Arktana, a shoe and clothing store in downtown Camas. (Alisha Jucevic/The Columbian) Photo Gallery
CAMAS — There was no passing tumbleweed nor did the sound of clanging boot spurs fill the air, but Camas transformed into the Wild West on a recent weekday.
Merchants in cowboy hats and bandannas marched down Northeast Fourth Avenue and announced it was time to go rogue.
“We’re a fighting town,” said Ann Matthews, owner of Arktana, a shoe and clothing store in downtown Camas. “We fight for what we’re passionate about. It’s hard to tell us no.”
They filmed their downtown march in a video produced by Ernie Geigenmiller, owner of Camas-based Lacamas Magazine, an online publication. He also filmed video features on various businesses around the city while Camas tried to get on the show.
The Wild West-themed video was used in a pitch to the show’s producers for a Camas-centered spinoff called “Small Business Revolution Out West,” as the show has only featured towns located in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois and the upcoming season in Arkansas. Camas merchants haven’t received an answer on their pitch, but were told that they’re the only city in the show’s four seasons to make such an offer.
“We’re not done,” said Wendy DelBosque, chef at Natalia’s Cafe. “We’re still a force to be reckoned with.”
Camas merchants and the downtown association want to keep that excitement for all things Camas going. Whether or not they end up on a TV show, Camas residents and business owners are looking to use their near-spotlight experience to bring the town closer together and make downtown Camas into more of a regional destination.
‘This sparked something’
The Downtown Camas Association didn’t come away empty-handed from its four-month campaign to get on “Small Business Revolution.” While Camas finished in the final six, Carrie Schulstad, executive director of the association, said the experience opened up merchants to talk more about their needs.
“We have all of these small businesses,” Schulstad said. “Some are new and fledgeling and need help with things like social media. Others are rock stars, but still need help. How do you educate all of them?”
Schulstad said the association has come up with a few ideas that need some fleshing out. One idea has been to team up with local finance employees to teach small-business training classes. In the effort to get on “Small Business Revolution,” Schulstad said many locals have offered to volunteer their time in however they can help, and it has brought the association closer. It also opened up her eyes to some of the hardships local merchants are facing.
“A couple of business owners said they don’t bring home a paycheck, and haven’t for years,” Schulstad said. “This needs to be more than a hobby. We don’t want our businesses going away. I had a shop downtown for eight years. I know how hard it is. I went one year without a paycheck during the recession, but that can’t be the norm. I was lucky to weather the storm.”
By the numbers
A look at Camas compared with Wenatchee and Port Townsend, two other cities in the Washington Main Street program:
•Camas’ downtown has 130 private businesses in about 16 blocks. There is currently one vacancy, and vacancies are typically filled in a month.
•Wenatchee’s downtown has 163 commercial spaces in a four-block radius. There are currently three vacancies.
•Port Townsend’s downtown and uptown have about 320 businesses in an eight-block downtown and five-block uptown. Many of its historic Queen Anne buildings have businesses on both the first and second floors.
Matthews is hopeful that Camas business owners can use the “Small Business Revolution” experience to band together a bit more and share their own stories, as well as continue to help each other.
“We have a lot of resources,” she said. “This definitely sparked something.”
She was hopeful Camas would be picked for the show to draw more attention to the city and its downtown. Matthews is preparing to open a new Arktana location in Felida in July, her second location. She’ll split time between the stores, but said she sometimes worries it’s hard for people to stumble upon Camas’ downtown.
“Fourth Avenue is great once you get here,” she said. “It’s hard to accidentally end up here.”
If Camas had won, she would have liked to see some of that money poured into a new sign, or more signs, pointing people toward downtown.
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DelBosque said Natalia’s was hoping to use some of the prize money for a new grill and better ventilation at the cafe. Marquita Call, co-owner of Camas Gallery, said she would’ve liked some help renovating her shop. She added that all the merchants support each other, and she’s hoping the enthusiasm around “Small Business Revolution” will bring in that support from others, as well. Call, 76, is a lifelong Camas resident, and said that while the city established for its paper mill has undergone quite a bit of change over the years, the one thing that has not changed is “the sense of wellness.”
Seattle to Medford
While Camas tried to get on “Small Business Revolution,” the city functioned as a monthlong love fest for downtown, which is why Schulstad is optimistic about the future of her businesses.
“Each small business creates its own destination,” she said. “We have to market the whole area. If we’re all teaming together like this, it makes that a bit easier.”
