"Walking the Talk" PDC Conference 2023

On Wednesday, June 28, 2023 I was honored to present the closing keynote address at PA Downtown Center's Premier Revitalization Conference in Scranton, PA. My presentation, "Walking the Talk" recounted my walk of every street and alleyway in York City and the lessons it taught me through my first year as the Director of Downtown Inc, the organization committed to driving, enhancing, and encouraging investment in Downtown York, PA.

Here are my remarks:

Hello, and good afternoon! My name is Jonathan Desmarais, and I am the Director of Downtown Inc, the Main Street Organization for Downtown York, PA.

I want to thank Julie, Virginia, and the rest of the PDC team for the chance to present to you today. It is no small task to put a conference like this together, so let’s give the folks at PDC a round of applause.

I’ve had the chance to attend a few of these conferences the past few years, and I bet I can guess how you’re feeling at this point in the conference. You’re either coming to this session energized, with your mind filled to the brim with exciting ideas that you can’t wait to bring back to your community, or you’re tired, your mental head space is at negative 45, and you’re looking at me and saying to yourself, “ain’t nobody got time for this.” If you’re the former…I’ll have whatever you’re on, and if you’re the latter…I hear you, I see you, and we’ll get through this together.

Before I get into my topic for today, I’d like to do a brief introduction of Downtown Inc. Like many of the organizations you represent, our goal is to drive, enhance, and encourage investment in our community. We do that through promotions, placemaking, public safety, and economic development.

In 1986, York was selected by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a designated Main Street community. In 1998, we were recognized by the National Main Street Center as a Great American Main Street Award winner, aka a GAMSA, and later that year the York Business Improvement District Authority was implemented, which merged with the Main Street organization in 2006. Fast forward to 2018, and we became an affiliate of the York County Economic Alliance, the county’s primary business resource for facilitating expansion, funding, redevelopment, networking, business-to-business promotion, advocacy and workforce development among many other services. The YCEA was founded in 2012 through an affiliation between the county’s chamber of commerce and economic development organizations.

I began my work with Downtown Inc in February of 2020 as the Marketing and Communications Manager, and if you want to know what luck looks like, it looks like somebody who decided to leave the teaching profession just weeks before the introduction of the COVID pandemic, forever changing the stress levels of teachers. Even though I joined the Downtown Inc team at this time, my Main Street story doesn’t actually begin there.

For 11 years prior to joining the team at Downtown Inc, I taught high school literature. My favorite course to teach was a course I was able to design called “Voices from the Margins: Multicultural American Literature,” covering some of my favorite writers like James Baldwin, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Colson Whitehead, and Edwidge Danticat, but the author who will also hold a very special place in my heart is none other than Kurt Vonnegut. Fun fact, I undoubtedly have the largest collection of Vonnegut books in York, and quite possibly, Central PA. My wife, in her desire for an uncluttered living room, isn’t exactly the biggest Vonnegut fan. So it goes.

During this time, I also graduated from the University of Notre Dame Maryland with a Masters of English Literature. You may be asking yourself, how does a guy who has a Masters in Literature end up working as a Main Street Director? Maybe it’s the same reason that a guy with a Bachelor’s degree in music ended up teaching literature, but that’s a different story for a different time.

I invite you to join me on a walk, as I connect my footsteps from high school literature teacher to Main Street director.

While teaching literature, I fell in love with hiking. I have lived in Pennsylvania for the last 20 years, but I was born and raised in New Hampshire, not too far from the White Mountains. I wish I had discovered my love of hiking much earlier in my life, but I guess as the old saying goes, better late than never.

Over a three-year span I hiked most of the Mason-Dixon Trail, part of the Florida Trail, and the majority of the Appalachian Trail. In the summers of 2017 and 2018, I hiked over a thousand miles on the Appalachian Trail to raise scholarship funds for my students. While on trail, I gained several new life-long friends; people that I still communicate with to this day. If you’re familiar with long-distance hiking, than you know it’s tradition for hikers to receive trail names; a moniker that they become known by while on the trail. Depending on who you ask, I’m either known as Jonathan Desmarais or So It Goes, a nod to my affinity for Mr. Vonnegut.

