The Mount Vernon’s Visitors Center was getting close to its occupancy limit Tuesday, June 25, when outgoing Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community executive director Joe Jennison’s retirement celebration kicked off in earnest around 3:30 p.m.
The committee made the choice to hold the remarks inside, as temperatures outside were north of 90 degrees with high humidity.
Deb Herrmann, former president of the MVLCDG organization, spoke about how the past 14 years of Joe’s guidance has shaped so much of uptown Mount Vernon.
“When we first moved to a Main Street Iowa community from a Chamber of Commerce, Mount Vernon’s main street looked so different,” Herrmann said. “We had many businesses on Main Street that had steel facades that hid the historical nature of the main street.”
Herrmann said that those first few years as a Main Street organization had a few different directors trying to get the organization started, and then roughly 14 years ago, Joe Jennison joined.
“We were lucky to have interviewed a candidate as dynamic as Joe at that juncture,” Herrmann said.
With Jennison as director, Herrmann said the community really came alive. Business community grew in downtown Mount Vernon, and many of those steel facades were removed. During Jennison’s tenure as director, the organization has been a finalist for the Great American Main Street Award twice. That was because of the investment Jennison put into the community.
“Joe was the right person to lead this organization for so long and get us to where we are today,” Herrmann said.
Mayor Tom Wieseler said that the community of Mount Vernon has been lucky to have had Jenni son help turn it into, as Joe would say, “one of the greatest small towns.”
Wieseler recounted he’s been with Jennison on a number of trips to Des Moines when MVLCDG has won a challenge grant or Open 4 Business grant.
Jennison explained that Mount Vernon has applied for those grants since their inception by the Iowa Economic Development Authority and won seven of the 10 times they have entered. Those grants have generated a lot of economic windfall for the community in supporting many businesses in the uptown.
Beyond that, though, Wieseler said the citizens of Mount Vernon have been the recipients of that goodwill, with the multiple festivals in uptown that also contribute to quality of life in this community.
Wieseler said that the award for Zip Code Day festival, taking the Mount Vernon Chili Cook-Off festival waste free and other accolades were wonderful things. Jennison was the first to point to the volunteers within CDG who made those accomplishments happen.
The Smithsonian exhibit, outdoor seating, Hilltop park and aid for COVID were among the accomplishments in the past several years.
“One of the biggest accomplishments has been the MVLCDG pushing us all to live to the credo of ‘All are Welcome’ in this community, working on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion statements that pointed to that inclusivity,” Wieseler said.
Wieseler said that the city will be looking forward to keeping Jennison on part time as a grant writer, but thanked him for so much of what he accomplished as director of CDG.
White, current MVLCDG president, said that one of the reasons she said yes to that role was to work alongside Jennison. She said one of the things she commends Jennison on is the stability he has brought to this community. She also praised his leadership style empowering those at the lower tiers of the organization to bring their projects forward and make them a reality.
“It was an excellent way to draw people in and make them be a part of something great,” White said. “CDG should be a model for other communities because of that.”
In the most recent GAMSA application, the level of support from the community was noted as one of the group’s largest successes, drawing in more than 500 volunteers assistance through a given year. White said amidst the other accomplishments, it has been a joy to share the stage with Jennison for a number of events, like the Uptown Theater Honors.
“The thing you could say about Joe is he was always determined to find the right fit for anyone who volunteered with the organization,” White said. “We’ve been fortunate to have him in this community for so long.”
White also said that MVLCDG is excited to have Jessie Thurn stepping in as director in the coming month.
Jennison said that while he is stepping into the unknown by retiring, and will miss portions of the job, he is ready to step down from all the small headaches of running a festival each month.
“The best part of this job has been working aside all of you,” Jennison said to the collected throng of volunteers and citizens in the community in attendance.
Jennison remembered when he first arrived in Mount Vernon, moving to a small town after working in locations like Chicago and Los Angeles.
“This was one of those communities where it takes 45 minutes to buy groceries, because you’d run into so many people you know at Gary’s,” Jennison said.
Jennison also reiterated he and husband Chris are not leaving the community, and he looks forward to the future of CDG. He will also be helping on a few committees with CDG in the future