Sept. 25, 2014

By Natasha Hillman

To many, Whitewater is a town of Friday night-lights, late night studying, and a town full of unique shops and diners. But not many think about what it takes to maintain the businesses, education systems and the overall feel.

Think Whitewater Buy Local is a program that helps not just the local businesses thrive but also the community.

Ron Binning, chair of Think Whitewater Buy Local, first started this program four years ago. Binning said Think Whitewater Buy Local is designed to help market and promote the local businesses in Whitewater and is more of a campaign than a program.

Binning, a now semi-retired owner of Binner & Dickins Insurance in Whitewater, explains how he and some other business owners in town first formed Think Whitewater Buy Local.

“About four years ago, myself and a bunch of other business owners here in town, decided to form a bi-local committee,” Binning said. “The idea of a bi-local committee is, instead of jumping inside the car and buying something at Janesville, maybe they should consider looking at Whitewater first.”

Binning emphasized the importance of ecology and the environment.

“Why burn gas when you could buy something you could buy in Whitewater, so for the ecology of it, it makes sense to think local,” Binning said. “The community is here to be vibrant, to be involved. Businesses here support the school district, but if you’re shopping or dinning in Janesville, you’re not supporting the school district.”

He said when you buy local you support the local businesses. If you’re going to the farmers market, you’re supporting the farmers; if you’re going to the restaurants, or other businesses in Whitewater, you are supporting the school system.

“Now there are exceptions,” Binning said. “You can’t buy everything here in Whitewater, but you can sure think about here first.”

Think Whitewater Buy Local is more of a campaign than an actual, physical entity. It’s changing people’s perspectives especially due to the involvement of smart phones,” according to Binning.

“Buying local pretty much makes sense, to just get people to think. Today you can buy anything, if you have a whim to buy an air compressor, you can go online and buy one,” he said. “It’s quick, easy, simple, but you can just as easily go to the hardware store and buy and get one today.”

UW-W senior Kelly Holck said she and one of her friends are familiar with the program.

“Giving back to the community you live in is something that everyone should be interested in doing,” Holck said. “I go to school here and work here so giving back to the place that provides me with so much should be a given.

She said although she doesn’t have the value card, she buys local and tries to give back as much as possible.

Binning agrees with Holck, but he said the future of Whitewater economy is uncertain.

“In 20 years, it’ll be interesting to see what a small town looks like,” Binning said. “A community, such as Whitewater, may be obsolete, without the support of the members in that community.”

While Whitewater cannot measure the success of this program, Think Whitewater Buy Local currently has a Facebook Page, a website, as well as a Twitter account that can determine the popularity of it.

“It’s still growing,” Binning said. “When we started this, we were in the depths of an economic situation in which businesses weren’t doing as well. Since then businesses have turned around.  Businesses such as The Sweet Spot, offer our community a place to go that is continually supporting our community.”

One of the things Binning and others have worked on, that hasn’t been made for public yet, is with the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Department at UW-Whitewater. They are currently working to add another layer on Google Maps in an effort to integrate every business in Whitewater.

“So let’s say you and your friends want a Chinese restaurant,” Binning said, “So, you would type in Chinese Restaurant, and it will show you what the hours are, their address, website, their Yelp, Facebook page. The only problem is, how do you find this map? We are still working on this. Hopefully, we will have this up and running by the end of next year.”

Binning said in the long run, buying local would help the community. A community’s survival depends heavily on how its businesses are doing, he said.

“Live where you love, love where you live,” Binning said.