Getting Started: General Session
On paper, Salt Lake City’s 2nd Annual Neighborhood Business Conference “Walk this Way” looks pretty great. Actually, printed on bright kelly green (or is that green-yellow?) with the Seal of Salt Lake faded into the background, it looks fantastic. Credit, here, is due to Kim Louie Creative and the illustrations of Stephanie Swift. As for the conference itself, let’s just say Local First Utah, teamed up with Salt Lake City, put on quite a show. Quite a show, indeed.
It all began on a perfect spring morning, the kind where you walk out your front door and say, “Ah, nice day for bike ride and a better day for a Neighborhood Business Conference.” If you’re Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, you opportunistically do both, by riding your bicycle to the conference (with an extra tray of Gastronomy fruit tarts bungeed to the back).
First thing in the morning, participants mingled and awaited the beginning of the general session. The lobby of the Jewett Center for Performing Arts was already buzzing with networking and ideas. Soon, everyone assembled in the Gore Concert Hall for a general session worth writing home about.
Many “thanks,” “thank yous,”and even a “thank you very much” or two were accompanied by an abundance of gratitude, inspiration, and encouragement to launch the general session. Westminster Provost Cid Seidelman reminded participants about Westminster College’s many goals and achievements. (And special thanks are due to the staff and volunteers from the college that helped make the conference run smoothly.)
Salt Lake City’s Dan Velazquez (Small Business/Economic Development Manager) was there, as was Bob Farrington (Economic Development Director). Mayor Becker unveiled many of his small business and city planning initiatives that make Salt Lake a better, healthier, multi-modal, and vital place. Local First Director Joelle Kanshepolsky not only added her support to the conversation, but helmed a breakout session later that morning. Local First State Coordinator Matt Monson introduced the morning’s keynote speakers: Steve Bercu and Rebecca Melançon.
The Austin Experience
What followed was an inspirational dialogue about the successes of the “Buy Local” movement in Austin, Texas. And while Austin is different in many ways from Salt Lake, Melançon and Bercu showed the way in which they helped build a city-defining movement, took on challenges, and unified business owners in a common goal, even though the diversity and independence of many business owners added several distinct voices to the conversation. In other words, by acting as a voice, like Local First Utah, eight business hubs (called IBIZ districts, or Independent Business Investment Zones) emerged in Austin, with plenty more to follow. In a few short years, independent business owners quickly embraced their freshly branded unique district identity and harnessed the marketing power of that unification to bring in and retain a thriving customer base.
And everyone worked together to get the word out.
The results have been very encouraging, most notably where the Austin Independent Business Alliance (of which Bercu is President and Melançon is Executive Director) has been able to deal more effectively with city officials as the representative voice of small business interests. Interest is growing, and new districts are independently coming together. Interestingly, some of the newer, largely well-off developments with mostly national chain businesses are catching on and trying to brand themselves similarly.
It’s encouraging to see the size, strength, and potential of the AIBA and realize that similar potential exists in Utah. While “Keep Austin Weird” makes sense for Austin, Local First Utah is working to give voice to and brand independent businesses throughout the entire state. While that move presents unique challenges with the different voices emerging from our many unique hubs, Utah is also united by a strong entrepreneurial spirit that is directly descended from its pioneer heritage. Small businesses run by our friends, neighbors, and our own families have long been the backbone of our many communities. But in recent years have we been challenged by larger entities threatening to destroy the character of our neighborhood commercial districts.
The 2nd Annual Neighborhood Business Conference is a forum for discussing strategies to keep the independent spirit thriving, and while it was geared toward the city of Salt Lake, the messages learned from the conference is that every town and city in Utah can work toward the same community unifying goals. Many of those messages were expounded upon in a brief Q&A with a panel composed of the keynote speakers, Mr. Farrington, Local First Utah Board Co-Chair David Nimkin, and Salt Lake City Councilman Luke Garrott.
