Chamber class aims to dispel 'nothing to do' myth in Lynchburg

When Kristen Cooper moved to Lynchburg, the Atlanta native saw a small town with nothing to do.

A few years later, she decided to prove herself wrong.

“I made kind of a personal quest, or mission, to really learn to appreciate what Lynchburg does have to offer,” Cooper said. “… Learning more and more about what it has to offer for me has benefited my success and my happiness living here.”

Now that Cooper is participating in Leadership Lynchburg, a Chamber of Commerce class on leadership and community service, she and other program participants are trying to dispel “myths” that there is nothing to do in Lynchburg. By helping people enjoy Central Virginia more, they hope to help businesses recruit and keep employees, as well as attract new, local customers.

The Leadership Lynchburg class consists of monthly meetings from the fall to the spring. When local employees apply to take the course, they identify community problems that they would like to solve. Then they form teams to create solutions.

Cooper and several other participants said they would like to help people realize how many activities take place in the Lynchburg area. They formed a group dubbed “7 Wonders of the 7 Hills.”

Another group, called the “Downtown Area Revitalization Team,” wanted to promote growth in downtown Lynchburg.

The local “Mythbusters” said there are numerous reasons why people get misconceptions about Lynchburg and downtown.

“I think (people) just don’t appreciate the things that we have,” said Kevin Davis, a Lynchburg native who has heard friends complain about “nothing to do” for years. Laura Blondino, another member of the “7 Wonders” team, said it’s contagious: One person says there’s nothing to do, and others just agree.

Kate Saunders, a member of the DART team, said myths about downtown come from the exodus of businesses from the district when newer shopping areas were developed. “There was a time 20 years ago when you were told not to go downtown. But now so many (businesses) are coming back.”

Cooper told her team about a time when she and a friend watched the movie “The Bucket List,” in which two terminally-ill men go on one final road trip. They decided to create their own bucket list for Lynchburg — things to do before the friend moved away for graduate school.

The team liked the idea and they created their own Lynchburg Region Bucket List, an itinerary of more than 70 restaurants, sporting events, festivals, shopping locations, historical sites and other attractions in the region. Blondino said the activities in the list could keep people busy for several years.

The list has been added to the regional tourism Web site http://discoverlynchburg.org, under the “Links and Resources” section.

The DART team set out to create a similar list of things to do in downtown Lynchburg. They partnered with downtown organization Lynch’s Landing to create cards to be distributed to local businesses, where customers could pick them up and learn about downtown activities, Saunders said.

Both teams also have made significant use of the online social networking site Facebook. The 7 Wonders team created a page that has attracted more than 700 “fans,” people who opt to see anything the team writes about local businesses or events. The DART team members used their personal contacts to increase Lynch’s Landing’s Facebook contacts from 2,000 to about 3,100, Lynch’s Landing Executive Director Angela Hamilton said.

As more local people sign up to see the groups’ updates on Facebook, the efforts could help the news of downtown revitalization spread to a much larger audience.

“These efforts could become more effective,” Saunders said. “We want this footprint to continue on. Facebook … keeps growing exponentially everywhere.”