Our Town Coshocton discusses revitalizing Coshocton
Members: Pictured here are Our Town Coshocton board members standing behind a handmade chair made by a local artist. This chair and others like it will be available for sale at the Apple Butter Festival and downtown shops. Standing l-r: John Larson, board member; Stacey Shriver, president; Ginny Mizer, vice president; Tamara Krause, secretary/treasurer, and Cheryl Wantuck, board member.
COSHOCTON – Our Town Coshocton met Monday, July 22 at 5 p.m. at Frontier Power to discuss how to make Coshocton more attractive to visitors by repaving roads, upgrading old buildings using creative art, and adding new events.
Our Town Coshocton is a non-profit 5013(c) organization and part of Heritage Ohio, which consists of 35 Ohio communities. The main concern discussed at the meeting was to encourage volunteers to serve on committees.
“It takes a core group to start,” said Cheryl Wantuck. “If people can serve on a committee just once a year, that’s fabulous. We need to bring the people of the community in.”
The group has four main committees: operations, design, marketing, and business enhancement. Anyone in the community who feels they would have valuable input may join any one of the committees they chose.
The main goal of Our Town Coshocton is preservation, revitalization, and promoting.
“The idea is to revitalize the town so that people will find it attractive to come in,” said Wantuck. “I like the idea of us being a friendly town. There are things we can do here. We live here, so why not promote it? If we don’t do it, nobody’s going to come in and do it for us.”
There was an open discussion on how we could promote Coshocton through events, selling locally-made merchandise, and revitalizing downtown.
John Larson said he would like to see Coshocton have an ice carving contest or festival in February at the court square.
“I think it would be a nice downtown activity with music and lights and some ice carvings,” said Larson. “It is a unique activity, especially if you get some good ones. I think it would be a fun activity.”
Wantuck commented that she wants to get back to residents supporting local businesses. They also mentioned that they will be selling locally-made merchandise at the Apple Butter Festival with all proceeds going to Our Town Coshocton.
“The more we do together, the better, liking each other, promoting each other, and getting along,” said Wantuck.
The group also discussed advertising outside of Coshocton to bring in more visitors to the community. Doug Johnston also brought up the idea of taking photos of local historical figures and monuments and featuring them on local business windows.
“I’m a supporter of Our Town Coshocton,” said Mayor Steve Mercer. “A lot of people have carried this community for a long time. We need something fresh and I think this organization can be that vehicle.”
Present at the meeting were Cheryl Wantuck, Mark Fortune, John Larson, Becky Porteus, Steve Mercer, Greg Jevaikar, Denise Guthrie, Doug Johnston, Stacey Shriver, president of Our Town Coshocton, Tamara Krause, secretary/treasurer, and Ginny Mizer, vice president. The group meets the fourth Monday of each month at Frontier Power at 5 p.m. and it’s open to the public.
beth@coshoctoncountybeacon.com
Category: Business
