by Stefan Klosowski
Deena Kershner has been the one and only manager of Our Town Foundation (OTF) in Hamburg—a record-setting service of sixteen years! In earlier years, Deena was secretary to the Dean of Graduate Studies at Kutztown University. More importantly for Main Street, was the experience rooted in Deena’s family owned and operated business located in downtown Hamburg, The Doris Berry Shop, a women’s and children’s clothing store that her grandmother had started in 1942.
Being a partner in a downtown business and seeing the downward spiral of downtowns, Deena attended one of the first meetings held by a group of community leaders who believed in forming a Main Street Program. Liking what she heard, Deena signed up to serve on the Promotions Committee. Within a short time, she joined the Board of Directors and then went on to serve as President. Deena truly enjoyed revitalizing the town—especially so because of her vested interest as a business owner. When the Hamburg downtown community became a designated Main Street program, Deena resigned as board president and in 2003 was hired as their program manager.
Deena believes that one of her greatest accomplishments was saving the Strand Theater from further decay. In a capital campaign, OTF raised $200,000 to “Save the Strand” and made the necessary renovations and improvements to ensure the theater’s success. It is once again a thriving community hub and often first-run movies and other films sell out.
Deena also recognizes the significance of organizing and hosting several annual fundraising events such as the Art of the Brew and the Taste of Hamburg-er Festival. The Taste of Hamburg-er (40,000 people in one day!) includes 225 food and artists/crafters—lining seven blocks of the downtown—two beer and wine gardens, five stages of live, non-stop music, and lots of children’s activities. And how about this—world renowned professional eaters compete in the professional burger eating competition. With good reason, the Taste of Hamburg-er Festival was named one of the Top Ten festivals in PA and receives national recognition.
Along with the Strand Theater and the Taste of Hamburg-er Festival, Deena feels that her greatest accomplishment is being the Executive Director of a non-profit for 16 years. To support this Deena states, “we all know how Main Street Managers come and go because of the workload, and I continue to stick it out.” Not only is she Director of the Main Street Program, but the entire Arts Alliance program operations and the operations of the Hamburg Strand Theater are administered through her office.
Worth noting is that Our Town Foundation (OTF) has been used as an example in the PA Downtown Center’s Community Revitalization Academy (CRA) training as a model community to showcase the multitude of community projects that can be established under the umbrella of one 501(c)3 organization including:
Hamburg Strand Theater – the theater was purchased to save it from its demise.
Hamburg Area Arts Alliance - included within OTF’s office complex.
Schuylkill River Trails – expansion and linking of local biking and hiking trails.
Taste of Hamburg-er Festival – the hosting of this event is in its 16th anniversary that brings approximately 40,000 persons to Hamburg.
There is no Promotional Committee and all marketing for the Borough is done through the OTF office. This includes hosting the hamburgpa.org website, all social media sites, a bi-weekly “Hamburg Happenings” email newsletter, a quarterly print newsletter that is included as part of the local newspaper, and printing and distribution of brochures.
Blueprint Community - affiliated with Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh. Hamburg is one of the first Blueprint Communities in PA.
Native Wildlife Habitat Community designation – Hamburg was the very first community in the state of PA to become designated through the National Wildlife Federation. This included planting several native gardens at the Borough’s park and other public places.
National Historic District designation for the downtown area.
Heritage Towns and Tours Programs – spearheaded and implemented programs and projects, including marketing the town’s heritage resources.
Welcome Center – the OTF office serves as Hamburg’s welcome center.
The Our Town Foundation has also made quite an investment in physical improvements including streetscapes of $1.2 million; downtown mural and public art initiatives; over 120 Hometown Heroes banners; improvements and greening of three Borough-owned parking lots; a successful façade program totaling $205,441 (representing three separate grants); and, urban furniture including benches and trash receptacles.
Deena was recently honored by the Rotary Club of Hamburg with the Citizen of the Year award. Our Town Foundation has received Pennsylvania Downtown Center Townie Awards for Organizational Excellence, Promotions and Marketing, and, this past year Hamburg received an Anchor Building Townie Award for the renovations to the building that now houses the 1787 Brew Pub. In 2013 Our Town Foundation also received the Smart Growth Alliance Award of Berks County.
Just this past June, after 16 years of paying rent, OTF took the plunge and purchased a third downtown property to house their offices and the Art & Craft Gallery. Now owners of three properties—the first the theater and the second, a one-acre grass lot that will become a downtown park and community area.
Deena is married, has a son and daughter and five grandchildren. When she is not working, she likes to travel and go camping.
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