The Corydon Democrat
Wednesday, April 18, 2001

Let's Do it Again

The highly productive community "visioning" meetings sponsored by Main Street Corydon and the Historic Corydon Business Association have resulted in many good ideas, and one of the best ones is an old one.

Pam Bennett Martin and Gordon Pendleton are on a committee of two that's been thinking of ways to raise the money to hire a full-time director for Main Street Corydon.

This has been done before, and it was quite successful back in the mid-1980s, thanks to the generous financial support of local banks and doctors. Miriam Rowe was the MSC director for three years, and many good things happened during her tenure, including giving merchants expert advice on good-looking restoration and remodeling, and fostering a can-do attitude that resulted in many concrete changes downtown. One of the most obvious triumphs was placing ugly utility lines underground to enhance the aesthetic and architectural appeal of Corydon's storefronts. Corydon itself became a showcase for what could happen when people work together.

It can happen again.
With community foundations willing to fund any number of worthy programs these days, and with all kinds of festivals on the calendar and community projects in the works, Main Street Corydon is about to make a comeback. It needs to make a comeback. But it can't be done by a small but determined group of merchants or well-intentioned part-time volunteers like Martin, regardless of how hard she and the Main Street board of directors work.

Corydon needs a well-paid, professional manager or coordinator to bring everything (including funding) together under one umbrella. The director could make sure everything runs well and provide a resource center as well. And if Corydon succeeds as a thriving economic community, its success will only spread outward, throughout the county.

The situation reminds us of the days before Harrison County hired an engineer and the Harrison County Community Foundation hired an executive director. Now that both offices have been established and Darin Duncan and Steve Gilliland are doing outstanding work, one wonders how anything ever got done before they were hired to run their offices.

Corydon is a historic jewel in Indiana, and the town square is a picture-perfect small Midwestern town square, one that should and must remain vibrant, even while others fall victim to the Wal-Marts and KMarts and strip malls. Of course, that will happen here if an organization withlocal support doesn't step forward and take the reins of responsibility. Martin and Pendleton are right and deserve support in this effort to hire a Main Street Corydon coordinator. We hope the people and the businesses of Corydon will give them that support.