CELEBRATING OUR FIRST YEAR (and what a year it's been!)

Today marks The Haute Initiative’s 1-year anniversary. Looking back over The Haute’s body of work since that snowy morning a year ago when we announced the initiative’s launch, we’ve done & accomplished much. Over the past 12 months, we've:

• expanded the already comprehensive community information site at terrehaute.com — the foundation of what we do — adding a Business Directory, a Downtown Terre Haute section, a Birthplace of the Coca-Cola Bottle section, Election Information pages (when timely) and QuickLinks from our homepage to some of the site’s more popular pages, while revising — and re-revising — our Parks, Restaurants, Hotels & Museums sections and more, in order to make them more streamlined and user-friendly. More than 27,000 site visitors have viewed more than 66,000 pages at terrehaute.com, where we’ve since added our own Community Events Calendar to our most popular page, Things To Do. Blog posts from local community leaders have been among our most popular pages, as well.

• released 12 episodes of The Haute video series on Vigo County/Terre Haute, each averaging more than 40,000 views apiece, along with other video releases throughout the year, from fun ones like this one to quaint ones like this. All told, videos released under The Haute banner have garnered more than half a million views!

• produced a number of printed promotional pieces, including 'Explore terrehaute.com' posters and cards, window decals and

Birthplace of the Coca Cola Bottle prints & postcards; and...

• expanded social media platform to include Instagram (in addition to Facebook, Twitter & YouTube), and begun weekly WEEKEND EVENTS ROUNDUP posts & FREE FRIDAY IN THE HAUTE giveaways to showcase great local businesses, organizations, activities and recreational opportunities.

The Haute Initiative’s current board of directors includes: Jared Farnsworth (Nattkemper & Farnsworth), Mark Gibson (Envisionary Media), Danielle Isbell (United Way), Shelley Klingerman (Launch Terre Haute), John Mullican (Remax), Allie Price (City of Terre Haute) and Dee Reed (Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College) (Gretchen Kraut of Sycamore Farm was an early board member before stepping down [or in this case, stepping up] to begin teaching).

The Haute's primary content & support producers have been Isaac Adams, Travis Beckner and Mark & Amy Gibson of Envisionary Media, along with recent ISU interns Jacob Hensley, Trevor Leuck, Katie Higgins, Amber Stinson & Claire Silcox.

And of course none of it could have been possible without the financial support of community partners like the Wabash Valley Community Foundation, Terre Haute Convention & Visitors Bureau, Envisionary Media, Indiana State University, The Terre Haute Economic Development Corp., Ivy Tech Community College, Dorsett Automotive Group, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, Sycamore Insurance Associaties, Terre Haute Regional Hospital, Finzel's MasterTech, Terre Haute Century 21, Union Health, Vigo County Parks & Recreation Dept., City of Terre Haute, Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce, Terre Haute Savings Bank, ThompsonThrift, Vigo County Public Library, Terre Haute Regional Airport and Baesler's Market.

We’re proud of the community we live in and are a part of, and are eternally grateful for the friends and neighbors who share our love for it and support our passion to share the best of it with the world.

Would you like to have a part in helping us spread the word about the many great resources and offerings we enjoy in Terre Haute & Vigo County? Here are a few ways you can contribute:

• Let us know if you have a community event coming up. We strive to keep our Community Events Calendar relevant & comprehensive. You can submit your events here, and find criteria for inclusion.

• Spread the word about all the great resources available locally by putting up an Explore terrehaute.com poster or window decal. You can request a 11"x17" poster, window decal, or both! by contacting us at: info@thehaute.org. Best of all, they’re free!

• Follow us on any (or all!) of our Social Media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & YouTube). Following/subscribing keeps you up to date on what we’re working on, lets your friends & associates in on the secret, and lets our supporting partners — the ones who help us pay the bills — see that there’s a growing audience that shares our vision for a strong community.

Which brings us to the final way you can be a part. Your organization or business can play a vital role in helping The Haute Initiative continue the work of promoting & celebrating our shared community by becoming a supporting partner. Not only does financial support help share the expense we incur in producing content, website development/administration, operating, production & advertising costs, etc., but it showcases your business or organization as an active participant in the advancement of our community in a dynamic, highly visible way. Join with us in showing the world the very best that Terre Haute & Vigo County have to offer! tax-deductible contributions to help cover essential operating & production costs. If you’d like to know more about partnering with The Haute, contact Amy at amy.gibson@thehaute.org.

We’re grateful and humbled by the response and the overwhelming show of support we’ve received. It’s been a great year. Here’s to a great 2019 of work, of play, of life in The Haute!

Mark Gibson is Executive Director of The Haute Initiative, a Terre Haute, Indiana-based 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to promoting, celebrating & strengthening the greater Terre Haute/Vigo County community.