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MSW director celebrates wins, fresh ideas, and every last detail
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
When Samantha Meyer took on the “executive director” title at Main Street Washington in late 2022, it was a considerably different organization than it is today.
For one thing, the broader Main Street America group had different, less detailed accreditation standards at the time. For another, Meyer’s predecessor was heavily focused on historical preservation, whereas the newcomer had a strong background in communication and marketing.
Meanwhile, MSW’s board was in the throes of a transformation, with some longtime members stepping out for personal reasons while a smaller number of new volunteers came into the picture. And with so many new faces came a lot of new ideas.
Ideas, Meyer said, that were embraced by the community.
“I would say it was very welcoming, a lot of the community didn’t understand Main Street, or know it existed,” she said. “We had some core volunteers that were just drained and tired, and we needed that new blood, essentially … from farmers markets to the rest of the committees it’s been kind of refreshing, to have those new people in.”
In the years since, some of Meyer’s biggest accomplishments were quite visible. The Downtown Investment Grant program — a collaborative business improvement initiative with the city of Washington — has grown more accessible, targeting more numerous, more affordable projects. Main Street’s events have grown increasingly popular. A massive wooden chair next to the Central Park fountain is a testament to Meyer’s push for more outdoor decor in the district, as is a growing local push for public art initiatives.
Other achievements, while equally important, happened in quiet offices and meeting rooms. Main Street Washington has upped its volunteer roster considerably, and has fully staffed boards handling more big projects at once.
Additionally, Meyer’s spent the last year building from scratch a massive spreadsheet detailing MSW’s strategic goals and plans to reach them, a document that dwarfs the typical “transformation strategy” template Main Street America shares with its member groups as part of the accreditation process.
Meyer said she needed the extra room to sufficiently detail her organization’s big plans.
“I’m very much a ‘reason person,’” she said. “I like to know why we’re doing something, why I’m doing something, is it worth my time? And you better have a good reason that it is worth my time, and what it’s going to do … so in my spreadsheet, I have more than they really ask for, but I do have the purpose for it all, the rationale.”
The importance of her work is hard to overstate.
The nonprofit provides a number of services in town, aimed at facilitating economic development, historic preservation, local organizations and a variety of grants. Those goals are achieved through all manner of projects improving visual designs, event planning, marketing efforts and construction consultations, among other things.
Meyer said the health of a town’s Main Street district could make or break a community’s long-term vitality.
“The downtown district is what makes people want to come here,” she said. “If you’re recruiting employees, they’re asking, ‘Why should I go there, why should I move my family to Washington, Iowa?’ And half the time, (businesses) are giving tours downtown, they’re taking you out to eat because they want you to know there’s places to eat, places to shop, there’s a farmers market every Thursday … there’s stuff going on all the time, it’s worth your time to move here.”
That long-term mission — putting the downtown area’s best foot forward — is what motivates Meyer, and gets her out of bed every day, she said.
“I want people that live here to be proud of where they live, at least have a piece of it to be proud of,” she said. “A piece that you can say, ‘Washington, Iowa’s my hometown, and I love it. There’s history there, there’s art there, there’s shopping, and eating, and it’s alive. And if they visit from out of town, I want them to say ‘I want to come back to this place.’”
Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com
