2010C.O.R.E.–Minutes from March 15, 2010 Meeting

John Paul Hammerschmidt welcomed the group and asked each person in attendance to introduce themselves.

The following were in attendance and introduced themselves: Charlie Smith, Jack Moyer, Marty Fitton, Rob McCorkindale, Mike Norton, Marty Burlsworth, John Burris, Scott Miller, Terry Cook, Rexx Cochran, Debbie Mandella, Kathy Robinson, Marcie Patrick, Carolyn Bennett, Mike Brown, Patty Methvin, Ann Lemley, Susan Sangren, Rita Szabo, Janice Castleberry, Cindy Miller, Rick Hinterthuer, Nita Cooper, Vickie Martin, Bill Fraley, Marc Schwarz, Celia DeWoody, Pat Moles, Jim Dailey, Fred Hudson, Roz Slavik, Warren White, Scott Swanson, Heather Brewer, Lana Trublood, Layne Wheeler and Rachael Prevatte-Moyer.

Lana Trublood, new Retail Spoke Champion for C.O.R.E., gave an update on developments in the C.O.R.E. district which included an upcoming scavenger hunt, poker run, and band or D.J. to play in the gazebo each Friday. There are three developing websites promoting downtown Harrison. Each offers downtown retailers the opportunity to promote their businesses for varying costs. For retailers interested they can contact:

Tamsyn Simon (runs the Clogging Studio)

Kathy Robinson (runs Backyard Framer)

Charlie (runs Posters-n-More)

Presence and cross promotion on and between websites is good for downtown and businesses located near the downtown may want to consider a presence on all sites.

Dr. Rick Hinterthuer shared recent successes related to the Robert Wood Grant awarded to Harrison. This grant is designed to mobilize community efforts and promote access to healthy foods and a healthy lifestyle. The community is invited to attend the kickoff for the Boone County Healthy Community 2010 and learn more about this program on April 21, 2010 at 10am in the DurandCenter, Room B.

The Marketing Spoke (Jack Moyer) announced that the CORE website is in development. It can be accessed at coreofharrison.org.

Funding Spoke (Rob McCorkindale) announced that 2 grants have been approved. One grant through the Arkansas Forestry Commission will pay for trees and shrubs to be planted in the Harrison Recreation area. It was a matching grant (just under $5000) so $500 in matching money is still needed.

The second grant, through the State of Arkansas ($4,925) was awarded for developing a historic walking trail.

The Beautification Spoke (Rob McCorkindale) announced that a Community Cleanup for DryJordanCreek begins April 17th at 9am. The clean up group will meet in the parking area near the YouthCenter in the CORE.

Entrepreneurship Spoke (Scott Swanson) reported that the NorthArkansasCollege classes to promote Entrepreneurship will begin April 5th.

Retail Spoke (Dave Fitton and Jack Moyer) announced that the Clark Office Supply building is available for sale. Sadly, the MarineCorpLegacyMuseum has closed its doors.

Community Assessment Spoke (Rachael Moyer) announced that the Community Survey is available on survey monkey. This is an important part of the visioning and planning process.

Jack Moyer-speaking in behalf of the CORE Hub- CORE is requesting to incorporate a VisitorsCenter featuring one of the areas greatest assets, the BuffaloRiverNational Park, in the CORE district. This initiative will further position Harrison as a GatewayCity to the BuffaloRiverNational Park.

A GatewayCity provides important services to visitors of the National Park including lodging, dining, gas, entertainment, and other amenities. An individual expressed some concern that this may subtract support from the attractions already existing in the CORE. Moyer insisted on the contrary stating that a visitor’s center would serve as a magnet attraction, leveraging our greatest asset already visited by 700,000 annually. The local, existing attractions are suffering from lack of capacity. A magnet attraction like the visitors center will generate traffic to the area that can help to build attendance for local attractions.

The visitor’s center concept uses the BuffaloRiver to draw people. It would provide space to promote all area services and attractions and would be ideally, very user friendly.

Layne Wheeler announced that due to time constraints, the CORE workplan and outreach will be addressed at CORE’s April meeting.

John Paul Hammerschmidt thanked the group for attending and the meeting was dismissed.