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Creating Our Own Future

The Center for Rural Affairs works with individuals and groups that are interested in revitalizing their rural community. When determined individuals in a small community band together they can reverse the decline of their community. One of the goals of the National Rural Action Network is to work with existing leaders and develop new ones in our rural communities. The following is an example of how a positive vision, determination, and new ideas can breathe life back into a community.

The following appeared in the American Profile. It excerpted here with permission.

Saving St. James

by Curt Arens
3/4/2007

In 2000, St. James, Neb., literally disappeared from state highway maps, leaving behind a single tavern and a vibrant Catholic parish as the only establishments left to anchor the Cedar County hamlet. Little surprise, then, that residents in the rural farming community were devastated later that same year when the Saints Philip and James Church closed and consolidated with neighboring parishes.

St. James Historic School
The historic 1918 school at St. James.
In the search to bring hope and vitality back to St. James, five neighbors—Louise Guy, Vicky Koch, Jeanette Pinkelman, Mary Rose Pinkelman and Violet Pinkelman—came together for a revitalization meeting hosted by the Center for Rural Affairs, a rural advocacy organization based in Lyons, Neb.

“We wanted to save our community,” Mary Rose Pinkelman says. “We put our heads together at that meeting and decided to open a weekend marketplace in St. James, where we could keep our sense of community and sell food items and crafts.”

Fortunately, the town was equipped with an ideal location for the new venture. Although the 1918 Saints Philip and James School had been closed to classes since 1968, it had been well maintained by the church for social gatherings.

In May 2001, the five spirited farm women rented one of the schoolhouse’s old classrooms and officially opened the St. James Marketplace with 16 vendors selling farm-fresh food and handcrafted products. The goal was to “be the needle and thread of the community,” offering family-oriented events, quality products and fresh homemade baked goods.

Today, the marketplace occupies the entire building, and nearly 60 vendors sell items such as homemade soaps and lotions, farm fresh fruits, vegetables, meat and eggs, wooden crafts, baked goods, greeting cards and books. The five women oversee the operation, but vendors often pitch in and volunteer as clerks and helpers.

“The major objective of this project has never been about making money,” says Mike Heavrin, cooperative development manager for the Center for Rural Affairs. “It demonstrates when local people work together, the whole community can benefit.”

Read the full article on the American Profile website, and visit the St. James Marketplace website to learn more.