Tucked in an out-of-the-way corner of the state, the small town of about 19,000 nevertheless draws thousands of visitors each year. Credit goes to an event begun in the 1930s, not exactly a prime decade for engaging travelers. Still, the event thrived and grew. And with it, tourism became the engine that drives the town. Depressed economies have taken their toll on the town, with residents shuddering to recall the late 1970s and early ’80s, when shops closed and boards covered doors and windows of picturesque downtown buildings. Today, both the culture and the beauty of the town attract growing numbers of tourists as well as retirees lured by that amorphous characteristic known as quality of life. Sound familiar?

With all its geographic and historical differences, the town of Ashland, Ore., shares much in common with Natchez, Miss., and the commonality provides a useful lesson as The Natchez Democrat continues its series of articles examining a recipe for a successful future for Natchez.

Ashland’s tourism industry has blossomed in the past 15 years. What brought about the boom? Ashland streets and sidewalks are smooth and litter-free and their parks and green spaces abundant. How do they do it?

Ashland has prepared for a future that includes clean new industry. What have they done?

Ashland is not without its challenges, of course. What are those, and are there lessons in them for Natchez?

Like Natchez, Ashland has lost much of its manufacturing base. A city founded in some part on proximity of lush forests standing ready for harvest, Ashland for years was a milling and farming center and, until 1927, when the line was diverted, the busy hub of a railway.

&uot;At one point, Ashland was very dependent on the timber industry,&uot; said Mary Pat Parker of the city’s Chamber of Commerce. &uot;There still are mills and some wood products industry.&uot;

The area always has benefited from the climate, friendly to growing fruit. The famous mail-order fruit company Harry & David, about 10 miles away, employs about 3,600.

Ashland’s two prizes, however, are Southern Oregon University, with its student population of about 5,500, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the largest regional repertory theater in the United States, with its season running March through October.

A university faculty member founded the Shakespeare festival in 1935, Parker said. Always popular through the years, the festival in recent years began to capture more regional and national attention. The timing could not have been better. And the growth in attendance was no coincidence. &uot;There was a pretty big recession in all of Oregon in the 1980s,&uot; Parker said. &uot;Shops in Ashland were boarded up. Then we started pulling out of that.&uot;

Cooperation is key

A groundswell of cooperation among Ashland businesses and residents made the difference. The university conducted a marketing survey of the region. The chamber, with its five-member staff and volunteers from among its 600 members, spearheaded the campaign.

&uot;We began to push with commercial advertising. We had not gone down that marketing path before,&uot; Parker said. &uot;But we knew we had a gold mine here.&uot;

Cooperation among Ashland factions paid off in another venture, as a resort company announced it was abandoning Ashland Mountain at about this same time.

&uot;They operated a ski resort and were going to close,&uot; Parker said. &uot;There was a huge campaign for the city to buy the mountain. Citizens began to pull out dimes and dollars to help the city match a rural development grant from the state.&uot;

Now Mount Ashland not only is another attraction for visitors, with its recreational diversity. It also provides recreational and educational opportunities for children who live in the area.

Other outdoor activities abound, also bringing visitors &045; white water rafting on the Rogue River; hiking at Crater Lake, the state’s only national park; and trout fishing in nearby rivers and lakes. &uot;People really began to understand what marketing was all about when this effort succeeded. They rallied around the idea of taking ownership of their town,&uot; Parker said. Tourism did boom, bringing people to Ashland for both cultural and recreational pleasures &045; about 360,000 visitors a year.

Cultural events attract visitors

Ann Seltzer, the city’s communication director and a former employee of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, said for years there were questions about how a small town could be home to a successful Shakespeare theater.

&uot;In 1935, it was a preposterous notion that anyone would come to South Oregon to see Shakespeare,&uot; Seltzer said. &uot;But it is the people who make it happen. The coming together of the people.&uot;

The theater indeed offers more than Shakespeare, varying its dozen annual offerings to appeal to wider audiences. What’s more, the festival performances take place in three different theaters, all of which are in downtown Ashland, including an outdoor theater that seats 1,200.

