Action Idea #1 Continued: Share the Good News

So I was analyzing my Blogger stats the other day (I’m kind of an info geek like that) and I noticed that the post which has received the most reads in this little baby blog is “Action Idea #1: Support Local Independent Business”.  I’m assuming this means one of three things:

 1) You all really love the idea of local independent business (yay!)

2) You’re a fan of action and love it when people “do something” or at least suggest doing something

 Or

 3) You’re a fan of Alex, my tech support hero of the evening who was tagged in the Facebook post (which makes sense, because he’s pretty fabulous).

Or perhaps it’s none of the above and that post just happened to go live at the exact right moment when you were all attentively reading your Facebook feeds.

Whatever the actual reason for reading the blog is, I’m going to assume for the moment that you all are at least somewhat interested in local independent business.  And thus, the idea for this blog post, which begins with a question: just how do we support local independent business?  

The short answer: shop there, or perhaps to put it more broadly, purchase their goods and services.

Now, perhaps you already do this.  Maybe you’re an avid supporter of The 3/50 Project  or you have a more personal approach to patronizing your favorite local businesses.  Excellent.  Now, how do we get more people to join you? Well, first things first, we get people to know that these places exist.  Now, how do we do that?  I’m going to suggest two approaches: one that comes pretty naturally and the other perhaps not as much.

1. Word of Mouth: When talking with friends or particularly people who are new to the area, resist the urge to lament about the current state of the local business community.  Focus on the positive. Make a point to share the good news when you find a great salon, bookstore, bed and breakfast, boutique, restaurant, gift shop and so on.

2. Online Reviews: Think about it, if you're unfamiliar with a town, where do you go to find out about local businesses and attractions?  Chances are the internet is at least a part of the equation, whether you access it on your phone or via a computer. Do you ever review local businesses on the internet?  If not, I encourage you to visit websites like Trip Advisor, Urban Spoon, or Yahoo/Google Reviews and CONTRIBUTE! Upload pictures and share your insights about your favorite Hibbing businesses.

Now what good is this going to do?  Well, the hope is actions like this will contribute to building a critical mass of people who actively choose to spend their time and money in Hibbing.  Businesses will flourish and contribute to the tax base of the community as well as other civic projects.  This sustained success will encourage other entrepreneurs to take a chance on Hibbing.  Empty store fronts will fill.  There will be a renewed sense of hope and community pride.

A little idealistic and naïve?  Perhaps.  It is an idea that I believe can work though, if enough of us contribute.  What do you think?

Hungry for Hibbing

Donuts.  Fresh, delicious, glazed donuts in the case at Sunrise Bakery in Park Addition.  Mmmmmm. . .throw in an English toffee cookie and a fried apple pie and I am in baked good heaven.  Anyone there with me?

I ask because the other night I was making my casual rounds for keeping up on Hibbing in the social media world and I came across a post in Hibbing Trivia and Lore by a Hibbing ex-pat talking about longing for Sunrise glazed donuts and other Hibbing food-delights.  Of course this post sparked a flurry of comments branching off to a popcorn wagon and the current state of the bakery business, but it also meant that food was never far from my mind when thinking about Hibbing this past week.

Think about it.  Whether you’re celebrating or commiserating, getting ready to leave or returning home, food seems to be a consistent and defining element of these experiences.  Recently when I was a resident of Florida, I remember planning my limited trips back home to Hibbing.  First priority were the people I was going to see, coming in a close second was where and what I would be eating—because, quite frankly, they don’t have Bimbo’s pizza in Tallahassee and don’t even get me started on pasties.

I was clearly not alone in this experience as I noticed friends and acquaintances with Iron Range roots post to their Facebook profiles about having a Sammy’s pizza, or Rudi’s sub, or pancakes at Sportsmen’s during a trip home.  Of course comments would follow from those of us still far from The Range, usually along the lines of “ugh, jealous” or “Yum! My favorite!” or the ever hopeful “bring me back some!”

