From rodeos to recreation parks, the Canton board of alderman is struggling to figure out the best way to attract people and dollars to the Haywood County mill town.

The recent dismantling of the Canton Cultural Committee, a group in charge of throwing events to attract visitors, has brought the question of promotion to the forefront of the conversation among town leaders.

Alderman say members of the volunteer group got burned out from the job of organizing events like the Beach Boys concert, movies, a rodeo and dances, and as a result, the board voted to disband the committee.

Now, Canton lacks an organization in charge of promoting the town. Mayor Pat Smathers wants to establish a paid position in charge of both promotion and economic recruitment, but some alderman say the town isn’t ready. As a result, the question of how best to promote the town hangs in balance.

Beating the drum

from Canton

The position of a town promoter would entail several responsibilities. Smathers envisions the person assuming three main roles — that of an economic recruiter, working with the county’s economic development office to attract business; an event planner focusing on bringing festivals and concerts to town; and a marketer, working to advertise Canton. They’d also serve as assistant town manager.

Smathers knows that may sound like a lot of responsibility, but says he thinks “for a town our size, someone could do all three.”

The pay — up to $60,000 a year plus benefits — could readily convince someone the job is worth taking.

One of the benefits of having a town promoter position is that Canton would qualify for the Main Street program — a state-run initiative that assists towns with downtown revitalization.

But Alderman Eric Dills says Smathers is putting the cart before the horse in wanting a town promoter. They could be working almost single-handedly, Dills says, since right now there isn’t an organization of downtown merchants in place that could help.

“We have no Chamber of Commerce or business association,” he says. “You’re going to want one already established to where when that person comes in, he doesn’t have to go out and get everyone organized and ready to work for us.”

The downtown area needs to be cleaned up, Dills says, and the merchants need to have a more organized spirit of cooperation. Dills says that during MaterFest, Canton’s largest yearly festival, many of the stores downtown weren’t open — and business owners missed out on an opportunity to attract business and impress clientele.

What about downtown?

A revamped downtown could be an asset to Canton, but whether it should take priority as a way to promote the town is something officials don’t agree on.

In years past, festivals and events have been the primary ways of attracting people to Canton. That was the primary focus of the Canton Cultural Committee. The group tried to put on events that would attract people form near and far and highlight some of the town’s best features, like its Old Armory and Colonial Theater buildings.

“We tried to find enough different things that someone would find something they would like,” says Bill Upton, a Cultural Committee member and county commissioner.

Upton says he and members spent a tidy sum of their own money, but believed what they were doing was the best way to promote Canton.

“In order for us to move forward in Canton, we’re going to have to promote our town, and bring people in and show them what we can offer,” he says. “The only way our town is going to grow is to promote it.”

But Alderman Troy Mann questions the economic impact of such events and whether they’re indeed the best method of promoting the area.

“I don’t think that there’s an advantage in spending taxpayer dollars to create some type of promotional event where people are coming to town to observe a parade or listen to songs, and then load up in their cars and leave,” he says. “I’ve witnessed a couple of events in town and folks would come but never spend any money here.”

Mann says many don’t stay the night in town because there is a lack of hotel accommodations, and don’t eat dinner in the area because there aren’t any restaurants.

“I didn’t see any great benefit of having that type of event and trying to attract tourist dollars into town, because they didn’t leave any,” he says.

Mann says if someone wants to hold an event in Canton, they can shoulder the financial start-up costs themselves – but it’s not the town’s responsibility to do so.

“Let that person become a promoter and let that person promote the festivities, and we can rent him the football stadium, armory or colonial theater and let him put the concert (or other event) on,” says Mann. “Let him be financially responsible for the loss or gain, and not attempt to tie taxes up in promoting something like that.”

A path for Canton

If not events, then, what is the most effective way to promote the town of Canton?

Mann says the answer could be to improve the town’s infrastructure and amenities rather than relying on events to attract people to town. He says this is a bottom-up approach, and one that should be examined even before another option, which is bringing people and dollars to town through recruiting businesses.

“I think that we need to do a lot of infrastructure work, like redoing streets and sidewalks and making Canton a more attractive place to live rather than attempting to entice a business in Canton,” he says. “We need to build the base population.”

Mann adds that once people live in town, businesses will follow.

“The more we are a family-type town, the demand for business will come in, and they’ll be established to support the people who want to trade with them,” he says.

Smathers, though, says the groundwork has already been laid to start attracting families to town. Canton has upgraded its lights and pavement, redone its theatre, and secured a historical designation for the downtown area. The town has also cleaned up flood properties along the river to forma greenway.

“We’re to the point now that I think we’ve got to move forward. We’ve got all the pieces and put them together,” Smathers said.

Regardless of whether to recruit businesses now or later, both Smathers and Mann harbor no illusions about what sort of business they foresee surviving in the town.

“I don’t foresee tourists coming into Canton and going to craft shops like they do in Waynesville,” Mann says.

Instead, Mann sees the downtown area of Canton in particular as a place with service industries like barbershops, beauty shops and lawyers.

Smathers agrees. He says Canton was a great place for him to practice law, and that there is room for architects, surveyors, accountants and other service industries.

The mayor also said he wants to see the industrial park grow to bring jobs to the area — another avenue of attracting people to town.