Ripley Rise’s “Welcome to Ripley” banner on Subway Restaurant.
The newly formed “Ripley Rise” group held its first meeting at the Union Township Library in Ripley on Jan. 30.
One of the organizers, Robin Gilbert, provided information on how the group came about, ideas both early and new, and the overall goals of the group.
Ripley RISE came about in July of 2020 when Deb Brown of “Save Your Town” visited Ripley and talked with local citizens, toured downtown as well as several historical sites. Deb also shared meals and stayed in Ripley. Based upon her visit, and her discussions with families, youth, village officials, ministers, local organization members, she provided a report which gave suggestions, stories, and ideas on what we said we wanted. One of the suggestions was to gather your crowd and work on turning the crowd into a network by building connections. Creating the private Facebook group, Ripley RISE, was the first small step in doing this, so that the group could share what’s going on around Ripley.
At the meeting, group members shared “Rise” accomplishments for the year. These included the Ohio License Plate project, Welcome to Ripley Banner on Subway, First Saturday events (Business Chili Challenge, Cookies and Christmas Cheer); promoting current businesses, and welcoming new businesses (Studio Twenty-eight; Ripley Women’s Club Thrift Shop, Northern Yankee Moonshine; Barn Chicks Coffee Shop; Suite C Salon, and Rustic Roots Salon).
Promoting organization events and helping with other projects like painting fire hydrants, Day in the Garden, Christmas wreaths along the riverfront, sleigh for holiday photos and Ripley’s Bicycle Brigade.
Robin commented that, “Attendees of the first meeting discussed ideas on how to expand events that Rise currently promotes and what additional ‘baby steps’ that can be taken to bring more vitality and pride to our village.”
New ideas discussed included a Farmers Market; Walking area with workout stations; Entering Historical district signage; Luminaries; downtown lighting; Mini Murals; Art displays; Fall pumpkin walk; green space (Garden beside Co-Hearts Riverhouse Restaurant), what public areas are available to be used for community events.
Robin went on to say, “Ripley Rise started as a private Facebook page, a page that today, shares information about events and business news happening in Ripley. From that page came individual ideas on improving our town. Rise volunteers began taking small, consistent steps saying, ‘hey, let’s give it a shot.’ Together, we can help bring pride and vitality back to our town. We are a 501c3 non-profit under Ripley Economic Development. Yes, we accept donations and encourage volunteers.”