Now I am not going to launch into an extended lament about how people “never bring you back some” because I know it’s geographically ridiculous and when Rangers go home they have no obligation to feed the rest of us starving ex-pats longing for a taste of home.  Although if you are a clever entrepreneur that wants to perfect the art of food shipping and start a large scale delivery business, I am not getting in your way.  


In the meantime, I’m cherishing the opportunities I have to return to Hibbing to see the people and places I love and eat some delicious food that I can’t get anywhere else.

What is your favorite Hibbing food or eatery?

Note: For the record, I have already planned my first trip back to the North Country since the great Iowa excursion.  It will include a stop at old favorite Zimmy’s, new-kid-in-town Old Mexico, and recent favorite Rhythm Deli whose paninis are fantabulous.

Action Idea #1: Support Local Independent Businesses

I don’t pretend to have a deep understanding of economics, other than mastering some basic fundamental concepts thanks to my high school teacher Mr. Kearney (any other Hibbing High School grads that forever associate the concept of diminishing marginal utility with peanut butter sandwiches, please raise your hands).  Honestly, I struggle as much as the next person when it comes to understanding the current global financial crisis on one hand and regional/local economic development initiatives on the other.  

Growing up on the Iron Range, my understanding of economic development was as follows:

Economic development means studies and plans, which come from consultants, who come from the Twin Cities, who usually spend a limited amount of time in the area, create elaborate analysis, which is disputed by the local powers that be, and eventually abandoned.  Of course a significant amount of money has usually been spent on this process with little to show for it.  Everyone loses and cynicism mounts.  And thus, in my experience, the term “outside consultant” is sure to elicit icy glares at a minimum in my dear hometown.  

That said, I must say I was quite impressed when I learned of a project developed by Twin Cities retail consultant Cinda Baxter—The 3/50 Project.  There’s really a lot to like about this idea, which started with a blog post in March 2009.  Here’s the scoop:  “Think of three businesses you'd hate to see disappear, then pop in and say hello.... Pick 3. Spend 50. Save your local economy.”  You can find the details at the project’s website www.the350project.net.  Fifty bucks a month, split between 3 locally owned independent Hibbing businesses.  

What do you think Hibbing?  Are we up for this?  We often complain about businesses that close, those that never begin, and the empty buildings we are left with as painful reminders.  Is this something we can do to reverse the trend?  

I don’t know about you, but independent local businesses played a big part of my childhood in Hibbing.  I remember going school shopping and turning in S&H stamps at Feldman’s department store on Howard Street.  I also remember waiting in the car when my mother stopped at Geary’s (or was it Gary’s?) Grocery on the way home from figure skating practice. Picking up day old bread—and glazed donuts or apple pies if we were with my dad—was a standard Saturday routine at Sunrise Bakery.  I’d like to think that those kind of options will be around for the next generation of Hibbingites.  

As stated at the beginning of this post, I’m far from an economic expert, but I have to believe that coming together on something like this can have an impact on our local business community.  You know, collective action?  Something tells me that historically, Hibbing is kinda into that stuff.  

What do you think?  Are you on board with The 3/50 Project?  

Note: Special thanks to Alex, fellow HHS class of 1999'er who swooped in with the assist on this one.  Without his tech troubleshooting, half of this post would be illegible.  :)

Sometimes We Forget

I was in a bookstore in Rochester, MN the other day, trying to decide between buying either an issue of The Atlantic (advertised as “the idea issue”) or Minnesota Monthly (that caught my attention with a cover headline of “10 small town weekend trips”). Both options seemed equally intriguing. 

I opened up Minnesota Monthly to see what “small towns” they were talking about, saw this, and the debate was over.  

Go Hibbing!

If you’ve lived in town for years these are these are the type of places that you can forget, or perhaps I should say “take for granted.”  They are institutions that are so central to the idea of who we are as community sometimes they fade into the background.  The Hull Rust Mahoning Mine becomes that pit north of town, or HibTac: where “so and so” works, or just “the mine.”  The High School is just where you (or your parents or your kids) went to school, and the planetarium is an elementary school field trip. 

