By Blake Musser
June 27, 2017
As the new community marketing director for Collaborate Freeport, I have had the pleasure of meeting with many folks the past few months.
Last week, I spoke with two entrepreneurs who will be opening businesses in Freeport in 2017. Personally, nothing is more exciting to me than listening to someone who is knowledgeable and passionate talk about his or her dreams.
More people are talking about investing and are actually doing so than ever before. We have new leaders in both public and nonprofit organizations who are interested in moving our community forward. We have new businesses establishing themselves, old businesses moving back and several businesses that are expanding.
In short, Freeport’s moving from “Freeport good” to “Wow.”
As a Freeport native, I am very passionate about the city of Freeport and Stephenson County. I have been given the opportunity to contribute a weekly article to The Journal Standard regarding “All In” and the Collaborate Freeport movement.
We plan to use this space to talk about the organization and its direction, stories about people and organizations that are helping move our community forward and ways you can help make this community stronger. We still have plenty of issues to resolve, but I hope you join me in taking a moment to acknowledge that we are moving forward.
The Collaborate Freeport movement formed as a group of private citizens who wanted to celebrate the reasons to live, work and play in our community. They recognized that we do have challenges, but part of addressing challenges is reminding ourselves there is a reason we love living here. They saw the need to tell our story in a different way, both to ourselves and outside the community. They saw that we need to work together to brand and market the Freeport region to improve our economic development, enhance tourism and build a stronger sense of community in Stephenson County.
Recently, Collaborate Freeport launched “All In,” a brand for our community. Within the community, “Freeport. All In.” means working together toward the shared goal of creating a more vibrant, healthy and engaged community.
Outside the community, “All In Freeport” sends the message that Freeport has everything you need for a day trip, a weekend getaway or a new hometown, including affordable housing, great restaurants, beautiful parks, outdoor recreation, a distinctive history and one-of-a-kind events. Using this brand, we are telling our stories and reminding ourselves that we do have an amazing community.
As many joke, “I was ‘All In’ before it was cool.” It is true; there are many individuals and organizations that have been “All In” for many many years. Your efforts and kindness have given this community the ability to grow from here. Thank you to all of you.
Journal Standard article link.
