Employees

Economic Development

Thanks to an FDA Rural Development grant, Union business owners have been able to start work on some projects and ideas that will help make our town a destination for visitors.

In the first part of the grant project, Vicki Dugger from the Oregon Downtown Development Association did an assessment and proposal for us. You can download a copy of that report. Dugger Report

During the project, Lisa Dawson from NEOEDD provided training for local artist wanting to learn how to market their work. Incorporating original, local art into the downtown retail space has been very successful in small towns marketing themselves to tourists year-round. It is our hope that we can develop that element into our downtown with continued support and grant funding for our art community.

Lisa also helped start the monthly Tourism Group where business owners and representatives from local organizations get together to discuss what they can do to improve our downtown area and make Union more attractive to visitors.

So far, the group has put up a new sign in our part and has set up exhibits from our museum in the empty store fronts downtown to make those buildings more attractive. Store owners downtown are beginning to fix up and clean up their buildings, and work is being done to help show off the history of Union's downtown. Some buildings are well over 100 years old and have interesting (and even sordid) pasts.

The Commercial Club uses its funding to showcase Union business every year in the Community Profile magazine put out by the Union County Chamber. This publication is widely distributed in newspapers and at chambers across the state. It is also used in the packets that the chamber sends to people inquiring about our area.

The other magazine where we place an ad is the Northeast
Oregon Destinations which is put out by the Observer for Union County Tourism. This is also distributed in newspapers, chambers, businesses and by the UCT staff when they receive inquiries from travelers looking to visit our area.

We have been very fortunate to have the help and support of Janet Dodson from Union County Tourism. It is important that Union work with La Grande and other neighboring communities to market ourselves to tourists.