What are some other communities that have transformed themselves in the past few years? Are these places we can visit, or can we invite someone to come to Rock Hill and give us insight/answer our questions? Do they have strategies or programs that we could use in Rock Hill, too?
List your thoughts & ideas below! Feel free to include links, images, or videos that help tell the story.
When you Google "fun southern cities to visit," this is the first result that comes up:
https://www.southernliving.com/souths-best/cities#souths-best-cities-birmingham. It lists the following cities:
1. Charleston, SC
2. Savannah, GA
3. New Orleans, LA
4. Nashville, TN
5. Asheville, NC
6. Atlanta, GA
7. Austin, TX
8. Raleigh/Durham, NC
9. Richmond, VA
10. Birmingham, AL
Based on the geography of these areas, I think it would be interesting to see what Austin, Raleigh/Durham, Richmond, and Birmingham are doing to stand out. None of them have major natural draws (like mountains or oceans), so they're obviously leaning on their culture to sell themselves as a destination.
A few other cities that jumped to mind for me:
Greenville, SC, with their #YeahThatGreenville campaign:
• Website: https://www.visitgreenvillesc.com/
• Hashtag Posts: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/yeahthatgreenville/?hl=en
Cleveland County's "Charlotte's Backyard" campaign:
• Website: https://charlottesbackyardnc.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charlottesbackyardnc/
I believe the answer lies in a book called the New Localism. It's a survey of the bottom up approach cities that have fallen flat due to industries shutting down and or bankruptcy and how they utilized business and tech incubators to rebuild. Local talent, marketing geographical strong points, publicizing inexpensive economy perks etc. Rock Hill almost has the idea, but the bottom up approach needs to be better utilized. Red tape and beurocracy needs to be put to bed for the better of the community. Gentrification also is a problem that needs to be addressed here. Popping up riverbanks and Baxters are mere bandaids that only create exclusivity. Also, unless we education funding out of sports and into arts and sciences, tech incubator and knowledge park won't live up to expectations. It's not any one community we need to model after, it's the best of many that are like ours.
RockHillReader, thanks for the suggestion! For anyone else reading, here's a link to New Localism on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/New-Localism-Cities-Thrive-Populism/dp/0815731647
I'll definitely be checking it out!
I just got back from a great weekend away in Raleigh and Durham. The reason why those cities were so fun to visit? We knew where the "downtown" was and that we didn't have to move around too much once we got there.
The last thing someone wants is to arrive in a place, park, go to a shop, get back in the car to get to another place across town, park, go to a restaurant, get back in the car, park again, etc...
I'd love to see Rock Hill create and foster that centralized area for tourists to be excited about.
Close by, we can visit Waxaw or Belmont.
Or an example in SC, Lake City has done wonders!
Richmond relies upon its history with Cary Street, St. John's Church (Patrick Henry), Maggie Walker, Henricus, Edgar Allen Poe, and Hollywood Cemetery (just to name a few)... ...to draw a crowd.
It uses the James River to its fullest, offering concerts, great day hikes, and has some of the best urban whitewater that's fun to kayak and boat.
It has a well-developed arts & culture scene (http://www.1708gallery.org/inlight/) that feeds directly into a vibrant nightlife (http://www.shockoeslip.org/restaurants.php).
Their local festivals are unique, like the Bacon Festival, and events like Friday Cheers on Brown's Island (http://www.venturerichmond.com/events/venture/cheers.html) draw audiences from across the region and beyond.
RVA also has developed a fun branding campaign that the community has embraced. (http://rvacreates.com/merchandise.php) It's nearly impossible to drive around town and not see an RVA sticker on every car around you.