local supports local.

This is what it is all about, local supporting local.  The Citizen has been a great deal of help with launching our support local campaign, "The little city that would." This is a great example of how different aspects of the community need to work together and support eachother for the good of the our city. 

In today's issue of the Citizen, yours truly has an article explaining some details about the little city that would. The Citizen will also be helping to get the ball rolling by allowing "the little city that would's" supporting businesses to advertise at a reduced rate.  This is great news for Windom businesses!

Don't forget to come to Finding Windom's pubic presentation tonight at 7pm in the BARC library. Come find out what we are all about, what we are working on, and we want your input!!

Here is the article I wrote that was published in today's issue of the Cottonwood County Citizen:

I was on a summer time short weekend trip to Northfield, Minnesota, when I noticed it. It was a bold, brightly colored sticker bearing the all-caps words “BE LOCAL, BUY LOCAL.” It couldn’t be missed—it was all over the town. It wasn’t necessarily the words that struck me because it made complete sense to me what it was representing, but it was that almost every business in downtown Northfield had it displayed in the window or on the door that made such an impact. “Wow,” I thought, “Northfield has so much pride for their downtown.”



Not long after that summertime weekend trip to Northfield, a friend introduced me to the 3/50 project. The 3/50 project is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public the simplicity of keeping the doors of small businesses open by picking the 3 businesses in your town that you couldn’t imagine living without and spending $50 a month at those 3 businesses.


After seeing the impact that a brightly colored sticker can have on a community’s business district and how quickly word travels about campaigns like the 3/50 project, I decided to do some research about support local campaigns and how effective they truly can be for the growth of a community. I was pleasantly surprised to find out how such a simple concept can make such a big impact. From a press release in the Hometown Advantage Bulletin, published by the New Rules Project, a branch of the Institute of Local Self Reliance out of Minneapolis states, “For the fourth year in a row, our national survey of independent businesses has found that those in communities with an active ‘buy local’ campaign run by an Independent Business Alliance or Local First group have experienced markedly stronger revenue growth compared to those located in areas without such an initiative.”


Finding Windom couldn’t be happier to present to you our version of a support local campaign titled “The little city that would.” We wanted the slogan to be open for many uses beyond just shopping local, but supporting the community as a whole. A Windom High School alumnus, Crystal Barlow-Jensen, who is a freelance graphic designer in the Twin Cities, offered her time and talents to design a fresh, progressive logo for our campaign, and it is all we were hoping for and more.


The campaign includes a marketing kit for all businesses, groups and organizations wanting to show support and pride for the community. “The little city that would” marketing kits include an introduction letter, top ten reasons to be “The little city that would,” a window decal, a poster, and full permission to use the logo in any way. What a great way to our show pride and unity!