A wild ride

Matt Wetrich

What a wild ride it’s been the past couple months! Between winning two tourism awards from Travel Iowa - a branch of the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA), and winning two more awards at last Friday’s Main Street Iowa Development Awards – more to follow on these – it’s been a good “awards season” for Jefferson. Oh, and there was this little thing where we recently hosted a staff member from Main Street America in Jefferson and blew her mind! More to follow on this as well.

But first I want to recap this past weekend’s Community Appreciation Event that was held at Greene County High School’s gorgeous performing art theater. Jefferson Matters’s board president, Amy Milligan, and I emceed the event. We highlighted the aforementioned awards, as well as briefly explained the structure and mission of our organization overall and of each of our seven teams. We gave an update on some of the downtown building projects, and other highlights of 2023 and looking ahead in 2024. Personally, my favorite parts were welcoming the latest edition of the Forces Under 40 to the stage, and the big finale of celebrating the new ABC Award winner.

If you’ve been following this column, you know that for this year’s Forces Under Forty, we honored Kelley Gray, Emily Dyer, Emily Rohner, and Dan Rohner for their contributions to the community via their volunteer efforts as well as their going the extra mile in their careers when it comes to having a positive impact on the community overall. We are proud to say that much of their efforts impact what we do within the Jefferson Matters organization. Keep this recognition in mind, as we’ll be seeking new nominations next winter and spring for the next edition of Forces Under Forty.

The final portion of the program was honoring the new ABC Award winner, Deb McGinn. Talk about a worthy recognition! This was the first time in the history of the ABC Award that the winner was notified the week before the event. The intent was to allow more friends and family to make it to the awards ceremony, rather than have to keep it a secret until that moment, hindering the amount of people that would know ahead of time. The early notification also allows the winner to prepare an acceptance speech, which boy oh boy, did Deb knock out of the park! Everyone in attendance – around 100 people – were fortunate to get to hear Deb’s words of inspiration. It was as good as you’d expect coming from someone who was voted to receive such a distinguished honor. Thank you over and over and over for your contributions to Jefferson, Deb!

This past Friday night in downtown Des Moines at the Iowa Events Center, Jefferson walked across the stage three times. The first was for our 2024 leadership honorees, our downtown watering crew. This group of folks is up extra early on a daily basis to make sure all the flowerpots and planters are watered and taken care of around downtown. We were excited to have them at the event and honor their contributions to the community! Up next Amanda and Addi Bills and Chris Deal accepted the award for The Pub Lofts winning the ”Main Street Housing Project Award” which states, “Nominations in this category feature projects that added an/or improved housing units in the Main Street district.” The transformation of these six apartments above what will be The Public House restaurant is truly award winning! Congrats! Our third time walking across the awards stage was for winning the “Main Street Façade Improvement Award” for projects over $50,000. (The category is split into over and under $50,000.) The award states, “Nominations in this category spotlight projects that demonstrate a visual transformation of a Main Street district building’s front and/or rear façade(s).” Art on the Fly and Imagination Alley were the winners of this great award! Jolene Peters and her partners in the buildout of the renovation, along with several members of the Jefferson Matters’s Tower View Team that were behind the creation of Imagination Alley accepted the award. Make sure you put the evening of May 10 on your calendar as we cut the ribbon and have a grand opening celebration of Imagination Alley’s official opening!

Lastly, I need to tell you about our special visitor from Main Street America. On April 10, Jackie Swihart, Program Officer for Revitalization Services, spent the day in Jefferson – her first ever visit here. Her mission was to learn all about us as a Main Street Community, do an overall assessment of our program, and educate us on the future of Main Street. She learned about the structure, history, and future goals of Jefferson Matters. We also gave her a walking tour of downtown and met with city officials, before spending the afternoon learning about the future of Main Street America and how we as a local program will be expected to grow to reach national accreditation. 

Jackie travels the country, seeing hundreds of Main Street communities. When she told us she got emotional a couple of times on our downtown tour because of all we have done here and are doing now, we sincerely took her words to heart. What an honor. She actually paid us the ultimate compliment by insisting that we apply for the Great American Main Street Award (GAMSA), because we “are at that level”. This is the highest accolade Main Street America bestows upon any of its 1200 communities across the country. For Jackie to say we are worthy of this award and should apply for it, truly is the highest compliment we could have received. Jefferson did apply for this in 2020 and were a national semifinalist. We will take Jackie’s advice and apply again. 

I am beyond grateful for the tireless work that our staff, volunteers, supporters, and partners invest in Jefferson Matters, and therefore the community overall. All of the aforementioned accolades are a massive collective effort that continues to grow and gain momentum. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart; you are the reason residents and visitors both have a great time when they Experience Jefferson.

Contact Us

Jefferson Bee & Herald
Address: 200 N. Wilson St.
Jefferson, IA 50129

Phone:(515) 386-4161