By Miles Flynn
Southern Indiana Business Report
JASPER — After besting Brighton, Michigan, and clobbering Champaign, IL, in previous rounds, Jasper was pushed into the final round of the Strongest Town contest April 1 by edging out Yellow Springs, Ohio, in the online voting: 53%-47%. The championship round pits Jasper against Norwood, OH, which is coming off a strong victory over Durango, CO: 60.2%-39.8%.
Voting kicked off Monday, April. 4, following the posting of a live interview with Jasper Mayor Dean Vonderheide and community representatives from Norwood, Ohio.
“Our value system is one that we’re very proud of. When people come to Jasper, they always comment about how clean the community is. They’ve never been to as clean a community as Jasper, Indiana,” Vonderheide said in the webcast. “I think that’s built off our values, and those values are shared not only by residents that’ve been here their whole life, but those that move in from other areas of the world and the country, they come in sharing values with regard to religion and religious practices, with regard to work ethic, and are highly competitive. That’s one of the things we hang our hat on, that we’re a very competitive community and just really try to do the right things.”
The video of the full interview, and the voting link, can be found by clicking here. Voting closes at 1 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 7.
“Jasper has a great chance to win the contest,” Mark Nowotarski, the Jasper resident who nominated the city for the contest, told Southern Indiana Business Report. “We have been up against some very good competition, and Norwood, Ohio, being a community within Cincinnati, has done some very good things to revitalize their town, so it ought to be interesting. We need to get the word out as much as we can, even more than what we have done in the past.”
Nancy Eckerle, member of the city council and executive director of the Jasper Chamber of Commerce, is also confident about the city’s chances. “I feel really good about it,” she shared. “I think people will jump on board.”
Community spirit drives success
Nowotarski and Eckerle noted success in the contest and Jasper’s success overall owe a great deal to the willingness of so many members of the community to jump in and work together on achieving great things.
“Again, when you look at the investments and community involvement over the years with the development of the River Walk, Buehler Park, the City Mill, the Train Depot and Spirit of Jasper Train, the convergence of the old Jasper Country Club to the Parkland recreation and nature area, the River Centre and the Cultural Center, they all have added to the vibrancy of the community,” Nowotarski commented. “But it doesn’t stop there. The plans for the downtown revitalization, the intermodal pedestrian and bike plan and the Heart of Jasper facade grant to help local shops update and upgrade the outside of their buildings will be another plus.”
And such efforts don’t just happen, Eckerle said. She pointed out they’ve grown from intensive community planning through the years that has involved the people of Jasper speaking up on what’s important to them. “These are action documents we use every year,” she said. “… We look very closely at them at budget time.”
Nowotarski also expressed thanks to the Jasper businesses that have contributed to the betterment of the community as partners.
What comes next
The winner of the 2022 Strongest Towns contest, the seventh such event hosted by the Strong Towns civic advocacy group, will be announced Friday, April 8. In addition to bragging rights and more national publicity, the winning community will also be visited by Chuck Marohn, author and Strong Towns leader, during a victory celebration.
While Nowotarski, Eckerle and thousands of their friends and neighbors hope for good news with the announcement of the top winner, they also can’t help but feel that their city has already won a lot by making it this far in the competition.
“I feel this contest has and will give us some great visibility and publicity that will result in more community pride and get others interested in visiting Jasper and possibly considering moving to Jasper,” Nowotarski said.
Find more on Nowotarski’s inspiration for nominating the community he loves in Southern Indiana Business Report’s earlier story on the contest.