It’s the end of an era for Olde Towne Okotoks.
The organization, made up of a collection of businesses in the heart of town, is being revitalized and expanded in its new form, the Okotoks Downtown Business Association.
Mandy Patterson, a member of Olde Towne Okotoks, said she will continue to be involved in the business association. She said she’s leading the charge right now and is joined by Sherry Lindenbach of 94 Take the Cake, Cindy Boudreau from CD Bloom and Ed Povhe from Bistro 1882, who is the current president of Olde Towne.
The change will allow the organization to better serve its members, she said.
“The group was originally created to support marketing initiatives and then over the years the group has really come to the realization that we do so much more and have the capacity to do so much more and that downtown requires us to do more than just marketing,” said Patterson. “In order to achieve those goals we believe that a formalized association is required.”
Okotoks Downtown Business Association will launch in January as the Olde Towne Okotoks group phases out at the end of December, she said.
It was a group that served its purpose at the time it was formed, but something new and less informal was needed, said Patterson.
In order to become more inclusive, the Downtown Business Association will have a broader boundary than its Olde Towne predecessor, she said. Anyone who owns a business within those borders will be invited to join, she said.
“Our goal is to have representation from all different stakeholders,” said Patterson. “We want representation from the professional service industry – like lawyers, accountants – and retail, food service, and the wellness area.”
Currently the group is working out its terms of reference with consultant Corinne Finnie, a local change strategist.
“We’re working on building a new downtown business association, looking at the informal groups that have formed out of need and perceived gaps and real gaps, and looking to create a cohesive, expansive, inclusive strategic downtown business association,” said Finnie.
She said the main objective is to have businesses from all sectors work collaboratively to celebrate and promote the downtown core. The terms of reference should be ready to roll out early in the new year, she said.
Angela Groeneveld, economic development manager for the Town of Okotoks, said the Town will be supporting the association however it can.
“We’re really excited for this because we have a lot of downtown revitalization stuff happening,” said Groeneveld. “We needed that core community of business owners to talk to. We know we’ll have a well-representative of all industries on that committee, so we’ve built the foundation for development services, for the Town of Okotoks, to work with them.”
She said the association intends to refer Okotoks’ core business area as the River District.
“This is just for marketing, this is not a rebranding,” said Groeneveld. “Elma Street, all your sports, all your arts, everything, even your Olde Towne, all of this will be sold underneath there, but we’re now going to tell the world one place to go.”
The Town’s role will be to serve and support the Downtown Business Association as it creates the new River District, she said.
