Five Years of Rural Resurrection

Ah, time flies doesn’t it?

It has been five years. Although I published a “coming soon” post in March of 2018, the first real post on Rural Resurrection was on April 3, 2018. That’s when this whole thing started. That first post on RuralResurrection.com wasn’t a literary work of art, but it was a start to something intended to have a larger impact than my sometimes incoherent rambling.

When I started this blog I was in the first few years of my presidency at the Nebraska Planning and Zoning Association (@NPZA). NPZA is an association of people involved in planning and zoning in Nebraska. Although there are some county zoning administrators and city planners in the mix of the membership. Many of the members are planning commission members or city clerks from small towns. Some of them have other jobs with the community like building inspectors, they also handle the weight of the town’s planning and zoning duties as well.

I’ve had a number of them come up to me asking not just planning and zoning questions, but a whole swath of other topics from economic development to grant writing to tourism. Many of them didn’t know who else to ask. There are websites out there that address those aspects, but often they’re geared toward larger communities and the scale doesn’t work for these rural towns. That’s what drove me to start Rural Resurrection.

For more on why I started the blog, check out my “Why Rural Resurrection?” and “Why Don’t Just Survive, Thrive!” posts.

There have been a few different series of posts that have emerged from Rural Resurrection over these first five years that have drawn attention…

National Implementation Month

National Implementation Month is one of the unique things that I started with this blog. It hasn’t caught on throughout the rest of the country, but it’s only a matter of time…right? The concept for this month-long event came out of my earlier articles entitled, “Implementation, the Lost Step in Comprehensive Planning“. The article looked into how few comprehensive plans are utilized to their fullest extent. Why go through the arduous work to develop a comprehensive plan if you aren’t going to use it on a regular basis?

Since then I’ve written posts each January that are aimed at helping communities start the implementation process and be successful at it.

Wild Ride Across Iowa

The wild ride across Iowa that happens every July has been another fun part of this website. Although my readers probably get bored of all the Iowa-related posts, We’ve taken a look at the impact of bicycle tourism and how other towns have prepared for such large events. The ride has also sparked posts on the towns along the way like West Union and Emmetsburg.

The Buff Riders and I recently had a planning meeting to work through the basics of this year’s ride. It should be an interesting one as this year mark’s their 50^th ride across Iowa.

Star Communities

Star Communities are communities that deserve recognition for what they have accomplished. Much like receiving a gold star from your teacher as a kid. They are a designation that communities should be proud of receiving as they celebrate the great work community members have done over the years. Star Communities is a regular post on Rural Resurrection, with two to four awarded per year.

Reinvigorated

Lately, I’ve lacked the energy for this blog. It is quite a bit of work and overall time commitment to post regularly and promote posts. But recent events have reinvigorated me. In March I was given two awards at the Nebraska Planning Conference. The first, from NPZA, was for my efforts as President for the past 8+ years. But the nomination also mentioned Rural Resurrection. An aspect that the Master of Ceremonies, David Ptak, took as an opportunity to suggest to the audience to check out. Also that night, I was awarded the APA Nebraska (@APA_Nebraska) Planning Excellence Award for Grassroots Outreach in relation to my work with Rural Resurrection. It is a great feeling that I have so much support from my peers in Nebraska for the work I’ve done here.

By the time this post gets published, I will have received a third award with connections to Rural Resurrection. This one is an Honor Award from the Small Towns and Rural Planning (@APA_SmallTown) Division of the American Planning Association.

What’s Next?

So, what’s next for Rural Resurrection? I’d like to say that I have a grand plan…but I don’t. A community planner without a plan?! Blasphemy! But I am contemplating a few new ideas.

This year I’m trying out a new venture with the blog. I’m trying 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 I guess we’ll see where it goes.

What do you want to see in the next five years? 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?

Who knows, I might try my hand at writing books again, or consulting. I guess we shall see how this whole thing plays out.

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