More than 700 people are registered volunteers with the Shakespeare festival.

The actors and other professionals associated with the festival interact with the university, said university spokeswoman Christina Dunlap.

&uot;The actors teach classes. There are costuming workshops. And student actors get internships with the festival,&uot; Dunlap said.

Tourism growth has led to a thriving downtown, she said. Want a great place to eat? Choose from among 80 restaurants. And bed-and-breakfast establishments are growing along with the historic hotels recently restored.

Seltzer said the focus on the downtown core being the heart of the community has been vital to Ashland’s recent successes.

It was not easy at first, the chamber’s Parker said. Great effort went into convincing businesses to stay open later to cater to the tourists, especially during the off-season for theater.

The chamber took the lead about 10 years ago in creating the Festival of Lights, a series of events to bring visitors to Ashland in that off season.

&uot;We now have well over a million tiny lights on during that time, beginning the day after Thanksgiving and continuing to January 6,&uot; Parker said.

Growth has its costs

Increasing tourism has not been without its costs. Visiting the picturesque town and experiencing its quality of life, retirees have come in droves to live in Ashland.

Housing costs have risen by as much as 30 percent in the past few years. &uot;Older retired people are moving up from California,&uot; university spokeswoman Dunlap said. &uot;They sell their houses in the Bay area for a million dollars and think it’s great to buy a house in Ashland for $300,000.&uot;

The changes in Ashland’s housing market have not been lost on the city’s business and political leaders. In recent months, in fact, the city council has put renewed emphasis on attracting industries that would keep the demographic diversity of the town intact.

The city has established a land trust to set aside property for affordable homes for families who otherwise might be driven away.

&uot;We’re becoming a more and more expensive place to live,&uot; said the city’s Seltzer. &uot;Many people who work here can’t live here. We want new industries that will attract young families.&uot;

One thing the city already has done to that end &045; for its residents and business owners as well as for future industries &045; is establish the Ashland Fiber Network, a high-speed data network that anyone can access.

&uot;We’re a long way from a metropolitan area, halfway between Portland and San Francisco,&uot; Seltzer said.

&uot;We needed this for connection. And we knew this would be a draw for economic development. We have a number of businesses in town who can drop-ship a product from China to Europe without touching it.&uot;

A recent survey shows Ashland’s future development lies in three areas, Seltzer said &045; tourism, technology and health care.

Tourism appears to be on firm ground. Technology is off to a good start with the city-owned fiber network. Opportunities in health care may lie in nearby Medford for now, Seltzer said.

Quality of life

While looking ahead to landing new, clean technology companies to their area, city leaders continue to put big emphasis on infrastructure and environment.

&uot;Ashland is spotless,&uot; Seltzer said. &uot;I think it’s a sense of pride. If the mayor is walking down the street and sees litter, he will stop and pick it up.&uot;

One campaign run by the city’s conservation committee admonished citizens, &uot;Tread lightly on the earth,&uot; Seltzer said. &uot;There is great public awareness of taking care of the environment.&uot;

Ashland, in addition to the usual commissions, including historic preservation, has a tree commission, a bicycle and pedestrian commission and a public arts commission. The city also owns all of its utilities.

The chamber’s Parker said streets and sidewalks are a priority in Ashland. &uot;We can expect 25,000 people at our Fourth of July parade,&uot; she said. &uot;The next day you don’t know there was a parade.&uot;

Emphasis on cleanliness and green spaces includes setting aside a portion of the 5 percent food-and-beverage tax to buy open space, Seltzer.

&uot;The goal is that anywhere in Ashland you will be within half a mile of a park,&uot; she said. &uot;Sometimes it may be just open green space, sometimes developed.&uot;

Parker describes Ashland as &uot;quaint with European flair intertwined into a mix of architectural style; elegant but friendly and eminently walkable. It’s pretty and charming.&uot;

The public schools, she said, &uot;are great. They are awesome.&uot;

The university works with the city and its residents in countless ways, spokeswoman Dunlap said.