VisionPerry History

How VisionPerry started and where they are now!

From the brink of disaster! That's the legacy of VisionPerry's humble beginnings. In response to drastic job reductions and plant closures (Bates Manufacturing and Fisher & Company), a group of local officials and businessmen began to meet weekly and discuss options and strategies to overcome our dire straights. County and City Mayors (John Carroll, Jim Azbill and Robbie Moore) along with Michael Dumont, Tim Tabor, Sam Grow, Jodi Brey and several others took it upon themselves to map out a plan of ACTION... and then started WORKING THE PLAN.

The leadership agreed that promoting tourism would be an effective way to import money into this economy. The county needed to import money into its economy. One strategy to accomplish that is Tourism. The community is blessed with pristine rivers, beautiful scenic drives and friendly people living interesting and diverse lifestyles. We have a rich collection of artisans but no formal venue to promote their crafts. A key strategy became the establishment of the Arts & Historic District in Downtown Linden.

Next, a festival was planned to usher in the 1st day of spring. In order to gain as much publicity as possible, the team began to utilize every form of media (print, electronic and social) to garner support for the festival. A prominent front page in The Tennessean was the first of its kind in over 68 years. After much planning, the stage was set to celebrate Perry County's finest qualities and draw attention to the many positives attributes that our community has to offer. We invited everyone to leave their urban jungles and visit Tennessee's Backstage and enjoy our first annual Blooming Arts Festival.

Governor Bredesen has always demonstrated a great concern and respect for rural development, and especially the unique circumstances that Perry County was facing. On several occasions over the past year, Governor Bredesen had met with Perry County's leadership to discuss our initiatives and ways to support and empower our efforts. In conjunction with the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, On May 15th, Governor Bredesen visited Linden and announced a stimulus package that would included 300 public and private sector jobs, free tuition and funds for long term planning.

The Blooming Arts Festival was a great success. People came as far away as TEXAS to enjoy the food, music, crafts and fun. The event attracted over 5,000 people who also spent time shopping in the local businesses. The most famous quote of the day, from the owner of Jim's Archery & Guns was, "I didn't know that Art could sell so much Ammo".

At the insistence of Michael Dumont and Jodi Brey, a unique summer Hire Youth program was established, administered through the City of Linden. Tim Tabor and Sam Grow joined the team along with key High School seniors who had participated in the JTG (Jobs for Tennessee Graduates) Program. The JTG seniors initiated a recruitment campaign and in a very short period of time, over 65 youths came together to form a community development staff now known officially as VisionPerry.

The Art Projects were a very important element of the summer program. Most of the staff had very little exposure to the arts in their regular school curriculum. There was also a strong feeling that the economic circumstances had left the youth feeling downtrodden and limited in their opportunities to achieve their own goals. The Arts allowed an untapped "freedom of expression" that opened minds, hearts and doors to their future. In the process, the kids benefited from understanding the importance of working with your hands, learning new skills, and helping out the rest of the community in their time of need. For once the youth had the opportunity to have a say and a hand in how this community would re-invent itself.

As the summer activities came to a close, the VisionPerry staff felt it necessary to plan another festival to celebrate the youth's contribution to our downtown revitalization. The event featured an explosion of art, music, kid's activities and food. The prominent attraction became the walking tour of the dozen or more art projects on permanent display throughout the downtown. Concrete, clay, paint, wood, you name it! Our resident artists have taught the youth that anything can be incorporated into an amazing form of art. The "Summer Arts Jam Festival" was unique, in that it was orchestrated by our youth, for our youth.

Along with local merchants, VisionPerry kicked off a "shop local" campaign, with merchants stepping up their inventory and selection for holiday shoppers and promoting the value of keeping the money turning over inside the community. Early success as measured by tax revenue demonstrated the community's commitment to the initiative.

Diversifying our economy is key to our long term stability. Site selection specialists have taught us that there are two primary factors that companies look for when they visit your town are:

1. A well trained workforce