Reimagining Rural encourages small town residents to develop projects

SEELEY LAKE - Reimagining Rural's second of three sessions focused on improving smaller communities with already available resources.

The presentation was led by Deb Brown and Becky McCray from SaveYour.Town. McCray is from Oklahoma and Brown is from Iowa. It took place Tuesday Sept. 29 at the Seeley Lake Historical Museum and Visitors Center.

McCray opened her presentation by reminding attendees that their small towns "have survived before."

"Rural communities have endured boom and bust cycles, commodity price crashes, mill and factory closures, environmental disasters," McCray said. "Your town has probably lost its economic reason for being at least once throughout its history. So we've reinvented ourselves before."

Both McCray and Brown advised community members to conduct meetings, hold votes and take all opinions no matter how controversial. Once methods are established, participants should find ways to test ideas in a smaller context so that when some fail, the results will not be detrimental to the community.

"We don't know which ideas will work," McCray said. "So there's no reason to set up 10 ideas and try to just pick one or hold a vote."

Brown said small actions can make a big difference over time.

"When we talked about changing the trajectory of your community, science educators told us, 'Significant change will occur with minimal force if applied over an extended period of time,'" Brown said. "What minimal force can you exert to generate significant change over time?"

McCray recommends that residents "plant your flag," meaning they take their ideas and put them out in the open so that others can be aware of them even if not everyone agrees with them.

"You don't have to know all the answers," she said. "You just have to be open to new ideas."

One way to go about planting one's flag is by using hashtags on social media to help spread the word about potential projects. While they recommend taking advantage of social media's opportunities to spread messages on a larger scale, they advise against engaging in online drama.

McCray cited a neighboring town, Alva, Oklahoma, as an example of a successful self-made project. A group of mothers decided to update playground equipment that had been around since the 1950s. Following several virtual group discussions, they eventually determined what materials would sustain the area's weather and subsequently raised the necessary funding after formalizing their organization.

McCray shared the duo's "Idea-friendly Creed," a full version of which can be found on SaveYour.Town.

"It's not about what this town used to be," she said. "It's about starting right where we are. It doesn't have to be permanent to create possibility."

Following their presentation, attendees discussed potential projects that could help with Seeley Lake's "beautification."

One idea attendee Carla Schade had was encouraging individuals and businesses to build snow sculptures on their property without the formality of a committee.

"So many times we talked about wouldn't it be great if we had this snow sculpture thing, but it's gotten so hard [because] you've got the committee who tries to get everyone to make a snow sculpture," Schade said. "I don't care whether you're an individual person or a business, just build a snowman in front of your house or at the end of your driveway. So if you just started that, we might end up with hopefully a lot of snowmen."

After the discussion, it was announced that a pool fund of $20,000 was available for rural community projects through an online grant application.

Claire Muller, Seeley Lake Community Foundation Executive Director, said she would apply for a grant although she was unsure as to what exactly it would be used for. One idea up for consideration is planting and maintaining flowers under the town's light poles. The broader idea however is increasing the town's beauty.

The third session will reveal more requirements and provide an opportunity to have further discussion on what to apply for. Reimagining Rural's final session will take place from 6-8 p.m. Oct. 13 and will feature a group discussion where participants will share everything they have learned. It will also include a Q&A from the series' speakers. 

Presentations are recorded and are available in a private Facebook group called Re-Imagining Rural MT. More information about this presentation and upcoming iterations can be found on https://www.seeleylakecommunityfoundation.org/reimagining-rural.

** This article has been edited from the print version Oct. 9, 2020.