400 Posts!

Rural Resurrection has now surpassed 400 posts! Since this blog started in 2018, 400 articles have been written to aid rural communities in the Midwest. It has been quite the experience. In that time, the blog has received awards and accolades from the Nebraska Planning and Zoning Association (@NPZA), APA Nebraska (@APA_Nebraska), and the Small Towns and Rural Planning (@APA_SmallTown) Division of the American Planning Association.

Over those 400 posts we have talked about a wide range of subjects from housing to the impact of RAGBRAI. We’ve started National Implementation Month, a month solely dedicated to implementing plans to make your community better. We’ve also talked about Star Communities and Destination Towns.

What Happened in the Past 100 Posts?

The past 100 posts were impactful and some of the best articles yet. We were able to check out the Star Communities of Chillicothe, Missouri, and Glencoe, Minnesota. The Destination Towns category really took off as well with the Missouri towns of Blackwater, Augusta, Arrow Rock, and Rocheport. There was also a post that game some clarification of the intent of Destination Towns.

Adaptive reuse continued to be a popular subject with a post about the creative reuse of a former Shopko in Wisconsin. There were also posts about Carnegie Libraries, stoic ageless structures that still have a prominent place in many rural communities. We also stumbled across the Summit Center in Bancroft, Iowa, while on RAGBRAI. This former school is finding new life and shows great potential for the future.

Over the past 100 posts we also added to a community’s tool kit through posts about Tax Increment Financing (TIF), small business incubators, strategic planning, crowdfunding, being “shovel ready”, and creating a National Register Historic District.

The Next 400 Posts?

What do you want to see in the next 400 posts? Do you want to see more of certain types of posts? Is there something new that can or has affected rural communities that should be addressed here?

Recently I’ve been trying out a new venture with this blog. I’m been dabbling in YouTube. As I’ve said, I have a face for radio and a voice for blogging. There’s also quite a bit of editing involved that I’m not that efficient at yet. It does bring an additional visual element and an additional possible viewer base. So let me know what you think about what’s been created so far and if you want to see more YouTube videos.

If you like this blog please share it with others. Join the Facebook page or follow me on Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn. Like and subscribe to my YouTube channel as well.

So here’s to the first 400 posts and hopes many more. As always, when it comes to your community, don’t work to just survive, thrive!