New Main Street director has a vision for Washington

WASHINGTON — Samantha Meyer has always loved small town life. Raised in Chariton, she moved to Washington with her husband a few years after her family moved there.

“When I first moved here … we would go to Hy-Vee or Walmart or whatever and I wouldn’t know anybody, and that would drive me nuts,” she said. “Because I came from Chariton where you couldn’t turn a corner without running into somebody you knew … but I love that, that’s one of my favorite things about towns like this.”

The tight-knit environment also appealed to her plans to start a family, and live close to relatives.

“I like that there’s like, 20 kids in a classroom at a time” she said. “It may not have all the giant opportunities of Iowa City or Regina or something, but I think we’re close enough to Iowa City … plus having grandma and granddad across town is very helpful.”

Meyer boasts a background in nonprofit work, with a lengthy career at the Washington County Hospital Foundation. While she spent nine months this year on marketing for KCTC, she said the allure of nonprofit work called her back, drawing her to apply at Main Street.

“It’s so volunteer-based, and meeting all of those people who love to volunteer and give their time away, it’s always kind of astounding to me,” she said. “It’s very rewarding getting to know them. We have a really cool community …

Much of the work, however, matches her marketing duties at KCTC or the hospital foundation.

“I did a lot of the same kinds of things for KCTC, marketing very much overlaps with this kind of work,” she said. “You’re marketing all of downtown, and telling people what’s there, who’s there and why you should go there.”

While the transition was quick, the decision was not. Meyer said it came only after lengthy deliberation, prompted by a board member approaching her to suggest the position.

“My husband was ultimately just like, ‘You seem really happy when you talk about it,’” she said. “It was just all those conversations. It was not a snap decision by any means, it took a lot of my husband and I going back and forth, pros and cons, you know … It was a very big decision and it was not made lightly, but I just felt like it was what made my heart happy.”

One major motivator is Meyer’s desire to see Washington’s downtown thrive.

“Our downtown is the heart of the town, and if it’s not here, people are just going to carry on to Iowa City, and then towns fail,” she said. “I have a five-year-old daughter, and I would love for all of this to still be here and better … fun things need to be happening, and we kind of lack on that.”

Meyer said she hoped to make that revitalization visibly successful.

“My vision would be people out shopping every weekend, or at least strolling around and at least window shopping, just seeing people out,” she said. “I’d like to see more people coming to the square just because. Not people that work there, necessarily, people choosing to shop local.”

The “how” question is more complicated. Meyer said she had a multifaceted approach that included appeals to working parents, increased signage advertising downtown and communication with the public about what those businesses have to offer.

“If they don’t know it’s here, they’re not going to waste their time,” she said. “Communicating with our shop owners is our first step, making sure that I know what they have. Then getting that out to the masses (is) the question, or the problem.”

On top of communication, organization will prove another invaluable tool. Meyer said she had taken extensive steps to keep track of everything in the air, entering Main Street in the days before some of its biggest yearly events.

“I’m getting it organized to how I do things and making sure that I’m not missing anything,” she said. “I like to see things and get a timeline going. If I had a fear, it would be … missing something. Because Sarah was done in August, there was not time to overlap and train, so I just don’t want to leave something out or miss what we’re expecting.”

It’s a talent that, ironically, does not carry over into her personal life.

“I’m a lot more flexible and fly by the seat of my pants at home,” she said. “At work it’s like, ‘OK, I’m going to have this meeting, then I’m going to do this,’ I’m a little more structured at work. Probably by necessity.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com