Population: 18,000
Situation: Dead Downtown
Action: Built Nutcrackers
Result: 40,000 Town Visitors a Year
Steubenville had a dead downtown. The town had risen to prominence on steel but now, with the decline of manufacturing, the town was suffering. The downtown was stale. The town is about an hour west of Pittsburgh however which provides some opportunity. Jerry Barilla, owner of the local appliance shop was the champion with the dream to make a “Dickens Victorian Village of statues that draw people and customers” like Cambridge, Ohio. He recalls the idea hit him like a “Bolt of Lighting” that they could do nutcrackers.
Fellow local businessman Mark Nelson helped build some of the first giant nutcrackers. The idea brought the passion and they continued to create another 37 of them. The nutcrackers portrayed local figures, historical figures, professions, and characters.
They setup the light display at Fort Steuben Park, a historical site where Mr. Barila helped out. It was thrown together late in the year, afraid to advertise, they pulled the trigger. That year, over 2,000 people came to visit.
The following year in 2016, they created 69 more nutcrackers. Local businesses, organizations, families, and individuals sponsored their creations. Think cultural clubs to dentistry sponsored the nutcrackers. 2017 another 50 were added, 2018, another 20. As of 2018 there were 170 nutcrackers.
Local Draw From Big CIties
2018, more than 40,000 people came to see the statues. That is 40,000 people from pittsburgh, toledo, buffalo, cincinnati, and further.
Sponsoring the Statues
Steubenville allowed businesses to sponsor the creation of these nutcrackers. Selling sponsorships to local businesses help them get visibility and add to the towns theme for a fee. This structure of company sponsored statues could be used by many tows across the nation without stepping on each other’s toes.
Visitor Spending in Steubenville
40,000 people spending $100+ on non lodging spending in a city has a large economic impact. They are using their christmas themed inertia to create a winter long christmas market nearby and are hoping to extend it to a year round market. There they sell everything from selling nutcrackers to reindeer sausage. They see this opportunity to also have activities like sleigh rides, live music and hot cocoa. They even support year round christmas store. They do have at least 4 million dollars coming in every year from these nutcrackers.
Steubenville is the perfect example of a town with creative city developments. It just goes to show, it doesn’t have to be expensive to attract tourists, just creative. From there, many other businesses can start and exist, which then in turn makes the town more of an attraction all together.
Leavenworth, Washington is an example of a town who has capitalized on this to the extreme. Leavenworth too has a christmas village. They made their town into a creative city and have prospered ever since. Anoka, Minnesota has done something similar but for Halloween!
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