The Buzz Around Town
with Editor Kevin McManus
File photo by KEVIN MCMANUS Matt Wiederhold, 48, pictured stringing lights on the gazebo’s Christmas tree in 2014, has returned to an important community role after being away for about 18 months.
I honestly had a feeling he wouldn’t be gone long.
Once synonymous with all things downtown Medina for close to a decade, Matt Wiederhold has returned to an important community role he’d only been away from for 18 months.
Maybe what brought him back was the sense of connectivity here or the feeling of working for and within a decent community. Maybe it was Public Square, as much picturesque as it is the very heartbeat of the city’s economy.
“Really, I was just missing the President Carter burger at P.J. Marley’s and the sausage pesto pizza at Courthouse Pizzeria,” Wiederhold, 48, laughs – while still plugging two square merchants.
Wiederhold is once again the executive director of Main Street Medina, which some people are quick to peg as just a party-planning committee. It’s not, actually, despite the array of downtown events – Candlelight Walk, Beer Fest, Ice Fest and International Fest to name a few – it hosts each year.
Main Street is the city’s leading nonprofit organization when it comes to the betterment of local businesses and historic preservation. Its board and volunteers are dedicated to keeping downtown Medina a desirable place for business owners to do business, for residents to live and for visitors to spend money.
That’s why it matters who leads this organization, the cause of which is deemed worthy enough by the city of Medina to open its coffers each year and donate some public cash. The city’s future sustainability depends on community-minded efforts like Main Street’s.
When Wiederhold left Main Street in April 2016, it took the board about five months to find and hire his replacement. With Wiederhold’s replacement, Jeremy Levine, having left earlier this month – reportedly an amicable breakup – it will only have taken a matter of weeks to bring Wiederhold back into the fold. He starts in October.
“Somehow, I want people to know I applied, there was an interview process and there were other serious candidates,” he said. “It wasn’t ‘de facto, Matt’s coming back.’”
Wiederhold and his family relocated to Cleveland’s east side so he could become the director of development at The Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio, a human relations nonprofit focused on eliminating bigotry and racism. It was there, albeit for less than 18 months, where he said he honed his grant-writing chops, something he called one of his “weaknesses.”
“That aspect was something I never really had a handle on. It was missing from my nonprofit experience,” he said. “Now I can bring that and hopefully pull more resources into Medina and the Historic District to build it up.”
2015 was Wiederhold’s last full year at the helm here and also Main Street’s most successful. Events attracted more than 127,000 attendees, who brought an estimated $1.2 million economic impact with them.
In years before that, Wiederhold served as a scout of sorts when it came to identifying other possible Main-Street-ready communities in the state, places where small-town downtown programming might take off. Main Street’s parent group is Heritage Ohio, a subsidiary of Main Street America. Wiederhold served on the teams to establish Main Street in Marietta and Chardon, where he mentored new directors.
“Some communities really blossom. Others can’t sustain a program,” he said. “There’s a core of 25 Main Street communities across the state.”
Medina, obviously, is a community that has sustained under the Main Street approach since its 2008 inception.
“When I left, everything was so present and in front of me. It was just so overwhelming,” he said. “I can come back with a fresh perspective. I can almost come back in an unbiased way and see what’s working and what’s not ... ask the merchants ‘what do you want?’”
One of his common talking points, what Wiederhold said he missed most in his time away was “building things up.”
“I didn’t have that opportunity where I am at now,” he said. “I’m excited with the new construction going in at the former chamber of commerce site and the potential redevelopment of the Farmers Exchange. How can we continue to grow the Historic District?”
Now is as good of time as any to investigate and begin to execute downtown growth, with Main Street being one of the most important wheels on the vehicle to make it happen.
Welcome home, Matt. Medina is sure to benefit from your return.
Read more about Main Street’s transition inside this week’s print and digital editions of The Medina Post.
Contact me
As always, I look forward to hearing from you and will gladly accept news tips at kmcmanus@thepostnewspapers.com.
Make it a great week, Medina.
Once synonymous with all things downtown Medina for close to a decade, Matt Wiederhold has returned to an important community role he’d only been away from for 18 months.
Maybe what brought him back was the sense of connectivity here or the feeling of working for and within a decent community. Maybe it was Public Square, as much picturesque as it is the very heartbeat of the city’s economy.
“Really, I was just missing the President Carter burger at P.J. Marley’s and the sausage pesto pizza at Courthouse Pizzeria,” Wiederhold, 48, laughs – while still plugging two square merchants.
Wiederhold is once again the executive director of Main Street Medina, which some people are quick to peg as just a party-planning committee. It’s not, actually, despite the array of downtown events – Candlelight Walk, Beer Fest, Ice Fest and International Fest to name a few – it hosts each year.
Main Street is the city’s leading nonprofit organization when it comes to the betterment of local businesses and historic preservation. Its board and volunteers are dedicated to keeping downtown Medina a desirable place for business owners to do business, for residents to live and for visitors to spend money.
That’s why it matters who leads this organization, the cause of which is deemed worthy enough by the city of Medina to open its coffers each year and donate some public cash. The city’s future sustainability depends on community-minded efforts like Main Street’s.
When Wiederhold left Main Street in April 2016, it took the board about five months to find and hire his replacement. With Wiederhold’s replacement, Jeremy Levine, having left earlier this month – reportedly an amicable breakup – it will only have taken a matter of weeks to bring Wiederhold back into the fold. He starts in October.
“Somehow, I want people to know I applied, there was an interview process and there were other serious candidates,” he said. “It wasn’t ‘de facto, Matt’s coming back.’”
Wiederhold and his family relocated to Cleveland’s east side so he could become the director of development at The Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio, a human relations nonprofit focused on eliminating bigotry and racism. It was there, albeit for less than 18 months, where he said he honed his grant-writing chops, something he called one of his “weaknesses.”
“That aspect was something I never really had a handle on. It was missing from my nonprofit experience,” he said. “Now I can bring that and hopefully pull more resources into Medina and the Historic District to build it up.”
2015 was Wiederhold’s last full year at the helm here and also Main Street’s most successful. Events attracted more than 127,000 attendees, who brought an estimated $1.2 million economic impact with them.
In years before that, Wiederhold served as a scout of sorts when it came to identifying other possible Main-Street-ready communities in the state, places where small-town downtown programming might take off. Main Street’s parent group is Heritage Ohio, a subsidiary of Main Street America. Wiederhold served on the teams to establish Main Street in Marietta and Chardon, where he mentored new directors.
“Some communities really blossom. Others can’t sustain a program,” he said. “There’s a core of 25 Main Street communities across the state.”
Medina, obviously, is a community that has sustained under the Main Street approach since its 2008 inception.
“When I left, everything was so present and in front of me. It was just so overwhelming,” he said. “I can come back with a fresh perspective. I can almost come back in an unbiased way and see what’s working and what’s not ... ask the merchants ‘what do you want?’”
One of his common talking points, what Wiederhold said he missed most in his time away was “building things up.”
“I didn’t have that opportunity where I am at now,” he said. “I’m excited with the new construction going in at the former chamber of commerce site and the potential redevelopment of the Farmers Exchange. How can we continue to grow the Historic District?”
Now is as good of time as any to investigate and begin to execute downtown growth, with Main Street being one of the most important wheels on the vehicle to make it happen.
Welcome home, Matt. Medina is sure to benefit from your return.
Read more about Main Street’s transition inside this week’s print and digital editions of The Medina Post.
Contact me
As always, I look forward to hearing from you and will gladly accept news tips at kmcmanus@thepostnewspapers.com.
Make it a great week, Medina.