And of course, as a teacher of literature, I took a deep dive into books all about the Appalachian Trail. I’d like to pause here to offer a special shoutout to Earl Shaffer, may he rest in peace, the first person to thruhike the Appalachian Trail in one go, over 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine. He completed his trek in 1948, and since nobody had previously conceived the notion that somebody could traverse the length of the Appalachians all in one year, his trail name quickly became “The Crazy One.” Why did I pause to call attention to Mr. Shaffer? Well, he's from York, of course.

From there, I started reading more about trails in general. Their history, their connections to communities, and what they mean for humanity. Another special York shoutout here: On the Trail: A History of American Hiking, written by my York County Economic Alliance colleague and PDC board member, Silas Chamberlin. Now that you know that you are in the room with greatness, I ask that after my presentation you remain orderly and calm in your attempts to have him sign your copy.

Then I started reading about people who hiked in new and adventurous ways, walking the length of the Keystone Pipeline, an epic adventure from New York to New Orleans, and one of the most prolific hikers of all time, Nimblewill Nomad, who hiked the Eastern Continental Trail stretching from Key West to Quebec.

And I should pause here to say a few words about Nimblewill Nomad and his influence on my life. In the Summer of 2021, alongside my wife and son, I was able to meet the legend himself. Not only is he the oldest man to ever hike the Appalachian Trail at the age of 83, but in the 20 years since his retirement, he has logged over 50,000 miles of hiking all over the United States. If you ever have visitors to your downtown complain about how far it is to walk from a parking garage to a destination, just tell them about Nimblewill Nomad.

Then I started reading and learning more about walking advocacy and how to make communities more walkable. If you haven’t yet read Jeff Speck’s Walkable City, I highly recommend it! I also recommend my friend, Jonathon Stalls’ book. In it, he shares experiences from his walk across American in 2010 and how it reshaped the way he looks at mobility, human dignity, nature, and human connections. Along the way, he confronts the way racism, ableism, and classism is built into our country’s systems and perceptions of transportation.

And then, I discovered the story of Matt Green, who was featured in the 2018 documentary, The World Before Your Feet, which chronicled his walk of every street and alleyway in New York City, all 8,000+ miles of them.

Let me tell you…..I. Was. Hooked. I wanted to do something like it as well.

It took Matt over six years to complete his epic journey, but I didn’t have the time for that sort of endeavor…

But I thought to myself, I could walk every street and alleyway in my own community…

So, I did.

51 hours and 171 miles later, I became the first known person to walk the length of every street and alleyway in the City of York, Pennsylvania.

And let me just tell you, it’s amazing what you can see and discover about your community when you’re traveling at 3 mph and you’re not separated from the world by a windshield. This for me, was a paradigm shift in the way that I viewed my community. From the streets, the sidewalks, the people, the sunsets and sunrises, public art, spaces of living, worship, play, and just plain existence, and everything that makes York York, I took it all in, courtesy of my own two feet.

Along the way, I saw things commonly seen.

And some things not commonly seen.

I experienced beautiful sights.

And less than beautiful sights.

I traversed spaces friendly to pedestrians.

And spaces hostile to pedestrians.

I witnessed signs of inspiration.

And desperation.

I got an idea for a fun little walking project for after my retirement.

And even a few business referrals.

I observed signs of investment.

And signs of disinvestment.

And all throughout my walk, I walked through generations of American history.

But most importantly, I fell in love. I fell in love with the community that I call home.

Not only did this accomplishment open up doors both professionally and personally, but it made me fall in love with my community’s people, its history, its architecture, and most importantly, its potential.

I did not plan this at all, but perhaps there was no more fitting way to end my walk of every street and alleyway in York City than to complete my journey on Home Way.

The temptation to tackle our community’s challenges at a mile a minute is all too real, but as my walk taught me, traversing through a community at 3 mph is far more healthy, rewarding, and transformative than zooming through at 40 mph.

Main Street work can be tedious, but through shared best practices and professional engagement, you can find fulfillment.

Through relationship building, merchant engagement, brain-sharing with partners, and celebrating the wins, I’d like to invite you to take a few more steps with me as I share a few lessons learned from my first year as the Director of Downtown Inc and some of the recent and exciting developments underway in Downtown York.

It’s likely that you all have merchants in your community that are often your biggest hindrance towards progress. You know, the ones who complain that your organization doesn’t do enough, does too much, does the wrong things, doesn’t support them, and the list goes on. The fact of the matter is, while downtown merchants can be our biggest detractors, they can also be our biggest ambassadors. Wouldn’t it be nice if your merchants shared the good word about your organization so you don’t have to all the time?

