Bucking up the spirits of the home team

When longtime Fallon Mayor Ken Tedford Jr. travels through the West, he sees economic hard times nearly everywhere he looks.

But Tedford and other leaders of the city of 7,500 aren't willing to simply hope for better times to come.

Like other communities, Fallon is busily recruiting potential new employers. Like other communities, it's working to keep existing employers afloat.

Unlike other communities, Fallon also is investing to buck up the spirits of its residents, helping them to generate enthusiasm about the business and cultural opportunities in their hometown.

The city government will invest about $80,000 into the effort that's picking up steam this autumn.

"We've hit the ground running," says Abbi Holtom Whitaker, a Fallon native and president of Reno-based Abbi Public Relations, which is contracted to develop the campaign.

She says the first stages include four major initiatives:

* Showcasing the agricultural assets of Churchill County, especially to residents of Reno and Carson City who are looking for local sources of fresh foods. The county is home to more than 500 farms, and it's among the state's leaders in production of dairy products, poultry, vegetables and melons and eggs.

* Reducing leakage of retail dollars to other cities in the region by increasing exposure of Fallon retailers to residents of the area particularly potential customers at the nearby Naval Air Station. Says Tedford, "If you don't know what is here, you don't know what is available to you."

* Increasing exposure of a busy special events calendar in Fallon, both to local residents as well as potential regional visitors. Annual events range from a springtime festival for birders to summertime's OctaneFest for motor sports enthusiasts to the Hearts O' Gold Cantaloupe Festival in early autumn. Along with strengthening the tourism sector of the Fallon-area economy, the spotlight on events helps build local pride, Whitaker says.

* Recruiting new industrial employers, an effort aided by consultant Bob Shriver, former executive director of the Nevada Commission on Economic Development. Shriver says his work includes getting potential industrial sites in Fallon in front of commercial real estate brokerages in Reno.

Eric Grimes, executive director of the Churchill Economic Development Authority, says the campaign strengthens two priorities of his agency: Development of more jobs for Churchill County residents and changing the image of Fallon among residents and outsiders alike.

"We need to change the conversation about Fallon," Grimes says.

And the conduit for that conversation also is changing, Whitaker says. Even in the first weeks of the campaign, teams from Abbi PR found some of their greatest successes through the use of social media.

"People in Fallon are Facebook fanatics," Whitaker says, adding that popularity of social platforms opens new communications channels for businesses and local governments to tell their stories to Churchill County residents.

At the same time, she says the economic bedrock of Fallon remains its hometown feel. That hometown feel, Grimes says, is a marketable asset as the community works to attract new businesses.

But a key step, he says, is getting out-of-towners to visit Fallon, whether they're in town for a special event, shopping or a structured visit with industrial recruiters.

"In the long run, it is going to bring more business here," Grimes says. "They see how nice it is here."