Today, we got the opportunity to visit Connellsville in Fayette County, specifically the Connellsville Canteen that is a restaurant-museum hybrid, and is home to extremely rich history about World War II. We met with Daniel Cocks and Michael Edwards, the pair of community leaders we met with that are the main forces in driving economic development in their community.

(left to right: Michael Edwards, Daniel Cocks)

In Fayette County, some core aspects of their endeavor involve rebranding the Connellsville area from a more deserted, historical monument, to a livelier area that attracts groups of all demographics. They’ve been successful in leveraging local resources such as abundance of rivers, positioning near a world-renowned hotel, and outreach via. commercials and advertisements. Rather than trying to create new buildings, the Connellsville community tries to repurpose existing structures to host businesses. Heck, they even give out a $20k grant to entrepreneurs who take 100 credit-hours worth of classes in their buildings!

The Connellsville perspective on leveraging resources for business growth is also very helpful for our Carrigart presentation, as in one of the presentations, Daniel had leveraged AI to create songs and posters to minimize capital usage for their advertisement campaigns. Furthermore, they leverage buildings for multiple usages, such as their museum/restaurant duo, or their event booth/hotel/restaurant trio. This will definitely serve us extremely well on our presentation and recommendations that we give to Erin!