If “Just do it” weren’t already trademarked, it would be the perfect slogan for Your Town Rising.
Ultimately, that’s what two champions of small towns encourage citizens to do if they want to see meaningful change.
It was that shared passion that brought Leslie Fournier and Gregg McLachlan together to create Your Town Rising, to spread the word to communities across Ontario.
Fournier started Orillia’s Festival of Banners in 2007, an initiative that blossomed into Streets Alive, which sees the downtown adorned with eye-catching sculptures every year. It certainly caught McLachlan’s eye.
“I kept noticing this guy named Gregg was commenting (online) on Streets Alive projects and was enthusiastic about them,” Fournier recalled.
So, she offered him a tour of the downtown to check out the art installation.
A friendship was formed over that shared interest, and now the two have teamed up to start Your Town Rising.
“The common path was a love of small towns, community,” Fournier said.
“And seeing them rise up,” McLachlan added. “It came down to both of us thinking it can be done in more than one place.”
It’s not a stretch to say the modest Festival of Banners led to a transformation in downtown Orillia.
“You hear people saying we’re a destination for art and culture,” Fournier said of the Sunshine City. “Ten, 15 years ago, you didn’t hear those words. We didn’t have the energy and excitement in the downtown core that we have now.”
She described the banners project as “the starting point of community action.”
“Since the Festival of Banners, I’ve noticed more art-and-culture-related businesses setting up downtown, and more creative types.”
If it worked here, it can work elsewhere.
“The biggest hurdle is a lack of activity. Inactivity kills a downtown,” said McLachlan, who lives near Simcoe in Norfolk County.
The small-town advocates don’t want to see communities down in the dumps, so they are taking the show on the road.
They launched Your Town Rising just before Christmas and are now lining up speaking engagements for the spring. They will be speaking, separately, at a conference in Leamington before going to other towns.
Being from small towns is something they will use to their advantage during their presentations. People want to hear from those with experience in the types of communities that are looking to make a change.
“The reason Your Town Rising is the right thing at the right time is because there is a gap in the types of people who are brought in to share the message about downtown revitalization,” Fournier said.
“We don’t want someone coming in from a million-population city, in a three-piece suit, telling us how we can do it,” McLachlan added.
They also want people know it’s OK to start small.
“Downtown revitalization becomes daunting when we think we can only do it if we have millions of dollars,” McLachlan said.
When Fournier speaks to other communities, she has what she feels is the ideal example to share with the crowd.
“My plan is to tell the Streets Alive story, the Orillia story,” she said. “If downtowns and cities see themselves as their own champions, then change begins.”
The message of downtown revitalization is often delivered at large conferences, where those in attendance feel they have to go home and “study” ways to take action, McLachlan said. The goal of Your Town Rising is to have them leave with the inspiration to just do it.
