The City of Martins Ferry recently conducted its fourth annual Winterfest last Saturday and, suffice to say, the event was a rousing success.
Excellent weather conditions played a part, but Project Forward, the community group behind the planning and implementation of Winterfest since its inception, puts a lot of work into bringing the citizens of Martins Ferry, and beyond, a quality production.
“You could not have asked for a better day to have it. The turnout was fantastic and everyone that came had a lot of fun,” said Paul Stecker, a member of Project Forward and one of the organizers for Winterfest.
Fun. That’s the idea behind the festival and one of the central premises of what Project Forward is all about. In short, they’re looking to make life better for the current residents, and businesses in town, as well as entice new residents and businesses to call the Purple City home.
The group’s mission says as much on its website:
Working together for the revitalization of Martins Ferry by combating community deterioration, developing and maintaining public spaces, and improving neighborhood relationships throughout our community.
Lofty goals to be certain. But that’s what you get when you have a group of people with a history and an investment in their community. They live there. They work there. They have a vested, personal interest in seeing it continue to prosper.
That’s why you’ll see a nice cross-section of community leaders involved in Project Forward, from business owners and religious leaders to educators and city government members both past and present.
“We want to entice new businesses to come into town, and we also want to make the experience for people coming in, as well as our existing businesses, and any new businesses, more user friendly,” Stecker said. “We just want to get more people coming into town and providing more opportunities for them for things to do once they are here.”
The ranks of Project Forward are filled with volunteers, and more and more community members are joining those ranks. It seems to be a theme with Martins Ferry. Much of Project Forward’s members also claim membership with other community organizations, like the Lions’ Club and the Civics.
“There is a fair amount of crossover between all of the volunteer groups and, to the extent there isn’t, we all try to work with each other because we have a lot of the same goals and are trying to achieve a lot of the same things.”
The group puts on the Winterfest and Strawberry Festival each year, with both serving as fundraising mechanisms for the group’s goals. Stecker estimated that, after expenses, Winterfest likely generated around $6,000 for the group. But it’s more than just putting on a pair of festivals each year.
The Big Comeback
The Strawberry Festival is the warm-weather equivalent to Winterfest, and both help fund Project Forward’s efforts to promote and improve the city.
The opening of East Ohio Regional Hospital isn’t the only “new” business to open its doors in the last few years, but it’s certainly the largest.
Stecker knows having such a vital business, along with the 500-plus employees it houses, is a major boost when trying to entice other businesses to follow suit and set up shop downtown.
“I think it certainly helps,” Stecker said. “I think there are a lot of attractive locations that are available in Martins Ferry for small businesses to move into. That’s part of the reason we’ve seen a lot of success over the last 18 months.
“And that’s even given what we’ve been going through with the pandemic.”
During that span, 12 new businesses have opened and are operating in Martins Ferry. That’s 12 that have opened and are still opened, thriving in the growing business community.
Take a restaurant like Belmont BrewWerks, or the relatively recently opened The Axe Hole ax-throwing entertainment center on Hanover Street. New businesses are opening and thriving.
Stecker knows of a couple more with openings on the horizon. Those announcements haven’t been made official yet, and he’s not spilling the beans or stealing the thunder. But it’s an exciting time for Martins Ferry.
“That’s part of what Project Forward is working to do, to provide avenues to allow those types of businesses (like the Axe Hole), more interactive businesses to give people, whether they be seniors, adults, or even kids, things to do.”
While the membership roster keeps growing, Project Forward is always on the hunt for more willing volunteers ready to put in the work to better their community. Stecker invites anyone interested to visit Project Forward’s Facebook page or call him directly at (740) 738-0750.
“We do have monthly meetings, and those are open,” Stecker said. “If anyone is interested, we are planning on moving the meetings, possibly back to the third Thursday of every month. If anyone is interested in joining, they can contact me, and I can get them the info about the next meeting in January.”
