Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The new executive director of Tucumcari MainStreet is someone who holds considerable familiarity with the downtown improvement program and with Tucumcari itself.
Connie Loveland began her duties June 3 in the MainStreet office in the historic Tucumcari railroad depot after spending 12 years as a loan officer and community bank compliance officer at Tucumcari Federal Savings and Loan.
She said she was prompted to apply for the position after spending two years as co-chairwoman of the organization's Fired Up festivals, including the first in 2011, and several years on the festival board.
“I have always loved MainStreet and what they stand for,” she said in her office Friday. “I was born and raised here, and I want the place to do good.”
She also helped coordinate Tucumcari Rawhide Days. She and her husband also operate Loveland Farrier.
She said Mark Lake, Tucumcari MainStreet’s first director from 2008 to 2014 and interim executive director since Gail Houser's firing in January, has been “slowly bringing me up to speed.”
“He comes in a couple of hours per day, two to three times per week,” she said. “It's been a great help because there's so many great programs MainStreet does. It's nice to have someone who knows the ropes.”
Asked about the organization's high priorities, Loveland said she wants to finish demolition of a partially collapsed building at 101 E. Main St. and follow up on the Great Blocks on MainStreet program, a beautification and infrastructure improvement initiative for downtown.
As one might expect, she's finishing up planning for Fired Up, which takes place Sept. 28. Another high-profile event is Tucumcari hosting New Mexico MainStreet's fall quarterly meeting Oct. 16. It's the first time since 2011 the city has hosted such an event. She said about 70 people will be in Tucumcari over the weekend for events at the convention center, Mesalands Community College and downtown.
“People will be staying in hotels and eating at restaurants here, so that's a good thing,” Loveland said. “It's a good thing for Tucumcari MainStreet. … It gets us visible in the state MainStreet's eyes again.”
Loveland said she doesn't feel compelled to make big changes to the program.
“I think the direction it was going is a good place to start,” she said. “There's a lot of good things going on.”
Loveland said, however, it will have a bigger social media presence. She pledged to be more active on the organization's Facebook page to share information about businesses, grants and other information.
“We are extremely excited to have Connie on our team,” MainStreet board President Cooper Glover stated in an email Friday. “Her past experience as a key MainStreet volunteer combined with her professionalism and experience are attributes that we feel will be an excellent fit for our organization, and we are looking forward to great things.”
The MainStreet board's firing of Houser, who had served as executive director since August 2014, came less than a week after the program landed $17,000 in Partnership Grant Program funds from Tucumcari Federal Savings and Loan Association and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas.
The Fired Up festival in September also broke a record with 4,024 people attending, a 19 percent increase over the previous mark. The number was verified by volunteers with counters.
“We just decided we need a change in leadership,” Glover said after Houser's firing.