Submitted By Diane Sheridan, Executive Director, Grand Haven Main Street

Grand Haven Main Street recently completed a Communications Strategy, where we took time to step back from our routine and examine who we are as an organization, what our role is or what it should be, and how we fit into the greater Northwest Ottawa County region.

Central to this process was to evaluate who we are and what we do. We discovered most folks in the community identified our organization as the “Downtown Party Planners".  While we do plan some of the best special events around, our core mission is to create a vibrant and economically healthy business district. Keeping this in mind, it has become important to us as an organization to measure all of our activities and special events against this standard – how does this activity build vitality and a stronger downtown?

Over the years, as a ‘"mature" Main Street program (now in our 11th year) we have attempted a wide variety of shopping sprees, fashion shows, “nights out,” dollar days, Friday frenzies, and coupon books.  Our current special events have been selected based on strategy and/or inspiration (sometimes you just have to try something new to see if it works in your community).

In choosing our special events for the year, we take the following steps:

1. Strategy – Located on the shores of Lake Michigan, Grand Haven is the perfect place to enjoy summer in Michigan.  Named one of the Top 10 Freshwater Beaches (USA Today, 2016), our charming city of 10,000 plays host to hundreds of thousands of visitors who come to play on the beach, walk the pier, boat and fish during the summer season.  Our retail shops are busy, and most of our restaurants are at capacity from open to close.  With this type of natural attraction, we choose to focus our efforts on planning special activities during the shoulder seasons and winter months, when our merchants can use a boost to their daily sales. 

Strategy also encompasses what types of events we will organize – retail promotions, special events, or image-building.  We’ve found that maintaining a balance of activities in all three areas is ideal. 

2. Research – If we are planning an event to build economic vitality and strengthen our businesses, look at our Market Study, provided by MMS, to review what businesses we have and who are their customers?  What type(s) of events will appeal to their customers, make cash registers ring, reach new customers to experience our downtown and shop our Main Street?  It is important to do the research to learn your demographics and identify the target audience you want to reach.

Another important step in research is to evaluate your community calendar (this dove-tails perfectly with your strategy).  Our neighboring metropolitan community of Grand Rapids hosts an ArtPrize event in the fall that draws nearly 600,000 visitors annually.  A decision was made to capitalize on that art momentum and create a “little sister event” here on the Lakeshore – ArtWalk.  Last year, ArtWalk 2015 featured 175 artists in 72 venues for nineteen days throughout our Main Street district.    

3. Play to Your Strengths (also known as “What Makes You Unique?”) – It’s always easiest to plan a successful undertaking when you have passionate volunteers who are excited about your theme.   For example, Iron Mountain capitalizes on their Italian heritage with Italian-Fest.  Clare does Irish better than anyone else in Michigan.  Howell has the Melon Festival.  Grand Haven is affectionately called “Coast Guard City, USA” and celebrates with the nation’s largest Coast Guard Festival.  When creating a new signature fund-raising event, we brainstormed with our volunteers and found excitement and passion to create a new Derby Day event, complete with a live broadcast of the Kentucky Derby race, mint juleps and incredible hats.  Passionate volunteers = strength and success!

4. Collaborate – We are fortunate in Grand Haven to have exemplary community organizations that partner with us in our goal to have a vibrant community that offers quality, year-round activities.  Our Chamber of Commerce plans an impressive Art Festival in June, Lakeshore Business Expo in May, and the Jingle Bell Parade in December.  The Grand Haven Area Convention & Visitors Bureau runs the Salmon Festival in September. Our Coast Guard Festival Board plans our largest summer festival in July, and they offer us a seat at the table to help with planning and coordinating with the city and our merchants. 

Recently, one of our interns had a passion to plan a New Year’s Eve party in downtown, complete with a countdown to midnight and a ball drop.  A quick survey of our board members and Promotions Committee members didn’t garner enough interest that would give us the capacity to pull off the event. However, a quick chat with the City Manager opened the doors for new collaboration with the city.  Soon plans were underway, the light ball was under construction and fireworks ordered.  Working together, in its inaugural year, over 1,000 folks turned out on December 31 to celebrate together and welcome in the New Year…it was a wonderful party on Main Street, and it came together because of collaboration. 

5. Evaluate – Often overlooked, but just as important to planning, evaluation is an important step in your special event process.  Survey Monkey and face-to-face conversations are used to gather information to document what went well, what needs tweaking and what should be eliminated.  We use this information, along with a Revenue & Expense statement, to evaluate the costs (volunteer time and financial commitment) to determine whether or not the event achieved its intended outcome and will it remain on the calendar for the next year. 

As Grand Haven Main Street continues the work of creating a vibrant downtown, we challenge ourselves to measure each activity and good idea we discuss – from flower planters to craft beer crawls – against our over-arching goal of building economic vitality and business growth in downtown Grand Haven.  

Since 2003, Michigan Main Street (MMS) has been a forerunner in placemaking, providing the technical talent and tools that, when combined with local engagement, has helped revitalize downtowns across the state. MMS is proof that placemaking and a volunteer-driven approach to community development are successful ways to strengthen Michigan. 

MMS invests in its staff and outside expertise to bring a high level of technical services to communities across the state.

Just as our team works together to provide the best possible programming, Main Street communities work in unison to create the best possible Michigan. 

Looking back over the last year, MMS has shown very positive results. The team has helped communities generate more than $34.9 million in private investments; 694 new jobs, 104 new businesses and 115 facade rehabilitations.

As we celebrate these accomplishments we continue to look forward. As of January 19, 2016, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) have agreed to create the Collaborative Community Development Team (CCD). The CCD places all of the state’s community development programs, including MMS, under one team.

We look forward to being part of the CCD as we continue to build on the success of the past 12 years with the help of committed volunteers, staff, and community members driving success on their Main Streets everyday.