So, how, do you do it? Merchant Engagement. Of course, you’ll still have a handful of merchants who will never be happy. That’s okay. I’ve come to learn, it’s all part of being in community. These programs and initiatives may or may not be applicable to your community, but here is what we have found that has worked for us in the revitalization of Downtown York. And before I go on, I should pause to give a shoutout to our team’s Marketing & Merchant Engagement Manager, Hannah Beard. She wasn’t able to attend this year’s PDC Conference, but the bulk of these merchant engagement initiatives that I will share with you are the products of her exceptional work. She truly has mastered the art of converting merchants from detractors to ambassadors.

In the past two years, we launched our Facebook Merchant Group, which enables us to share daily information with our merchants. Everything from street closures, to grant opportunities, educational resources, and upcoming events. We started this group with a little over 20 merchants, and it has now grown to over 280.

We also send out monthly merchant e-news, with lots of the same content from our Facebook Merchant Group.

We’ve created a new business welcome packet that includes vital information for an individual looking to open a business in our community. This easily accessible folder makes use of QR codes to create a one-stop spot for everything one would need to know including information about our organization and its resources, demographics of our City and County, how to connect with us, development opportunities, financial resources, property maintenance codes, permits and certifications, and so much more.

Downtown York is comprised of three distinct micro-districts, the Market District, The Royal Square District, and the WeCo District. Each of these are represented by merchant groups that meet monthly, of which we maintain a regular presence to connect merchants to our resources and to stay up to date on the many events, programs, and initiatives happening throughout our community.

10 years ago as our community had far fewer small businesses, it was quite common for our team to have the time to meet with individual business owners. Now, with over 280 businesses in Downtown York, there is just not enough time in the work day to make this possible, but I still prioritize regular visits to as many merchants as I can. Whether I’m sharing about a grant opportunity, an upcoming business series webinar that we are hosting, or just stopping by to say hello, this small gesture goes a long way to earning the trust of the merchant community, not to mention, it also provides me with the excuse to get out of the office and walk a little.

Every month we recognize and celebrate a Merchant of the Month, honoring businesses and organizations who are doing good work in building up the community. For each award winner, we create a free Tiktok and Instagram reel to help promote.

The celebration of our outstanding individuals, organizations and businesses doesn’t stop there though. Every year, we host our Downtown First Awards, with award categories like Outstanding New Business, the Downtown Beautification Award, Outstanding Nonprofit, and the Changemaker Award, which recognizes an individual dedicated to making Downtown York a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community for all. The night is always a great time as we celebrate our community’s collective achievements while looking forward to the future.

And, what kind of Main Street Manager would I be if I didn’t include a shameless plug? So…..you too, can join us for this spectacular event, celebrating the amazing individuals, organizations, and businesses of Historically Edgy Downtown York! Tickets are now on sale. Just go to downtownyorkpa.com to learn more and to purchase your ticket today!

At Downtown Inc, we are all about supporting our merchants, because without their presence in our downtown, we would lose our vibrancy. Almost weekly, it seems, we are hosting a ribbon cutting for a new business or a business celebrating a milestone anniversary.

We regularly promote the businesses of Downtown York through our destination marketing efforts, we provide merchants with First Friday flags and window decals that include a QR code linking to our website’s full listing of monthly First Friday events.

We connect our merchants to people and resources through our downtown ambassadors program.

Through our BLOOM Business Empowerment Center we are able to offer grants, and now a as a certified CDFI, we can offer loans, as well as monthly business series webinars and regular business 101 and 201 courses, offered in both English and Spanish.

In the past year we also launched the Distrx App in Downtown York, a free location-aware mobile app that helps connect our visitors to all of the amazing restaurants, retailers, entertainment venues, and amenities to be found throughout downtown. If your community is not yet using this free app, I highly encourage you to check it out.

And, of course, what would a Main Street program be without events? Over the past few years, we’ve refined our events, focusing only on ones that have a high return on investment. Events like First Friday which regularly brings upwards of six to eight thousand people to our downtown, or our Sweetest Pint Tasting Tour, which introduces visitors to some of the new businesses, art galleries, and cool spaces in our downtown, while enjoying local craft beer and food.

