. Sara has been facilitating these meetings as a representative of the Small Business Development Center, which received funding from the Board of Supervisors for the purpose.
Sara mentioned that she has learned through town hall staff that there have been more than 40 studies and grants since 1994, bringing more than 2.5 million dollars to the town.
Comparing the work of the Shenandoah Vision Team and the community to a relay race, she said it is time for us to build on the work of those who have gone before us. It is time to take up the baton to run the next leg together. As an example, Sara cited Pastor Paul Strassner who has seen the Shenandoah Baptist Church grow from eight or nine parishioners a few years ago. Now the church is often full, sometimes reaching more than 80 persons at a service, not including those who watch on Facebook.
Nancy Karnes who works with the Shenandoah Heritage Center and organizes the town’s Cruz-ins, observed that we have more going on than people often realize. She said that she would like to see Front Street (First Street) developed. It's time to stop talking about it and to start doing something, she said.
Nancy Boyer, a resident since 1994, concurred. Now is our time to grow and prosper, she said
Town Manager Juanita Roudabush said what helps one helps everyone. For example, she said, if a new business comes to town, not only does it pay taxes and employ residents, but employees need to find a place to have lunch, to buy flowers, a place for recreation, and all of the businesses that provide those products and services benefit from having the new business in town.
Romeo Pugliese, who co-owns and manages Mamma Mia restaurant and serves on both the Economic Development Authority and the board of the Chamber of Commerce, said, ‘I see nothing but opportunity and potential for this town. Developing business and quality of life go hand-in-hand.
Stephanie Lillard, Page County’s director of community and economic development, agreed, saying that the town is filled with promise.
Mary Ellen Smith, assistant director of catering at James Madison University, noted that we need a gathering place, somewhere to hang out.
Craig Lancto, a resident who also serves on the county’s Economic Development Authority, agreed, adding that we especially need a gathering space for teens and youths. He noted that Paul Strassner at Shenandoah Baptist Church has already begun to move in that direction.
Pastor Strassner said that his church was already creating open space in the basement where he hopes to install a coffee bar, and he looks forward to high schools and churches partnering with them to create opportunities for the young people in Shenandoah to gather together in a safe place. Calling it The Fifth Quarter, he intends to begin with gatherings after football games. Paul said he hopes that the concept will be contagious, spreading throughout institutions in the community. He pointed out that the newly organized youth group at the Shenandoah Baptist Church held their first meeting last week. The youngsters gathered, had devotions...and ice cream...and picked up trash along the block as a community service.
Resident April Queen, who works with the youth ministry at the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Elkton, said that she too has been looking for a youth gathering space and suggested to Pastor Paul that they work together toward that end, to which he readily agreed.
Resident Matthew Queen mentioned Veterans’ Baseball Park, and that having the Shenandoah Indians play there, instead of at a high school (outside of town), would provide an opportunity for an event, a gathering Place, providing food carts and and other opportunities to eat and find community together.
Juanita said that the Indians have leased space at Big Gem to rebuild the stadium that used to be near the VFW. She noted that the Shenandoah Recreation League has over 300 kids who use the baseball fields pretty much to capacity. She also noted that Kirk Comer has been very active in trying to raise funds for the stadium in Big Gem and that he had a website called rebuildingourstadium.com, which ShenandoahNewz reports, has been hacked.However, information is available at http://www.shenandoahnewz.com/index.p€¦/veterans-stadium.html.
Nancy Boyer added that having the Indians playing here in town rather than at the high school, where they have been playing, also would serve as an incentive to the younger players in the recreation league to strive for participating in a team such as the Indians.
Matthew Queen suggested that Big Gem would be an ideal spot for a public archery range. He said that he and April knew of an archery range in Alaska that provided both a public archery range and a walking trail with targets.
April said that she and her family enjoy walking around the town but that the condition of the sidewalks makes it very difficult. Juanita noted that the condition of the sidewalks has long been a concern that is frequently raised by residents
Sara Levinson reminded participants that a great deal has been accomplished in town already and we need to build on that foundation.
Mike Uram, town councilman from Stanley, said that fishing events used to be very popular here, but now there are very few events in Shenandoah to draw outsiders. He suggested that fishing guides could give fishing lessons to those who come, whether to a tournament or only for the purpose of learning more about fishing techniques.
Paul Strassner said that the fishing tournament in Luray draws people from far outside the area. He added that our little town’s a gem. Noting the popularity of the Memorial Day Parade he said that he was surprised that the town did not capitalize by having a parades at other times in the year such as the Christmas parade as Stanley does, and festivals to attract people here.
Dot Pendley, District 5 supervisor, said that the Fourth of July would be a good opportunity to have fireworks here to draw people to the town. Jackie recalled a time when when fireworks were set off from a resident’s pontoon boat in the middle of the river, and how crowds gathered to watch the fireworks over the river, and, because they landed in the river, it reduced danger of fires.
