A Recap of 2019 from theCO
Hey everyone, we’re back with our year-in-review update! We hope you’ve had an excellent year as we certainly have. Last week we got to end the year with our annual Christmas party and we introduced a costume contest this time. A longstanding member, Krisann Blair, won by dressing up like a Christmas Tree, complete with tree skirt and lights.
Our Jackson Home
While our Christmas party was a lot of fun, we had an even larger party open to everyone in the Jackson area. Porchfest this year was unbelievable. To all of our volunteers, food trucks, musicians, host homes, sponsors, and anyone else who helped in some way, we want to say thank you. It was really special to see how much Porchfest has grown from previous years. At the end of the night, it was standing room only on the corner of a small block in midtown when LOLO kicked off the finale. On that note, we want to thank all of you who came out that night to enjoy the shows, food, and community (consider this my invitation for those of you who haven’t attended). When a city shows its support by rallying around local musicians and businesses in that way, we have to make sure not to take it for granted. Once again the people of Jackson have shown how they value our local community we call home.
Driving Innovation
Last year we mentioned theLab and theVenture, which serve as a mobile Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) Lab and a mobile conference room for business strategy workshops respectively. This year we finished our third of three mobile units, theAmp. This bus is focusing on an idea called placemaking. Simply put, placemaking is the process of taking a small space, renovating in some creative ways, and making it more welcoming and accessible to the local community. When we launched theAmp we held an event we called Big Table Big Ideas for the people of McNairy County. Over 100 people attended and had dinner with us before engaging in a big-picture brainstorming session. The exercises we went through focused on generating ideas from everyone for their local communities. We were then able to collect this data and give it back to them so they could see what their neighbors are excited about or interested in seeing come to their towns.
After our event, we began thinking and decided to give placemaking a shot here in Jackson before taking it on the road. We had a night of brainstorming at theCO to bring different ideas and locations into focus. In the end, we decided to use the grass lot behind Grubb’s Grocery downtown. Over the course of a few weeks, everything began to take shape. Using our Computer Numeric Controlled (CNC) Router at theCO, we created benches, checker pieces, a giant Connect Four board and more. Honestly, things happened so fast that we had to pull back on some of our ideas to prevent us from completely overloading ourselves. It’s amazing to see how one idea can lead to many others so quickly. But days before the park’s opening Jackson Energy Authority came out and helped us string up some lights so it can be enjoyed after the sunsets. So next time you go to the Farmer’s Market feel free to stroll over to the park and play a game on the giant chess board or eat lunch at the tables. Part of the hope is that this park might even spark new ideas for others in Jackson as well so that we continue to make our city more welcoming and enjoyable in the years to come.