What might downtown Twisp look like if all its vacant buildings and storefronts were filled with businesses?
Some Liberty Bell High School students have been thinking about that, and are ready to take their ideas public next week.
Liberty Bell’s entrepreneurship class has been working in conjunction with TwispWorks to come up with potential solutions for filling in downtown vacancies. The student project is part of a year-long effort by TwispWorks to identify ways to support and improve the valley’s economy.
TwispWorks Program Director Julie Tate-Libby is heading up that project. She said earlier that a goal of TwispWorks’ study of the local economy is to find ways to encourage young people to stay in the valley, or to return at some point.
Through the Liberty Bell project, students engaged in conversations with local businesspeople, then divided into seven groups, each assigned to come up with a viable business plan to fill one of Twisp’s vacant buildings or storefronts. Each group had to do its own research to propose a business opportunity and explain how it might work.
On March 20, the students will offer a free walking tour of downtown Twisp to talk about the possibilities they came up with. The tour starts at TwispWorks at 2:45 p.m. A community reception at TwispWorks will follow the tour.
For information, call 997-3300 or email cschneider@twispworks.org.
