Just off the San Juan Highway — a stunning loop through Southwest Colorado — is a cider works on a mission to change the future of hard cider by digging into its past. EsoTerra is nestled next to the river in Dolores, Colorado (population: 825) in the heart of orchard country. The surrounding area is home to an estimated 6,000 apple orchards, many of which were first planted … [Read more...]
Meet the Developer Building a Rural Downtown From Scratch
Developer Justin Forde often drove through Mapleton, North Dakota, thinking, ‘Here is a town without a downtown.’ The bedroom community has nearly doubled in size over the last decade and is now home to about 1,500 people. It has an 18-hole golf course, and it’s a short drive from Fargo, where many residents commute for work. Yet there was nowhere to grab a cup of coffee. One … [Read more...]
Nonprofit model for civic engagement transforms hundreds of small towns
When the Verso Paper Mill in Bucksport, Maine, closed its doors in 2014, it was a devastating blow to the small community of 5,000. Nestled alongside the Penobscot River on the way to Acadia National Park, Bucksport draws summer tourists, but up until December 2014, it was a paper mill town first and foremost. Bucksport lost 40 percent of its tax base with the closure of the … [Read more...]
New approaches to the rural grocery store
In rural communities around the country, independent grocery stores are at risk. Retiring grocery store owners are struggling to find buyers, while low prices at big box convenience stores add increased pressure to already slim profit margins. In rural Kansas alone, 105 grocery stores shuttered from 2008-18. More than half of those communities are still waiting for a store … [Read more...]
Redefining the ‘Small Town Mentality’: Matt Dunne on Burgeoning Rural Digital Economies
Recession, automation and globalization have created a divide between the economies of urban and rural places. Together these forces have led to population loss and “brain drain” as college graduates strapped with student loan debt moved to bigger towns with more job opportunities. That too becomes a catch-22 — less local talent means less opportunity for entrepreneurship and … [Read more...]