Posts Tagged ‘Hood River OR’

Hood River Biz Buzz

June 7th, 2010

Last week I wrote a post suggesting rural communities should conduct video interviews of entrepreneurs in their communities as a way of showcasing local businesses and building their community’s brand as a great place for entrepreneurs.  A couple days ago I stumbled across a blog that’s doing something very similar.

Hood River Biz Buzzrepresents the community of Hood River, OR (pop. 5831 according to the 2010 Census).  The blog’s “About” page offers the following as its purpose: 

A big part of what makes Hood River special is the vital business scene. Frustrated with the lack of local media attention to business news, I thought that a blog would be a good first step to share what I learn in my various work and volunteer activities.”

Peruse its posts and you will discover articles featuring local businesses, upcoming community events, and the latest news.  It’s a bit more expansive and eclectic than what I was talking about the other day, but I think that’s what makes it so fun and interesting.  It definitely leaves me with an impression that Hood River is a place I’d enjoy.

Stu Watson, the blog’s publisher, is a professional journalist with over thirty years of experience.  The blog, however, is a volunteer activity and a display of his love for his community. 

When I called on people to interview entrepreneurs in their community, I had in mind community volunteers being engaged in the project.  After all, that’s who gets the work done in most of the rural communities in our part of the country. 

If your community has someone with Stu’s experience, I’d highly recommend you engage him or her in the effort.  If not, look for other alternatives.

I like the idea that Rebecca Terk left as a comment on my blog post:

I do think this is the kind of project that community volunteers could pull off with some assistance, but I also think that group of volunteers has to be diverse enough in order to be able to identify different facets of the entrepreneurial efforts in the community.

I wonder if it’s also something that could be accomplished in a media/journalism course (do they still have such courses?) on a high school level if the school had faculty savvy in this area. That ties in young people and what they see as valuable/cool/attractive about a community (the promotion of which could attract more young people to the community).”

I love the idea of youth engagement.  I can see the project being a perfect match for a media/journalism course or even a business class for that matter.  It’s also an opportunity for community volunteers to contribute their knowledge to young people.  I know most educators would welcome a volunteer with knowledge of video production expertise in their classroom.

Whether it’s a blog like Hood River Biz Buzz or a series of video interviews with student involvement, I hope you find a way to lift up entrepreneurs and build a stronger brand for your rural community. 

Note:  I discovered Hood River Biz Buzz in a blog post by Rural Tourism Marketing, another excellent resource.

Photo Credit:  BillFromSpokane – Flickr

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Posted in Economic Development, Rural | Comments (0)