Three One Read events planned for next week will highlight the nationwide goal to revitalize small towns in America.
Mitzi St. John, director of public relations for the Daniel Boone Regional Library system, said the three events highlight an important point library officials wanted to make.
"When we were planning the program, we wanted to tie it in to the small town descriptions Hodgman used in his book 'Bettyville,'" she said. "It sounded like a natural fit to do something on that topic in Callaway County."
Brian Warren, Fulton resident and owner of Well Read Books, said several guest speakers from the community will discuss how small town revitalization is happening in Fulton.
"Basically, this is going to be an open discussion," he said. "We will talk about our specific experience in downtown Fulton and what revitalization means to us."
Bruce Hackmann, Callaway County economic development director, will lead one of the discussions.
"Bruce will have a different perspective," Warren said. "His peers work in economic development in Missouri. Many deal with the decline of small town America. That's something we're trying to prevent from happening."
The discussions, which are open to the public, will help residents recognize what's going on with local development, Warren added.
"I think it's important because small town decline is a big deal," he said. "There are lost businesses and a lot of economic contributors that leave small towns, and it really hollows out the town. It's an important discussion because we are trying to fight that off here."
Warren also said it's important for people to realize the amount of work people put in to revitalize a town.
"It doesn't happen magically," he said. "People put in a lot of work to revitalize."
The events, scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, will be in Fulton at William Woods University in the library lecture hall. The discussion is open to the public.
If you go:
Sept. 27 Decline of Small-Town America, 6 p.m., William Woods University
Sept. 28 Writing Small Towns, 6 p.m., William Woods University
Sept. 29 Revitalization of a Small-Town, 6 p.m., William Woods University.