By David Fleet
fleet@mihomepaper.com
Ortonville — There was plenty of attractions in the village over the last two decades. Creek Fest celebrated the Kearsley Creek, the village waterway once home to founder Amos Orton’s mill; Beets, Beats & Eats attracted local musicians and local cuisine on summer evenings and a vibrant Farmers Market feature homegrown eats along with area arts and crafts in the summer months.
While the local events attracted visitors downtown, the activities were just one cog in a moving gear of a growing community.
This week’s segment is the second in a series provided by The Citizen newspaper that covers the progression of the Ortonville Downtown Development Authority and the affiliation with Main Street America and Main Street Oakland County. Two decades of history since its inception locally in 2004 and the Main Street approach is as valuable today as it was 20 years ago.
It begins with local residents sharing a vision for their community. At the core is a small-town experience, the visual and economic center of Ortonville surrounded by Brandon and Groveland townships. At the heart is Main Street, the focus of an All-American, authentic village that has remained a hub of activity for more than 175 years.
“Main Street provides a grass-roots platform where the people who live there can make a difference in a big way,” said Molly LaLone, who served as the Ortonville Main Street Manager/DDA Executive Director from 2007-2016. “The community received state and local recognition for all their efforts.”
In the fall of 2007 LaLone stepped up and despite some bumps in the road, provided the leadership for Main Street’s continued success.
One hurdle the Village was not spared from was the Great Recession from 2007 to 2009, the sharp decline in economic activity was the largest economic downturn since the Great Depression. Still in the Spring of 2009 the village’s economic development program met all 10 criteria in an annual evaluation, earning national accreditation.
The 10 criteria used to evaluate progress in Main Street communities are broad-based community support; vision and mission statements; historic preservation ethic; paid, professional DDA/Main Street Program Director; program of ongoing training; reporting of key statistics; Main Street Network membership; comprehensive work plan; active board and committees and adequate operating budget.
New plans for the library to host business assistance lecture series and grants for businesses through Downtown Development Authority, offering up to $1,500 per business to update facades.
That growth continued.
Ortonville may be the smallest Main Street community in Oakland County, but the village won big Nov. 14, 2008 at the MSOC Main Event.
The annual appreciation party honors 12 communities in the county that are in Main Street, an economic development program. The Ortonville Downtown Development Authority received two awards during the party one for most volunteer hours, 5,500, and another for outstanding event series for the Beets, Beats & Eats farmers market.
“I learned about Main Street in Ortonville,” said LaLone, who currently serves as the Southfield Downtown Development Authority Director and as Vice Chair for the Michigan Downtown Association. “Ortonville had a lot to teach me.”
LaLone recalled several of the projects she implemented for the village, including working with the Detroit Institute of Art and bringing art downtown and when then Papa Bella’s Pizza owner Joe D’Anna would teach children how to throw a pizza.
“In Ortonville people really want to be involved,” she said. “They knew if they really want a community they are proud of they must do the work. And Ortonville has successfully done that, and continued to do the work. It’s a process of what we can do next, because we were a small community and we did things ourselves. We did not hire consultants and learned as we went. I now understand what it means to revitalize a village because of Ortonville.”
“It all started for me in Ortonville,” she said. “Ortonville is a great representative of many small towns in Michigan. Through much of Michigan you can find a town about the same size as Ortonville. Those small towns can look at Ortonville and say ‘that’s how I should be doing it.’”
Timothy Colbeck, is an Oakland County Senior Planner and a liaison to a several of Main Street Communities including Ortonville.
“If you were to look at Main Street in a national lens there’s more communities nationwide that would look like Ortonville,” said Colbeck. “They’re small communities, a lot of them are in rural places and that’s part of the attraction. It’s meant to be a model driven by volunteers without a lot of resources. It’s coming from the community, and that model is meant to be just a framework. Main Street is driven by the uniqueness and special qualities of the community. Highlighting the things that are there, not the things that are not. A great example was Creek Fest which highlighted Kearsley Creek which flows through Ortonville.”
While the event side is an important piece, it’s just a piece, he added.
“It’s an economic development program first and foremost,” he said. “And has many layers, from promotion to business attraction to design capitalizing on the history of the community. Put it all together and create a sense of place in Ortonville. Main Street embraces the core of the community and really highlights it for multiple audiences.”
“When we do our Main Street evaluations of the organization, Ortonville does a fantastic job,” he said. “There’s a wonderful volunteer base that has been built over time and represents a broad spectrum of the community. There’s a really good representation of the community which indicates a lot of buy in.”