NOTE - THIS IS AN OPINION PIECE 

How to succeed in Bluffton by really trying
Address presented by Fred Steiner
to the Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce on May 13, 2016

For the next 20 minutes let’s focus on:
 “How to succeed in Bluffton by really trying.”

To get this started, ask yourself:
• Who are we – how would be describe ourselves?
• How are we different from other villages in Ohio?
• Can we put that uniqueness in a phrase?
• Who are Bluffton’s customers?
• How to we attract those customers?

First let’s look at ourselves - the Bluffton Grid
We are a small rural village in a culture that worships cities. We have to look out for ourselves.

The grid shows how the chamber relates to other groups in Bluffton. It shows relationships, power sources, and our safety net.

The grid is like ducks going down the Riley, constantly changing. The chamber’s task is to keep this grid in working order.

The question is: “Where do you fit on the grid?” Perhaps you fit one place, maybe several places. Maybe you don’t think you fit anywhere.

Bluffton is not one a community of one-hit wonders. You need to be part of a group to allow your thoughts to be heard. If you don’t think you are in one of these groups, jump in.

Power in Bluffton
The power in Bluffton might not exist in Bluffton. It might exist in Findlay. Findlay owns our hospital. In the past decade under Findlay’s direction $12 million was pumped into our hospital. Currently there is an addition $4.5 million drive.

Could we do this ourselves, without Findlay? Good question.

Maybe the power in Bluffton exists in Lima. The Republican Party is the most powerful part in Allen County. Three out of four registered voters in Bluffton and Allen County are Republicans.

I was in Allen County courthouse last week. There I saw a plaque recognizing a recent project to the courthouse. There were about a dozen names on the plaque. Three were from Bluffton. Each was a Republican. I don’t think that was a coincidence.

If the Allen County Republican Party came to Bluffton and picked a registered Republican to run for county office, I believe that person would win.

Could we do that ourselves, without Lima? Another good question.

Bluffton Attitude
Let’s address what I call the “Bluffton attitude.” How often do people from out of town tell us how great Bluffton is? If we hear this too often it will go to our heads. It's wonderful to think this is a great community, but...

• It’s a really bad idea to think we are better than other villages around us.
• It ought to be, “Let’s recognize where we are and focus on improvement.”

Theola Sutemeister, my eighth grade English teacher, lived in Bluffton all her life. She told us that other towns are just as good as ours. She told us that we shouldn’t pat ourselves on the back and brag about how great we are.

Are there other towns that do things better than we do? Here are three examples: Beaverdam, Lafayette and Ada.

Each has a high school alumni association. Each year former residents are “invited” back to those communities. When have we invited someone back to Bluffton – without a hidden agenda? Simple, “come back to Bluffton.”

Imagine if we had a BHS alumni banquet the night of the Wheels Fest. We’d have an extra 150, 250 maybe 300 people on Main Street. And we would know them. They might think, “Hey, this is a great town. Maybe I’ll retire and move back. Maybe I’ll encourage my children or grandchildren to enroll at Bluffton University. I’m certainly going to spend some money here. And I’ll probably keep coming back.”

I believe we’ve lost part of our Bluffton soul when we lost our alumni association.

Ada has a university like Bluffton has. It also has a “town and gown” association. Once a year the townies and the gownies sit down and have a banquet. They’ve done this for one-half century.

We don’t do it.

Ada also has a streetscape program we that copied. Except their streetscape has flowering trees in their retail district.  We don’t have that. I think we missing an opportunity. 

I know, people say, but the leafs clutter the drains. I've visited Ada weekly for three years. No one every complains about leafs cluttering Main Street drains.

Where are our welcome signs?

Last month I visited our daughter in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. It’s on the Mississippi River. Minnesota is on the other side of the river. She took me to a town in Minnesota, smaller than Pandora. It’s the “Apple Capital of Minnesota.” There’s a huge “Welcome” sign that you can see from the interstate.

Do we have any “welcome to Bluffton” signs? I don’t think so. There is no such sign. I guess we don’t really welcome people to Bluffton.

I believe we need to address the entrance to Bluffton, particularly at exit 142. There is nothing there that says welcome. There’s nothing there that indicates a vibrant community exists a couples minutes away. There’s nothing that says this community is any different from any other stop in Interstate 75.