And perhaps there is no greater representation of the work that we’ve been able to accomplish in the past few years than the number of entrepreneurs choosing to start or grow their business in Downtown York. Despite all of the effects of the global pandemic, we have seen 70 new businesses open their doors in Downtown York, with 14 moving to larger or secondary locations in the last three years alone. This is a testament to our community’s resilience, its creativity, and a whole host of partners working together.

As our business community has grown, so too has our social media presence. We have a lot to be proud of in Downtown York, and we are eager to tell our story! Most of our social media growth has been organic, but through some grant funding we have been able to launch a destination marketing campaign in the last year, targeting audiences outside of Central PA through geotargeted ads, billboards, and radio and tv spots.

Driven by our desire to introduce new visitors to our downtown, we also publish a quarterly magazine. If you look on your tables, you can find a few recent editions, and I encourage you to take them home with you.

Spring, Summer and Fall, we publish the Downtown York Magazine, focused on telling new and unique stories about the businesses, people, and culture that make up our growing and thriving community, aimed at reaching new audiences and inviting them to visit.

The YCEA also publishes three magazines throughout the year, highlighting what sets York County apart, helping to bring awareness to the business opportunities that abound throughout the county. You can also find some copies of our YoCo Connect on your tables.

In the Winter, we do a joint magazine edition, called our Changemaker edition, focused on telling the stories of people of color, who make things happen each and every day in our community.

By the way, as with any Main Street organization, funding is always top of mind. As our President and CEO, Kevin Schreiber always says, “no money, no mission,” and our magazine has provided us an excellent opportunity to seek sponsorship dollars, while also telling the story of our community to a wider audience.

Downtown York has been the recipient of significant redevelopment funding in the past few years. In RACP funding alone, our community has witnessed over $74million dollars devoted to large-scale development projects to drive continued economic development.

Speaking of telling your community’s story, we all play a vital role in revitalizing our communities, but we also need to champion our communities. If you’ve got good news to share, not matter how small or large, share it. Keep it at the ready. Work it into conversations. Build it into your organization’s narrative. Share it on your personal social media. Be obnoxious about it. Make your narrative infectious so others start sharing the good word.

Every week, I share a “High Five” with my board so that they are equipped to share our organization and our community’s success. Every month, I share a monthly high five with our Mayor and City Council.

And I think, one of our most recent initiatives that has been the most transformative, is the intentionality to connect with our peers in other communities. In 2022, we visited four regional peer organizations and this has continued in 2023.

Touring the community and connecting with their team has provided us an opportunity to not only share what we’ve found to have worked in our community but to bring back numerous ideas and best practices, and sometimes it’s just nice to talk to a peer who knows exactly what you’re going through. You just can’t beat free therapy.

In addition to visiting other communities, we’ve also welcomed other peer organizations to visit with our team and learn what’s going on in Downtown York.

And while our community has seen so much recent development, there has been no bigger development project for our community than the recently reopened historic Yorktowne Hotel, which opened its doors once again this past February after nearly 7 years of redevelopment.

Serving as a cornerstone in our community since 1925, this historic landmark unfortunately fell into disrepair. Everyone in York has their own “Yorktowne Story” whether it be their senior prom, running into presidential candidates in the lobby, weddings, anniversaries, first jobs, last jobs, and the list goes on, and in order for this momentous legacy to survive and remain as a community cornerstone, serious reinvestment was needed.

Nearly seven years of hard work, late nights, creative fundraising, and more than just a few headaches…

But it was all worth it!

The newly reopened Hotel, preserves history while meeting the needs of guests with modern amenities.

As the 100th Hilton Tapestry Collection Hotel, guests of the Yorktowne Hotel will rest assured that they will receive top notch hospitality.

With the modern traveler in mind.

And the reimagination of formerly blighted space.

And offering guests the only rooftop bar in the City with views for miles!

I could stay up here all day telling you what the Yorktowne Hotel means to the future of Downtown York, and if you attended the Townie Awards last night, you got a small glimpse into that. I also have so much more to share about the work that we’ve done and the work that is underway to revitalize my community, but as the old saying goes, “seeing is believing,” and there’s no better way to experience Downtown York than to visit yourself. Which is why I am proud to announce that…

Pennsylvania’s 2024 Premier Revitalization Conference will be held in…Historically Edgy Downtown York!

I look forward to welcoming you all to the community that I’ve walked, that I love, and that I call home. Thank you.