Networking and Dialogue
Following the general session, a brief networking session (fueled by Rimini Coffee) in the lobby of the Jewett Center allowed neighbor businesses to talk and write about the strengths and weaknesses of their districts while addressing both opportunities and limitations to achieving their goals. The different districts, from the existing Avenues, Broadway, 9th and 9th, and 15th and 15th to emerging districts at Pierpont, State Street, North Temple, Foothill, and Sugarhouse and more, did have some unique challenges, many were addressing similar questions. The networking session showed what is possible just by getting the conversation started. It also showed, for coffee drinkers present, how good Rimini’s coffee is.
Break-Out Sessions
With encouragement from the general session, questions from the networking session, and strategies in mind, participants separated into pre-selected break-out sessions located across Westminster’s beautiful urban campus. Those sessions ranged from “Loan Resources” and “Marketing and Branding” for small businesses to the “Advantages of Buying Local First.” The city also chimed in with “Sustainable Paths to Better Business Districts.”
Dan Velazquez was joined by Steve Price and Justin Belliveau as well as Utah Microenterprise Loan Fund’s Executive Director Kathy Ricci to tease out small business financial concerns. Local First’s Matt Monson brought his small business experience and grassroots activism to the “District Identity” session where Crowell Advertising president Traci Crowell discussed strategies for better branding. They were joined by arts administrator Roni Thomas and Greater Avenues Community Council board member Ruth Morgan.
Though city code is often daunting in appearance and difficult to navigate, James Allred, Nole Walkingshaw, and Jeff Barnard showed participants that it is possible to “Bust Through Red Tape” and develop a positive, functional relationship with the city. Meanwhile, the Small Business Liaison for the Economic Development Division of Salt Lake, Jessica Thesing, was joined by business owners Marci Rasmussen (Especially For You) and Scott Evans (Pago) to talk about the successes and future potential of “Neighborhood Business Districts, 101.”
If you’re a frequent visitor to localfirst.org, you know well the many advantages of choosing Local First. But Beehive Cheese’s Pat Ford and Liberty Heights Fresh’s Steven Rosenberg have a lot to add to the conversation, and even more to add to the state’s local and independent economy and culture. With help from Local First Director Joelle Kanshepolsky, participants were treated to a tour de force in the local first mission and philosophy in practice.
Finally, University of Utah’s Office of Sustainability Program Director Myron Wilson was joined by Camille Winnie, who is the Community Development Director of the Downtown Alliance, as well as Salt Lake Brewing Company’s Development Director Amy Coady and community liaison Bill Knowles in a session moderated by Deputy Mayor David Everitt on creating a healthier, more sustainable and livable city. Recycling, walkability, and multi-modal transportation (namely bicycles and trains) dominated the conversation, but Mr. Wilson used the self-contained experience of the university campus and its goal to achieve carbon-neutrality as a model for creating a healthy city.
Wrap and Thanks
Not everyone who had intended to attend the conference was able to make it, so Local First Utah will have available at future tabling events (see our calendar) additional copies of the N.B.C. participant folder with facts and information about the event and its presenters, as well as additional resources and city projects that prove to make Salt Lake City not just a model of future development and redevelopment for the rest of Utah, but for the rest of the nation.
The same drive and motivation that led you to start your business is the sustaining energy behind the local first movement. In Utah, that drive is as strong as ever, and the Neighborhood Business Conference and likeminded events throughout the state are constantly proving that thinking, acting, and buying Local First Utah is a cause more than just worth supporting—it’s a cause worth living.
Thanks again to everyone mentioned herein, the city’s team and interns, Local First volunteers, and the dedicated event planning and coordination ofLocal First Utah’s Amy McCuaig and Matt Monson.
Special thanks, once again, to American Express, Zions Bank, ISIS, University Credit Union, Utah Microenterprise Loan Fund, Gastronomy, Squatters, KRCL, Harmons, Rimini, Sodexo, Crowell Advertising, Cactus & Tropicals, Vest Pocket Business Coalition, and Parrish Place Bed and Breakfast.
Author and Photographs: Andrew Dash Gillman
