>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

MAIN MAKEOVER: Joseph's Main Street Project included installation ofbronze art sculptures by nationally renowned artists. Community and business leaders credit the project for an upswing in the local economy. (The Observer/GARY FLETCHER).

Bill Rautenstrauch

The Observer

JOSEPH — In Northeast Oregon, as elsewhere, towns evolve. The only thing constant is change.

Take Joseph, formerly a sleepy little cowtown in the upper Wallowa Valley.

Thirty years ago, few dreamed it would become a regional arts-and-tourism mecca.

But today, Joseph's main street is decorated by life-sized bronze statues, and its sidewalks are lined with galleries and gift shops that cater to throngs of visitors from as near as Portland and as far away as Tokyo.

It's been a gradual evolution. Perhaps it started in the late 1970s, when artist David Manuel opened his Nez Perce Crossing museum and art gallery on Main Street.

Around the same time, a businessman named Glen Anderson started the Valley Bronze foundry, the first of several such enterprises doing business in Wallowa County today.

As an arts community, Joseph was on its way in the early 1980s. And, for the town situated just six miles from pristine Wallowa Lake, tourism kept pace.

Ranching and logging continued to be important economic factors, but little by little, Joseph took on a different look.

And little by little, people began to realize that arts and tourism were going to play an important part in the city's future.

As the turn of the century approached, Joseph got its biggest boost yet in the form of the Main Street Project, a more or less complete remodeling of the downtown area.

Begun in 1998 and completed in 2000, the makeover included paving, new sidewalks, landscaping, lighting, increased parking, a visitor information center, and more.

Bronze art sculptures by nationally renowned artists were placed along the way, giving the remodel a unified theme.

The most recent addition to the sidewalk bronzes is Austin Barton's "Attitude Adjustment," a life-sized likeness of a rodeo cowboy atop a bucking horse.

Barton donated the work to the city; it was placed in front of City Hall.

"The sculptures add to the appeal of the overall project and reflect the continued enthusiasm for Joseph as a bronze art community," said Sara Miller of the Northeast Oregon Economic Development District.

Today, community and business leaders credit the Main Street Project — which was three years in planning — for an upswing in the local economy.

"We hoped that empty store fronts would fill up, that empty lots would host new buildings and that visitors would come earlier and stay longer — and that's just what's happened," said City Recorder Noma McDaniel.

The project, priced at about $3.6 million, was financed through grants from a host of government agencies including the Oregon Department of Transportation, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S.. Department of Commerce and others.

Some of the work was done through in-kind arrangements. Artists, for instance, donated their labor, while the actual casting of the bronzes was paid for with grant money.

Miller said that since the project's completion, a series of surveys have tracked the improving economic health of Joseph and the Wallowa Lake area.

She said 21 new businesses have located in the area, that 21 existing and new businesses have made investments in expansion, and that 15 businesses currently have expansion plans.

"These range from construction of additional facilities to increased inventory and marketing," she said.

Private investment over the past five years has totaled $1.9 million, most of it in the form of construction, land inventory and equipment purchases for new businesses.

Other sources seem to support the claim that Joseph's business climate has improved.

Wallowa County charges a 5 percent transient room tax. The county treasurer's office reported that revenues from Joseph have increased in each of the past three years, from $11,160 in 2003, to $12,130 in 2004, to $14,416 in 2005.

The Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce and the Joseph Merchants Committee staff an information booth downtown. Vicki Rogsen, executive director of the county chamber, said the number of people visiting the booth has shot upward in recent years.

"We're getting 5,000 a month during the peak season," she said.

Becky Rushton, president of the merchants committee and a co-owner of the Outlaw Restaurant on Main Street, said she thinks the reconstruction project has been a positive catalyst.

"I definitely think business is getting better," she said. "I'm really surprised how much good the project's done. It generates good word of mouth, publicity we don't have to pay for."

According to Miller, five years after project completion 18 downtown businesses have reported an increase in revenue, ranging from 5 percent to 75 percent.

Businesses responding to the most recent survey reported creating 28 new jobs, and retention of 68 others.

Most of the jobs retained, said Miller, were proprietors working in their business. Several businesses, however, said they had increased the hours of part-time workers.

All of the above is not to say doing business in Joseph is without challenges.

Though there are only a few empty store fronts, some businesses have closed since the project's completion.

Rogsen said both the start and end of the tourist season can be sluggish.

And Miller noted that it still takes hard work to make an enterprise grow.

"Businesses showing the largest increases appear to be those actively responding to customer's needs with expanded hours of inventory, as well as a high level of customer service and additional marketing," she said.