Schulstad hoped Camas would be the featured city not only because of the attention it would bring, but also because viewers would fall in love with the local merchants, like she’s done when watching past seasons. Still, she thinks the momentum can be used to gain Camas a bit more attention, at least regionally.
“We want to become a destination,” she said. “We want people from Seattle to Medford (Ore.) to know us.”
While residents of a small town aren’t always on board with more people discovering — or moving to — their slice of paradise, Schulstad said this effort isn’t about growth.
“It’s about strengthening what we’re doing,” she said. “All around us is huge development. A historic downtown is important. We don’t want to get swallowed up in new development.”
Schulstad said she’s specifically talking about development at the Port of Camas-Washougal in Washougal, development north of Lacamas Lake, the new Vancouver waterfront and development in the old quarry at Southeast 192nd Avenue and Southeast Brady Road.
“We don’t want them to not go to those places,” she said. “We want to be included in the circuit of places people go.”
Bringing Main Street to Camas
The Downtown Camas Association is one of 34 cities in the Washington Main Street program, which is the local branch of the national Main Street program. Breanne Durham, Main Street director with Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, said there isn’t one strategy that works for a town when using the Main Street program to revitalize a downtown. She said the program urges cities to play up their unique features and history, and said Camas does a great job promoting its history as a mill town.
The Washington Main Street program started in 1984, and Durham said she has seen positive impacts around the state, especially as trends in retail have moved away from shopping malls.
“Regardless of your age or your generation, people are all really hungry for that unique sense of place,” Durham said. “Two of the largest demographics by age are (baby) boomers and millennials. Those two groups are known to be moving into downtowns at a higher rate, where you have amenities all around you.”
Small businesses do have to deal with online shopping, though, Durham said. She said the program wants merchants to help their communities understand how spending money locally impacts their neighbors. That is something Matthews also hoped to see done more.
“We donate daily to this community,” she said. “When people need to raise money for a cause, they come to us. We’re here to support and participate in the community.”
Durham said it’s important to get a community on the same page when revitalizing an area, or trying to make it grow. That way, its community members are responsible for creating their own change.
“Change can be a scary thing. What we’re talking about with Main Street is change,” she said. “The positive, I think, is it’s locally driven change instead of outside change. Change is inevitable, particularly in areas where there is some type of boom.”
Outside inspiration
Durham cites Wenatchee and Port Townsend as two Washington success stories at using the Main Street program.
Linda Haglund, executive director of the Wenatchee Downtown Association, said her organization has made a lot of progress moving new businesses into downtown’s historic brick buildings. One way they’ve done that is with their Downtown Possibilities Tour, which is run twice a year. The association takes prospective business owners around to vacant spaces.
She described downtown Wenatchee as a “funky, fun place” in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. The downtown has 163 businesses within a roughly four-block radius, and captured more than $6 million last year in private investment money from businesses in downtown, Haglund said.
“We have never seen the revitalization in my lifetime that I recall,” said Haglund, 62, who has lived in Wenatchee all her life. “Downtown has always been that heart in our community because it’s old buildings. It’s the buildings I grew up in. What I see happening now is more of a vibrant destination.”
Mari Mullen, executive director of the Port Townsend Main Street Program, said her association looks to preserve, promote and enhance the city’s historic business district, which is done partly through a facade improvement loan program, a micro loan program and 20 special events throughout the year.
She said the city has had a tourism director, and the Main Street program supports learning about the history of the town — which was founded in 1851 and is known for its Victorian seaport — through a walking tour guide in collaboration with local partners. The association is working on a haunted stories tour to debut later this year, as well.
Mullen praised the work of Schulstad and the Downtown Camas Association, especially their social media drive while trying to get on “Small Business Revolution.” The Washington Main Street program held a summer meeting in Camas recently, and Mullen said she and others left impressed with the city.
“Restaurants were opening, buildings were being restored, high-tech companies established and the downtown was vibrant and well-cared for,” she said. “I loved the intimate and vibrant feeling of their downtown, with the green canopy of trees and interesting shops/cafes.”
Durham said that if Camas wants to make itself into more a regional destination, perhaps like Wenatchee or Port Townsend, it has to remain authentic and take care of its residents first.
“The best thing you can do is to focus on making it a great place for the locals,” she said. “If you focus on the locals first, that translates into the type of destination that is more sustainable. When a community focuses on tourism as their only strategy, that cannot work. That’s a lofty goal. If it takes off and succeeds, then you risk having left your residents behind.”
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