Well, I am embarrassed to say our organization hasn't been good at updating our own blog! We hope that you still check in on us now and then as we do plan to get better at this.
We have accomplished so much this year, it's hard to say where to start. One of our largest successes was our first annual Catfish Derby Days held in August at Muskingum Park! Our decorated catfish were displayed downtown for several weeks prior to our weekend event and created quite a bit of discussion! We couldn't have asked for better weather during our event which brought hundreds of people to the park for food, music and fun. Our catfish auction was a big hit and many spectators followed the bobber drop down the Muskingum to the Railroad Bridge. We are pleased to say our event generated about $8,000! This money will be reinvested back into our community.
Our second event, Moonlight & Chocolate, is scheduled for October 17 from 6 - 9 p.m. Only 200 tickets are available for this unique event, and the chance to win a strand of chocolate pearls valued at about $600! Tickets are available at area merchants and the Convention & Visitor's Bureau!
We continue to work a parallel path as a board, looking at the possibility of becoming a Main Street organization, while coordinating with local organizations and supporting other community efforts along the way. Our board developed the content for a significant portion of the application to Main Street and has worked with the Planning & Zoning committee on council to solicit city support.
ReStore Marietta hosted an event in July for Greater Ohio who has partnered with the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program and the Governor’s advisory staff as well as Ohio Department of Development. The initiative includes meeting with various Ohio communities, business leaders and organizations to form meaningful state policy recommendations which will help Ohio’s communities to develop.
We completed our strategic plan with short and long-term goals and have been actively working to achieve those. One of our goals was to apply for the CDBG funds to assist us in building a strong financial base and enable us to gain additional funds from grants and other sources. We are pleased to hear we will be receiving $20,000. This will go a long way in helping us establish ourselves in a more formal and meaningful way.
Additionally, we have been meeting with other local organizations and begun discussions on pooling resources and working together for the betterment of our community. We hope to have more about this soon!
Our annual meeting is scheduled for October 29 at 7:30 a.m. at the Lafayette Hotel. We invite anyone to attend and hear about our year and receive a preview for 2009!!
Keep in touch, and join us sometime!
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1 comment:
Jennifer,
I am glad to hear that things are going well in Marietta. I sounds like the city is on the right track for development. I also wanted to keep you up to date on what has been going on with Greater Ohio and our Restoring Prosperity to Ohio initiative.
We hosted a policy summit on September 10 at which over 1000 Ohioans along with the Governor and Lt. Governor convened in order to discuss strategies to revitalize Ohio's core communities. We are now in the process of gathering feedback on the proposed policy recommendations and encourage Marietta's participation in this process. Please visit our Blog (www.greaterohio.org/blog) where the draft report and recommendations are available. We welcome all feedback and would love to continue to work with Marietta's community!
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