The EDCC recently awarded Lyons, CO the “Small Community of the Year Award” for demonstrating economic development support, planning and investing in long term development, and initiating special projects and strategies to sustain and grow their business community, made up of almost 100% small businesses.
“Two initiatives, Lyons Economic Gardening Group and the Economic Development Commission’s “Revolving Loan Fund”, put roughly $80,000 into the hands of Lyons’ businesses that were hurt the hardest by an 8-week evacuation from town following September’s devastating floods,” said Jacque Watson, Town of Lyons Economic Development and Community Relations Manager.
Innovative development strategies are a necessity of being small and having limited resources, and Lyons is undertaking the kinds of actions that make the difference. For Lyons, the Economic Gardening Group and the Revolving Loan Fund, both implemented by Mayor John O’Brien, when he was President of the Lyons Chamber of Commerce and Chair of the EDC, nurtures the businesses already in town, as opposed to the traditional courting of outside industries with incentives–often referred to as, “Smokestack Chasing” or “Economic Hunting”.
“Achieving this award is a great honor” said Mayor O’Brien “We are proud of what we were and where we were heading before the flood. That said though, without the assistance from the USDA and Boulder County Commissioners Economic grant, I’m not sure if Lyons’s small businesses would have been able to survive the 2013 Flood, as we did.”
The Economic Development Council of Colorado (EDCC) is a membership organization dedicated to furthering the state’s economic development success through professional education and legislation. For more information on EDCC, visit our website at www.edcconline.org.