Dot also recalled a time when First street was closed off for residents to dance in the street with live music and food vendors and craft sellers. She suggested that the parking lot next to town hall would be a good place for the vendors. She also suggested that it might be fun to bring the cloggers who perform at Skyland to perform.
We also discussed a popular Riverfront Run that Mike Lowe hosted for 10 years, but when he stopped no one took up the responsibility.
Nancy Karnes noted that it is easier to have recurring special events now because it's possible to make one application for food vendors that will cover the entire year.
Jackie added that she was aware of a school agricultural department that had as a project stocking streams with trout. She suggested that James Madison University might have a similar program that would draw people here for fishing.
Mary Ellen said that the Hart School of Hospitality at James Madison University requires students to plan and mount events as part of their training and that we might be able to to coax them to hold some of those events here in Shenandoah.
Paul suggested putting everything together, possibly for a fall festival.
Sara Levinson reminded us that the time has come to move from talk to action, that we need to find volunteers to step up, to actually put the plans into action, to take the initiative, whether it's a person or group, and to extend and expand the initiative to the community to include others in helping to do that.
Sarah asked Paul what had brought him success in growing the Baptist Church. He answered that he partnered with Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for a Revival. Often, he said, that just means having additional services. SBC did that and also made a focused attempt to reach out to persons who are unchurched or fallen away from the church, or who for whatever reason might have an interest in returning. The missionaries partnered with SBC members to make appointments to talk with these individuals. The seminarians were all trained as missionaries, which facilitated reaching out to residents of Shenandoah. (Although he didn’t mention it, he also included ministers from other churches in town: Larry Aiken from the United Methodist churches and Jimmy Kite from the Pentecostal Church.)
Paul agreed that it's easy to begin to accept the way things are even when the way they are is not optimal. He gave the example of the church bell which had not been rung in some time. When he asked why, the answer was that the rope was broken. So he climbed into the steeple and replaced the rope. Now the church bell rings before every service.
There is much to appreciate in Shenandoah, but some things have been accepted as just the way they are too long. We don't have to accept them as the way they have to be.
Stephanie said that what we need is consistency. We talk about change, but how do we make it happen? Who are the core of players and how can we keep the core from dwindling and losing interest over time? We need to decide on small efforts that we can actually take on to ensure results. We need to set realistic goals that we can accomplish.
Matthew said that we also need to change perspective, to try to see the bigger picture. He said that he had heard some residents complaining about the number of bicycles on the roads for bike trials, but he said they don't realize how many thousands of dollars of revenue these bicyclists bring to Shenandoah and the county.
Stephanie said we have to tell people what the advantages are of having these groups come into our town.
Craig added that the bicyclists are typically affluent. In addition to enjoying the revenue they bring with them for the meets, we have the opportunity to put our best foot forward, to entice them to come here for recreation, as vacation residents, as permanent residents, or to relocate their businesses. He said that one of the other county supervisors had said that he would be happy if they did not come to his District, he told the sponsor said that the Fifth District loves them and Shenandoah is always happy to host cycling events.
Mary Ellen said that it would be good if we could make known how much people bring to town from the events. Mike Uram added that Luray has after-action reports where they talk specifically about how much revenue was brought in and what gains the locality made as a result of events in Luray. He said we need to capitalize on our successes, as well.
Jackie suggested that we attempt block meetings where we bring people in various sections of town together. If you want people to come, she said, you need to involve children. We have to pull in the younger generation to involve their parents and families and to develop a core for the future.
Sarah concluded by saying that no individual wins a relay race. We are all going to have to work together to take up the baton and carry it forward. Alluding to Paul's experience with the bell tower rope Sarah said ‘It's up to us to ring that bell.€
Dot Pendley said that is willing to head up an initiative for First Street.
The next Shenandoah Vision meeting is scheduled for the Community Center on First Street (across from the tennis courts) at 6:30 on the evening of Thursday, June 29, 2017.
Like Sara, I think that something like ‘Ring that Bell or ‘Ringing the Bell for Shenandoah would be a great catch phrase.
What do you think?
Please encourage your friends and associates who are interested in Shenandoah's future to "Like" and "Follow" the Shenandoah Vision Team on Facebook.
Shenandoah Vision Team Facebook page
Steering Committee
Russell Comer, Jr.
Betty Gochenour
Brenda Haggett
Sally Hurlbert
Nancy Karnes
Craig Lancto
Stephanie Lillard
Clinton Lucas, Jr.
Dorothy Pendley
Romeo Pugliese
Juanita Roudabush
Jackie Smoot
Shenandoah Vision Team
Looking to the Future of Shenandoah
