Lake County >> Shopping local and keeping dollars circulating in the community has always been emphasized in rural areas. But in the aftermath of the Valley Fire, some consider frequenting the local establishments more important than ever. To encourage this — and more specifically to help merchants in Cobb and Middletown — the Lake County Chamber of Commerce created the Shop Valley Fire Challenge.
The idea is to take the time once a month or so and drive out to south county for a shopping trip, lunch, drinks or all three — then to challenge an acquaintance to do the same.
“You’re going to go shopping in your regular community anyway, so take a little extra time to support our neighbors in the fire communities to help them stay in businesses,” said Melissa Fulton, CEO of the chamber. “It’s a matter of self preservation for all of our communities.”
Chamber board member Joe Casteel is the mind behind the challenge. While a good deal of money is coming into the county, one of the challenges seems to be where to disburse funds and how to make them even out. He wondered about businesses that are struggling to keep their doors open due to a number of factors — absent employees who lost their homes, a lack of tourists and so on.
Casteel thought about the wildly successful ice bucket challenge and went from there. He decided people should not only take a trip to south county themselves, but challenge their friends, family and neighbors to as well. “It’s not an original idea but it’s just something I think the rest of the county should do to support south Lake County,” he said. “Everybody’s got to do their part.”
So where does the ice bucket come in? “We can’t throw ice buckets on everybody so how about if you don’t do it we throw you in the lake?” said Casteel with a laugh.
Tony Barthel, former owner of the Featherbed Railroad Bed and Breakfast, is to thank for that facetious idea. He and Casteel were driving south for lunch at Brick Oven Pizza, drinks at the Village Pub and grocery shopping at Hardester’s Market when Barthel came up with the punishment.
“I don’t know if we’d ever have the guts to throw somebody in the lake,” Casteel added.
Another important aspect to the ice bucket challenge — perhaps the most important — was the use of social media to spread the word. In that vein, the chamber has created #shopvalleyfire. If anyone mentions the challenge on social media, be it a Facebook status, a Tweet or an Instagram post, they should use the hashtag.
But other than that, the challenge is meant to be simple and easy. That’s why Casteel dropped the idea of making t-shirts. “Sometimes you just plan too much,” he said. “Just do it, don’t over think it.”
Though members of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce were behind the idea, they don’t want the challenge to be a Chamber endeavor, but a community-wide one.
Some local businesses have already seen the effects of the shop Valley Fire challenge. A couple days ago, at Bunk House in Middletown, someone taking part in the challenge mentioned the challenge and left with a gift certificate. “It’s a terrific idea just to rally everybody around the whole concept of helping somebody else,” said Lynne Norton, a staff member at Bunk House.
But the shop Valley Fire challenge isn’t only for locals. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Casteel hopes people from neighboring communities — Napa, Ukiah, Santa Rosa, Calistoga — make the effort to visit, just to see that south Lake County is still standing. Even a month after the fire, he said he still receives phone calls from people outside the area asking if the community is okay.
“This thing is only going to work if everybody gets involved, and not just Lake County,” he said. “What that will also do is just reinforce that Lake County is still in businesses. People all around the world know about Lake County now. The bad side of that is they think we’re burnt to the ground.”
Many people don’t realize that the main drags of both Cobb and Middletown are alive and well. “There’s a lot of good still happening here, people just have to come,” said Larry Galupe, President on the Middletown Area Merchants Association.
Norton commented on how the main strip of Middletown looks pretty much exactly as it did before. It’s the houses behind and around the road that were hit hard. “The little town is just like the way it was,” she said. “That in itself to me, because Middletown was spared, it’s just a blessing in disguise.”
When people patronize the local businesses, it’s also a show of support, something that’s likely needed on the south side of the county. “If you know that your neighbors here in the county are helping and they really care … it has to help the morale,” Casteel said. “It always helps when you’ve got somebody figuratively with their arm around you.”
It seems the shop Valley Fire challenge fits a mindset many people already possess. Bunk House’s business hasn’t been negatively impacted by the fire. They’ve been doing well. “In my opinion, people want to support local more than they used to,” Norton said. “Businesses, just in Lake County itself, have been so, so generous. You feel like you want to return that generosity by just shopping local.”
To make it easier for people outside Lake County to shop in south county, Casteel is meeting with the merchants association to see how many businesses have websites set up. If not very many do, Casteel hopes they can organize an online shop with products from local businesses.
The challenge is especially focused on attracting people to Cobb and Middletown before the weather turns. When the rains hit — and they’re expected to hit hard — visitors may be less inclined to make the trip. Casteel acknowledged that the challenge isn’t a long term fix, but should boost business for a time. “I just want to keep the ball rolling. When the winter gets here it’s going to be even tougher,” he said. “Let’s get through this winter and then we can deal with it next year.”
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