Maybe we need a billboard south of Findlay and north of Lima reading: “Next stop Bluffton – the most interesting small town on your I-75 journey. 25+ shops and restaurants. (This offer is not available in other small towns.)”

Maybe this billboard should be south of Perrysburg at I-475. There is a Bronners’ of Frankenmuth billboard north of Bowling Green. And from it I’ve learned that town is open 364 days a year.

Massillon, Ohio, is known as the high school football capital of Ohio. It used to give baby boys born in its hospital bottles shaped like footballs. At least that’s what I’ve heard. They aren’t called the high school football capital of Ohio for nothing.

There are 300 babies born each year in the Bluffton Hospital. What do their parents receive from Bluffton? An invoice. Maybe that invoice ought to include a welcome bag of Bluffton made products.

Bluffton license plate
We passed by a great opportunity when we lost our Bluffton University Ohio license plate. Everyone in here can afford a vanity plate. We should have focused our efforts on buying Bluffton University plates. How many towns in Ohio have their own license plate? There was lots of free publicity there. It’s gone.

Dick Boehr stood up in the meeting a couple years ago and told us that we need to extend our Main Street sidewalks all the way down State Route 103 to the interstate exit. He added that we ought to extend our streetlights from Main Street and our downtown banners.

I thought he was crazy. CRAZY!

Then I drove to the Dayton Airport to pick up someone and turned off I-75 at Vandalia. What did I discover? Sidewalks going all the way to the interstate exit. Street lights going all the way to the exit. Vandalia banners going all the way to the exit.

What an impression! I said to myself, “This town has it figured out.” They know who they are and they know how to attract customers.

Several years ago I talked with Ropp Triplett about some ideas for Bluffton. I suggested that maybe our retail downtown should be Wi-Fi accessible for free.  Every salesperson from Toledo to Dayton would figure that out and discover us.

Technology has advance since that talk and that’s probably an outdated idea today. I also suggested we have a “Bluffton salesperson.” Several Bluffton businesses aren’t big enough to afford a full-time salesperson.

What if we had a salesperson who visited Lima, Findlay, Ottawa, Kenton, and Bowling Green and sold Bluffton products?

Other ideas I’ve had that never made it off the page:
For example:
• Bluffton Christmas money – like wooden nickels
• Bluffton Young Professionals Organization

When was the last time you encouraged a high school or college student to actually consider staying in Bluffton?

There are over 70 people in this room. If each of us simply encourage one BHS grad and one university grad to consider living here at minimum we’d touch 150 young people.

• Let’s offer people to have names of family members engraved in bricks in front of the town hall. Make it a fundraiser. It would also be an interesting conversation piece.
• Bluffton self-guided history walk, art walk, tree walk, Dillinger tour.
• A Bluffton foundation
• A dog park
• A Bluffton label “Made in Bluffton” – the Hancock County commissioners suggested that we do this.
• Bring the ice sculpture guy from the Blaze back in the winter and have maybe 20 ice sculptures on Main Street for a weekend winter festival.

Let’s not forget our Swiss Ingenuity
After all, we are a rural German-Swiss community.  We have some generational wisdom and traditions going back three, four and sometimes five generations. Not every community can say that.

How can we tap into that ingenuity for our benefit?

• We all want Bluffton to prosper
• We want Bluffton to be a destination
• We want Bluffton to be “the village” in northwestern Ohio, or all of Ohio

I believe the starting point is to answer:
• Who are we – how would be describe ourselves?
• Who are Bluffton’s customers?
• How do we attract those customers?
• I believe we need to focus on our location on I 75.

What is our best approach to attract travelers off the highway, bring them downtown and let them see for themselves what this small village offers.

Are we:
• The best family rest stop in Ohio?
•  Are we a town with an offer not available in other small towns?
•  A two-hour mini vacation spot?
• The most vibrant small town in Ohio – we have great vibes – music-culture-art?
• Maybe we are simply the best place to stop on Interstate 75. Visit and find out why.

How to succeed in Bluffton by really trying. 

Let me tell you what I’m going to do about this:
I’ve made a commitment to Phil Zimmerly, the chamber board president. I’m ready to study this for the next 12 months.  I invite anyone here to join me. We will simply to go meet with lots of people and hear their ideas. No idea is too far out.

I hope to bring these back next May with some recommendations. I believe if we try – we can succeed.

Thank you for considering my thoughts. Let's start the conversation.