However, there is a lot to discover and love about our town if for a day or two we shake off the ordinary and look at Hibbing with the eyes of a tourist. 

For example, did you know that The Mitchell-Tappan House was the first house moved to South Hibbing in 1918 (in addition to serving AMAZING breakfasts in 2011)?  And when was the last time you were at the planetarium?  A field trip in elementary school?  I’m happy I can say I did have the experience of going to a laser light show there one January a couple of years ago.  Quite different from my field trip experience as a kid, this was a pretty funky light display set to the music of U2.  Popcorn and the show were under $5.  It was a great evening. 

The only downside was that my sister and I were the only ones there (which I think has at least a little to do with the fact the planetarium is now only open by reservation). 

See.  We forget.  We get into our day-to-day routines.  We stop paying attention and at that point it can become easy to believe the myth that there is “nothing to do here.” And once we believe that, it becomes routine for us to leave town looking for “things to do”.  Hibbingites regularly travel to Virginia, Grand Rapids, Duluth, the Twin Cities and miss what is right in their own backyard. 

Now, I’m not saying don’t leave the city limits or that traveling to the aforementioned places isn’t fun or sometimes necessary, but I am saying “give Hibbing a chance.”  You might be surprised. Seriously, I challenge you.  Whether you’re a current Hibbing resident or an ex-pat who will be home visiting family, spend a day (or two) looking at Hibbing with new eyes. 

If you take the challenge, I would love to hear about your experience (please comment below). I will share my own after my next visit to Hib-town, which is scheduled for sometime this fall.

Here’s the list from the MM article:

Hull Rust Mahoning Mine

Greyhound Bus Museum

Hibbing High School

Mitchell-Tappan House

Paulucci Space Theater

Hibbing Public Library

Sunrise Bakery at The Lybba

Bob Dylan’s Childhood Home

Any favorites?  Anything you think they missed?  Share! Also, if you’re looking for special programs and events in Hibbing, I recommend checking out the community calendar at http://oreandmore.blogspot.com/.  

I Remember When . . .

t’s been my experience that Hibbingites love history and have long memories.  People and places in this town are not merely what they are, but simultaneously what they used to be. 

A woman is not Jane Insert Married Name Here, but that plus the equally important used to be one of the Insert Maiden Name Here girls.  A house goes beyond matters of architectural style, current occupants, and street numbers; encompassing the wide range of everyone who has ever lived there and everything it has ever represented to generations of community members.  I remember driving through town with my dad as a kid (and as an adult for that matter) and listening to him point out and talk about various properties that used be grocery stores, or churches, or hangouts of different kinds.  We were looking at the same thing, but what we saw was completely different.  Somehow his long-gone version always seems more glamorous. 

Nostalgia.  Memories.  Back When I Was Your Age stories.  In many ways there is nothing particularly special about this.  The same could be said of many small towns where roots run deep.  But there is something about Hibbing that hangs on to the past with a stubborn tenacity I have not yet seen elsewhere.  Perhaps it has something to do with the fact the entire town was moved south to make way for an ever-expanding mine. 

So many places that hold precious memories for people have literally been obliterated.  Places where houses stood and hopscotch was played are now replaced with a gaping hole in the ground, traversed by giant dump trucks and other equipment.  The physical evidence is gone, so we must keep these memories alive through storytelling.  I love these stories whether they are tales from my father or an old family friend, or something a bit more formal like the Hibbing Trivia and Lore facebook group or the efforts of the Hibbing Historical Society. 

These stories anchor us and provide a sense of context and belonging to the bigger picture of Hibbing, but when do they become a force that limits our vision instead of expanding it?  By focusing so much on what is gone; do we lose sight of what is still here or what could be here?  Sometimes I think we do. 

What do you think? 

Stay tuned next week for further thoughts and discussion on “what is still or could be in” Hibbing.