In 2019, Mike Bell, a HubCAP team member and Elkins community leader, brought Quint Studer’s book, Building a Vibrant Community, to the attention of city leaders, including Lisa Wood (Elkins-Randolph County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director) and Anne Beardslee (Elkins-Randolph County Tourism Executive Director). Once reading it, they began spreading the word that they wanted everyone in town to read the book. Some community leaders came together to purchase and donate copies of the book to provide to Elkins residents, and overall, the group was able to hand out 450 books to those eager to get involved. 

The book and collective study provided some valuable buy-in from the community, and in early 2020, the team brought Quint Studer to Elkins to teach a workshop on building a vibrant community. The excitement around the workshop helped solidify some major plans for the future of the community and helped build trust among community leaders. “The workshop was a catalyst for creating task forces and inspiring the community that we could collectively move Elkins forward,” said Lisa.

A major way that the community is determined to move Elkins forward is by transforming its riverfront. When Elkins joined the HubCAP IV program in late 2020, the community team decided to focus its efforts on riverfront development and branding. 

The Tygart Valley River, which runs directly through Elkins, is largely underutilized and overlooked by the community. The Riverfront Development Plan will reframe the river into a usable asset with walking trails, fishing, kayaking, and recreational activities along the river through collaborations with the City of Elkins, The Hub, and Woodlands Development Group. Phase I of the project will focus on making the riverfront usable to the community with boardwalks, new sidewalks, trails, fishing access, and lighting. Phase II will involve signage and wayfinding, and Phase III will involve trail loops, launches, amenities, and sidewalk connections. 

As part of their branding project, the city is addressing wayfinding for motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians. The team worked with designer Skyler Spence, who was involved in brand development with the Mon Forest Towns initiative to create a Branding Toolkit. The HubCAP team picked several colors and icons that could be used by organizations and businesses throughout the community to help with business identity in marketing materials and signage. The branding toolkit will be used in Elkins’ signage for the Riverfront and is being implemented throughout town. “We hope that the branding toolkit creates a coherent, more impactful representation of who we are and what we offer,” said Mike.

Ultimately, the HubCAP team hopes the Riverfront project will bring more people to downtown Elkins and create new opportunities for different types of businesses (like those that may be more recreation-focused) to be supported by Elkins’ economy, while creating more opportunities for growth for pre-existing businesses by expanding the recreational tourism economy into downtown past the edge of Monongahela Forest. 

The Hub isn’t the only organization to take note of Elkins’ success. The new Ascend West Virginia program chose Elkins as its fourth location and is now recruiting out-of-state remote workers to relocate to the area (and is rewarding them with a $12,000 stipend for the move) to help bolster the local economy. This could make a major impact on Elkins because the program has received over 20,000 applicants and resulted in its largest cohort of 87 people moving to Morgantown so far (as well as participants in Greenbrier Valley and the Eastern Panhandle). Because of the push for remote workers to move to the area, the community also prioritized having efficient internet access and broadband. The Elkins and Randolph County area are expecting a $20-25 million investment in broadband infrastructure over the next 2-4 years.