Spencer showcased in 'Great Places' presentation

(Photos by Randy M. Cauthron) Connie Goeken and Curis Dean served as masters of ceremony for the Great Places presentation at the SCT Auditorium Monday afternoon. Presenters from various community projects joined the two on stage and explained the details of their respective projects including Delrey Bredehoeft, Sheriffa Jones, Dick Montgomery, Jim Schooley and Cindy McGranahan. [Order this photo]

From strolls downtown to evenings of theatre, more than 200 Spencer residents wanted to show the Iowa Great Places Citizen Advisory Board what they have to offer.

City leaders did that Monday afternoon at the SCT Playhouse. If their hour-long presentation was successful, Spencer could receive a state "Great Places" grant of $250,000-$500,000. The city would disperse the money to about six different projects.

Spencer's proposal centers around enhancements for the Grand Avenue Boulevard and bridge, a Spencer Community Theatre remodel and expansion, a Parker Historical Museum remodel and expansion, efforts to improve and use the 1914 old high school and 1937 auditorium, and expansion of the Spencer trail system.

Spencer Municipal Utilities marketing and community relations director Curtis Dean and Spencer Community Theatre executive director Connie Goeken asked the state advisory board to look ahead by first looking back to 1931. That summer, young boys walked into a drug store and dropped a lit sparkler into a fireworks display.

The ensuing fire destroyed nearly the entire downtown. More than 50 stores across several blocks were damaged or destroyed, according to Goeken.

"Within one year -- and this is right in the middle of the Great Depression, every building had been rebuilt, rising from the ashes to be one of the largest, most diverse collections of art deco in the Midwest," Goeken told the state board and an audience of Spencer supporters.

"And today, Spencer's downtown has been designated as an official historic district. Overlapping much of that historic district is the cultural district, a designation, which we also received in 2004. It's obvious from these examples alone that Spencer, as a city, has always been moving forward and looking to the future rather than languishing in the past."

Gabbie Pearson, a sophomore at Spencer High School followed the project presentations with an award winning poem she wrote about living in Spencer. [Order this photo]

The city weathered shifts in the regional economy in the decades that followed the great Spencer fire. On the unfinished set of "Annie Get Your Gun," Dean told the audience Spencer is always adding the finishing touches to make the city a better place to live.

"Within just the past several years, we've experienced another phoenix-like rebirth in the community," he said. "That has been given a jump start by an award of several million dollars from the Dvergsten Family Foundation."

The estimated $5 million foundation was established in the names of Irvin Dvergsten, and his wife, Ruby. The Dvergstens were active members in Spencer's business community. They opened The Woman's Shop, a clothing store in Spencer, on Feb. 1, 1936.

Mr. Dvergsten also was one of several local businessmen who formed a partnership which later became Spencer Packing Plant and was involved in forming another group to buy a fertilizer plant in town. They had no children, but wanted to help future generations receive the same opportunities they did in their community.

"They understood that Spencer is a northwest Iowa hub for business, for shopping and entertainment -- and that all of the entities that provide the services essential to making a great quality of life here in this area were present and accounted for," Dean said. "But they could be made even better with a little bit of help."

The Clay County Fair, the Spencer Family YMCA and the city of Spencer's parks department were just a few of the groups who benefited from the family's generosity. Goeken said Spencer is strategically positioned to make the best use possible of the Dvergsten funds, a Great Places award and other community investments. Many of the local organizations that are applying for funds through the Great Places designation already have been strategizing and planning for many years to find ways to better serve their patrons.

"They had a head start when these gifts were awarded," Dean said.

Robin Anderson is the executive director for the Mason City Chamber of Commerce. She also serves as an officer on the Iowa Great Places Citizen Advisory Board.

"Spencer has done a really wonderful job," she said. "One of the things that we're looking for, especially this year in light of the flooding, that we've had statewide, is communities that are ready to go. And at least by your first two projects it appears that most of your fundraising is all lined up. The planning on the remainder of the projects looks very good. It looks like you've had broad community participation and it looks like you've focused on the things that really make Spencer different and authentic and the things that are really your strengths."

Anderson said the Great Places initiative is about connecting the communities to the state agencies that can help them the most. The Great Places program has its roots in the state's Vision Iowa program. Lawmakers approved a funding stream to help communities identify their strengths and build on them.

"Any opportunity that we have to draw attention to some of the really neat venues in the state of Iowa, we ought to do it," said state Rep. Mike May who was on hand to support his constituents in Spencer. "I think, conceptually, this is a great idea. I think it is an opportunity to bring attention to some areas of Iowa that people wouldn't, normally, perhaps, visit even."

Great Places, May said, gives communities a chance to tout what they have to offer to the rest of the state.

"It's also the opportunity to access a lot of state dollars for a lot of things you can do in your community, whether it be trails, or the enhancement of some of the venues that already exist in those communities," May said. "One of the difficulties they have, it seems to me, is to try to figure out a strategy for truly identifying 'Great Places.'"

May admits that he's been a bit frustrated with the selection process so far. The program has been judging proposals and issuing awards for three years.

"Okoboji and the Spencer area have not been identified as a Great Place," he said. "Now, I would ask myself, how would that possibly be? People vote with their feet when it comes to issues like that. Okoboji and the Amana Colonies are ranked 1-2 in the state of Iowa as great places (to visit) according to the citizens of this state and the region. And yet, they haven't been recognized yet.

"I'm a little frustrated with this, but at the same time I am excited for the folks here today," he continued. "Spencer has done a good job, I think, and Okoboji and Spencer together did an enormously good job, I think , in the initial presentation. But they were not selected. So again, I'm excited for the folks of Spencer. I think they are a great place. They deserve to be recognized and I know that having the access to some of those funds, those state funds, would certainly be a great thing for this community."

Spencer City Manager Bob Fagen thinks the turnout left a favorable impact with the Great Places Citizen Advisory Committee. Along with May and state Sen. David Johnson, the audience included members of the Clay County Board of Supervisors, Spencer Ambassadors and the Spencer City Council.

"These programs can't work unless you get a real buy-in from the local community," Johnson said. "You've got to get people involved. It's a way for us to not just sit back and take for granted the great things that we have, the great places that we live, but it takes stock of what you do have."

Johnson feels an organized effort to identify community strengths has uses beyond a Great Places proposal.

"This is where the communities can start learning from each other," Johnson said. "All the way from Estherville, down through the Lakes down to Spencer and then to Storm Lake, and all of the communities in those four counties, I think it is something that is already paying some dividends and will continue to pay some in the future. I'm almost sure of that."

The visiting delegation also will tour the other three finalists, Marquette/McGregor, Warren County and West Union during travels Sept. 22-24. Iowa's newest Great Places will be identified Sept. 30.