Just over five years ago the Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism (OACCT) in partnership with the Owatonna Economic Development Authority, and Owatonna Public Utilities conducted a Business Retention and Expansion Program, surveying 102 businesses in Owatonna. Of those businesses visited, 83% rated beautification of the community as “important” or “very important.” This response helped to launch the hanging flower basket program that now originally consisted of 55 baskets and has grown today to 175 baskets!
It is difficult to measure the impact hanging flower baskets have on a community. We continually evaluate the Owatonna program and ask ourselves questions such as, “how many people visit Owatonna because we have added flower baskets?” or “how can we determine if the flower baskets bring consumer traffic to our businesses?” or “what is the impact of the flower baskets, period?”
And the answer we continually come back to is the old adage of – you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. And the hanging flower baskets certainly add to this notion.
For more information, contact Lisa Havelka (lhavelka@owatonna.org) or 507.451.7970.
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