UJRO sees success, growth, ahead for 2020

Successes in 2019 and a forward-thinking membership model dominated discussion in the annual meeting for the Uptown Jackson Revitalization Organization, or UJRO, Thursday night at the Whistle Stop Cafe in Jackson.

In 2019, the organization hired its first executive director, Steve Turner, whose office is housed within the Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce building.

Turner said UJRO has a new sponsorship structure. Supporters can now volunteer time in lieu of paying membership dues, and he sees 2020 as a growth year for adding volunteers.

After the meeting, Turner said, "We're starting the new year and new supporter program with 50 active supporters and volunteer base of 120. Our goal for 2020, with our new program, is achieve 200 active supporters."

The budget, as presented by UJRO treasurer Janet Sanders, is balanced for 2020, with $120,600 in both expenses and income projected.

In 2019, she reported, income and expenses were both approximately $118,000.

UJRO's bank balance is $95,000, Sanders added.

"You have no idea how happy I am," Sanders said, adding she remembered when the organization had only $50 in the bank and eight or nine members total.

The real change, Sanders said, was going for a Missouri Main Street Connection grant to grow UJRO.

"Thank you all for everything you do and everything you've done," Sanders said to the attendees. "You have no idea how much this organization has grown since 2011."

Missouri Main Street Connection is a chapter of the National Main Street Center, created in 1980 by the National Trust, according to momainstreet.org.

UJRO is modeled after the Missouri Main Street structure of four pillars, or committees, each devoted to a specific area of revitalization.

Former Jackson mayor Barbara Lohr gave an update on the economic vitality committee's 2019 efforts.

That committee maintains a database of unused and underutilized spaces in uptown Jackson, Lohr said, and created a shopping map of uptown.

Bus tours stop at the History Center, shop in uptown and end with the St. Louis Iron Mountain Railroad train, Lohr added.

Lohr also thanked the uptown merchants for their cooperation toward improved economic vitality.

Craig Milde of the design committee said a new, comprehensive approach to landscape design will be adopted this year.

Last year's February event with Jackson native and former Marvel Comics artist Roy Thomas brought many visitors and garnered international media attention, Milde said.

Former UJRO board president Tyler Wolfsberger thanked all in attendance: "This organization, it's the volunteers who are our lifeblood. Without the people to do the work on every level, the board, the committees, the day-of volunteers for the events, this wouldn't happen."

Rodney Barnes and Hunter Williams are new board members, and Terry Tuschhoff was reelected after unanimous votes. Tuschhoff is the new board president, and Williams is secretary, according to ujro.org.

Looking ahead to 2020, major event dates are:

Feb. 22: February Annual: Glass Alive, with live glass-blowing demonstrations beginning at 11 a.m., at Cape Girardeau County History Center, 102 S. High St. in Jackson. Food trucks and The German Cook will be set up on Court Street. An exhibit is up in the former Ross Furniture building's display windows.

March 27: Spring Fest, a Piccadilly-style auction which raised close to $10,000 in its first year in 2019, according to UJRO vice president Janey Foust, will be at the Jackson Civic Center, 381 W. Deerwood Drive in Jackson.

April 18: Jackson in Bloom, including a native plant vendor, food trucks, crafts for children and more, on South High Street in Jackson.

Oct. 2 and 3: Oktoberfest, UJRO's biggest fundraising event, will be held in uptown Jackson.

Dec. 6: Christmasfest, including the Christmas parade, will be held on a Sunday evening again this year, after 2019's successful move to accommodate Jackson High School's football team state championship game, said Williamson.