ThisWeek CW 08/04/2011
Canal Winchester’s growth from village to city has prompted a broader mission for the Main Street Canal Winchester organization, and along with that mission comes a new name — Destination: Canal Winchester.
The name change was announced earlier this month during a public meeting of the Old Town Historic Committee. The organization is still completing the formal paperwork with the Secretary of State and IRS, according to board president Bob Garvin.
“We’re in the process of formalizing the name change, and we still have some work to do, like changing our mission statement,” Garvin said. “Basically, the thing is that we want to not be constrained. Right now Main Street (Canal Winchester) is just here to support the downtown, but there are other things outside of the downtown area, and we want to be more inclusive of the whole of Canal Winchester.”
Executive director Bruce Jarvis agreed.
“The name change will better reflect the mission of the organization as we’re evolving along with the city of Canal Winchester, now that grew out of being a village,” Jarvis said. “Destination: Canal Winchester is interchangeable with the convention and visitor bureau, and this marks the biggest change — adopting a broader citywide mission.
“We’re going to continue doing what we’ve done downtown, but we’re in the best position now to take that to the next level,” he said. “That includes working with tourism businesses like area hotels.”
According to both Jarvis and Garvin, the last year’s success of the first annual Blues and Ribfest, along with other downtown events, triggered the desire to expand the organization’s mission.
“The Blues and Ribfest and Labor Day events — we bring in a lot of people from outside of town who then see all of the businesses we have, so that is kind of what drove the whole thing, to make Canal Winchester a destination as a whole,” Garvin said. “This organization is now going to be both business- and tourism-oriented to bring people into Canal Winchester and get them to spend their dollars here.”
Garvin also said that the focus on the downtown area is an important part of making the broader mission work.
“One of our main focuses is always going to be the downtown area. Because we feel that the downtown, with the small-town atmosphere with coffee shops and retail shops and such, makes Canal Winchester such a quaint city, and that’s a big draw,” said Garvin.
The Main Street Canal Winchester board will meet at the end of August to adopt a new mission statement and begin making the transition of the organization and its branding to the new Destination: Canal Winchester name, according to Jarvis. The organization will maintain its 501©3 status and, he said, this growth might provide the organization with different grant opportunities due to the larger area and audience.
Main Street Canal Winchester currently has more than 100 members. For membership and upcoming event information visit www.mainstreetcanalwinchester.org.