Building for the future takes perseverance, foresight and plenty of hard work. The Olympia Downtown Alliance has a clear vision to be, “the welcoming heart of our region, embracing our diverse local flavor with our inclusive nature, looking to the future while honoring the past.” To do this, they partner with businesses and property owners to promote growth, safety, service, inclusion and keep communication flowing 24/7.
Most of us know the Olympia Downtown Alliance thanks to their amazing events like LoveOly Summer Fest, Music in the Park, Downtown for the Holidays! and Shop and Dine Week. But the organization is far more than just a party planner. “We’re focused on supporting a vibrant and thriving downtown through our efforts in imagemaking, advocacy, economic development and programs that lend to a clean and safe environment,” explains Executive Director Todd Cutts.
They’re also working on sustained economic development through two main projects in 2022. “We’re beginning a process to develop a creative district strategy that embraces the creative energy in Olympia and contemplates steps to help this community thrive and grow in downtown,” says Cutts. “We’re looking to advance the work the City of Olympia has already completed in getting downtown designated as a Creative District and are including a diverse group of creatives and commercial real estate professionals to help us form this strategy. Later in the year, we expect this work will help inform a downtown focused business recruitment and retention strategy, seeking to bolster our downtown economy and fill vacancies that have grown in part due to the pandemic.”
Alliance partnerships can also be seen on the very streets themselves. “One of our recent partnerships with the City has been to communicate about the exciting new infrastructure projects on Legion Way and Franklin Street,” Cutts continues. “Our role has been to share our excitement about what the finished products of these projects will bring to our downtown, while also balancing the ask for our community’s support of the businesses impacted by these projects while under construction. Good communities invest in quality infrastructure in their downtowns. We’re excited about the completion of the Franklin Street project in 2022 and the benefits it will bring to downtown overall, surrounding businesses, and redevelopment opportunities on adjacent properties.”
It’s hard to miss all the new housing opportunities growing throughout the downtown hub as well. Cutts and the Alliance are excited to blend this into their community work. “Businesses owners, employees, visitors and residents are all part of the fabric of downtown. They all want a downtown they can enjoy and feel comfortable in. As the downtown population grows, we are increasingly trying to look through the lens of downtown residents when developing our work plan. As we move forward, I expect downtown residents to become more and more engaged with our organization.”
Relationships and partnerships are a pivotal part of the Alliance’s day-to-day operations. “We’ve formed relationships with the City of Olympia that often lead to partnerships when our priorities align with those of the City’s Downtown Strategy,” Cutts explains. “These relationships enable us to attempt to capture the interests of the downtown community and share those with City leadership. Our aim is to help to inform thoughtful and intentional City policy. Given the depth and breadth of the homelessness crisis in our community, we are also exploring ways to work with the state legislature to advocate for the scale of funding needed to address this challenge. We believe that the voice of our small, locally owned businesses is an important one when policy is being considered at any level of government.”
And with COVID-19 recovery well underway, the Alliance spends long hours helping businesses and business owners survive and thrive. “The pandemic has challenged and stretched our downtown community in ways we couldn’t have imagined,” says Cutts. “The amount of resiliency exhibited by small businesses downtown has been inspirational and our community has responded. In addition to our long-time businesses that our community has grown to love, we continue to see new investment downtown in form of development and new small businesses. More than just hoping, I expect downtown to emerge from the pandemic stronger than ever.”
With this in mind, the Alliance team is already working on bringing back Music in the Park and the LoveOly Summer Fest in 2022. Cutts promises these festive, outdoorsy celebrations will be “bigger and better than ever before!”
It’s no surprise that Olympia is regularly part of National Geographic’s Best Small Cities in the United States. Our little jewel on the water has stunning scenery, a vibrant—and well caffeinated—downtown and some of the quirkiest events ever (I’m looking at you, Procession of the Species). Keep up with events, activities and Alliance news via their newsletter, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
