Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Development Group’s economic vitality committee recently presented information collected from a survey of uptown businesses in the Mount Vernon-Lisbon community last summer at an Entreprenueza event Tuesday, Jan. 23. More than 40 were in attendance for the social hour and presentation.
Dennis Jordan, chair of the committee, said they had responses from 49 businesses in Mount Vernon and Lisbon – 25 service businesses, 18 retail establishments and six food service businesses.
One of the first questions asked was which festival is most important to your businesses.
The majority of respondents indicated Chalk the Walk was the most important (23), followed by Heritage Days (18), then Shop Small Saturday (12), Nitty Gritty Antiques Festival (10), and then MVL Clean-Up Day, Magical Night and Chocolate Stroll getting four votes each. Other festivals had more scattered votes from participants in the survey.
Nannette Rambo of Bigs BBQ and Brew Pub said while festivals like Chalk the Walk and Heritage Days have been huge for them as restaurant businesses, other festivals like Chocolate Stroll and Magical Night have not been as big for the restaurants.
“My advice is for the festivals where it isn’t as big of a draw for you is to take that opportunity to get out and enjoy those festivals and all this town has to offer,” Rambo said.
Other retailers noted that events like Chalk the Walk aren’t as huge for retail businesses aside from asking to utilize the bathrooms, but they still draw people to Mount Vernon.
“It might just be that a business isn’t someone’s cup of tea, but they know some one who likes some of the things we’re offering and talk about that shop in the future and draws people to us by word of mouth,” said Tasha Erickson, owner of Scarlett Boutique. “I don’t expect huge sales at Chalk the Walk, but I do like being open during that festival to draw some of that word of mouth for the business.”
Some said there were festivals in the lineup by MVLCDG that work to a small degree, but they could be expanded or move to a different night to help businesses.
When it came to the businesses represented, Jordan highlighted many of the businesses in Mount Vernon’s uptown have been in their storefronts for six years or less.
“There are some outliers which pushed our averages higher, like the newspaper, Cornell College or the City of Mount Vernon’s offices, but the majority of businesses are newer,” Jordan said.
A lot of the things businesses face is competition and impact from online retailers.
Areas of concern for businesses in the uptown that were brought up – parking being congested, no breakfast options (which has since been addressed).
Rambo said having businesses closed on Sundays impacts the ability to draw people here for a weekend stay.
When discussion shifted on ways to engage with Cornell and other parties, Darin Vig from Lynch Ford-Chevrolet said that businesses are missing an opportunity by not focusing on businesses along Business 30 as well.
“We’re an economic driver in this community, with more than 100 people here getting service to their vehicles on an almost daily basis,” Vig said. “They sit in our waiting room waiting for their car, when that’s a prime chance to let them see other businesses in our communities and drive them to explore our community by just having things that could be on display in that waiting room to help drive them to the uptown.”
Jordan said the divide between businesses in uptown and those along Business 30 was also something the community needs to start letting go of, that businesses in Mount Vernon all have the same goal of making this a destination people want to visit and come back to and should look at ways to better collaborate and cross-promote the community.
Anna Wilson was hired as the new social media manager for MVLCDG for the next year. Wilson said she had worked with Tommie Oeuversen and Olivia Randall about the social media engagement for CDG back in August, and was hired in early January for the position.
Her goals for the year are to increase engagement with MVLCDG’s social media posts, during events or not, increasing the social media followers for the community and drawing more awareness to the activities and players behind the scenes of CDG.
She noted engagement that is more like an ongoing conversation with the community is a way to help drive engagement with social media.
Lisa White, president of the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Development Group, speaks about the goals of CDG before the presentation Tuesday, Jan. 23.