When a major highway construction project began last summer in Hackensack, Minnesota, Kris Biessener knew the community needed to act — and sooner rather than later. “We realized, ‘Wow, we need to be proactive about this,” she says.
Community leaders knew road closures and detours may discourage visitors and affect local businesses. Instead of waiting to react, they chose to work together, creating a community-wide effort to keep residents informed and welcome visitors.
Creating the Lane Changers team
Seeking advice on how to support the community during construction, Hackensack’s GreenSteps Cities Coordinator Gary Dietrich reached out to Extension Community Economics Educator DeeDee LeMier.
“I met regularly with Gary and other community leaders over the following months, helping them think about a coordinated community response,” LeMier says. They discussed the challenges construction would bring and the importance of working together.
Those conversations led to the creation of the Lane Changers team, a collaborative initiative organized through the Hackensack Game Changers and approved by the city council. Representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club and other local nonprofits joined the effort, each bringing a different perspective on the community's needs.
Keeping the community updated
Biessener, the Lane Changers team lead, attended weekly meetings with the Minnesota Department of Transportation and city engineers, gathering construction updates, detour information and signage changes to share with the community. Rather than multiple people contacting project leaders separately, Biessener served as a single point of communication to keep everyone informed.
The Lane Changers team shared the information Biessener gathered through a weekly email newsletter sent to about 500 subscribers. Featuring maps, construction photos and progress reports, the newsletter helped residents, seasonal cabin owners and visitors understand changing traffic patterns.
“Communication was the key; it was the main way we helped everyone get through it,” says Biessener. Built through community outreach, Facebook, QR codes and word of mouth, the email list achieved an almost unheard-of open rate of nearly 80%.
Launching a button campaign
The Lane Changers team also launched a $5 community button campaign that offered discounts at participating businesses, leveraging a small grant from Sourcewell. The buttons featured a QR code linking to current business specials, giving organizers the flexibility to add new businesses throughout the construction season.
“We raised $2,200 from the button campaign and used it on Spotify ads,” Biessener says. The ads reminded visitors that Hackensack remained open and highlighted local events.
The team also created updated detour maps and painted over old campaign and real estate signs to give to local businesses. Additionally, the weekly newsletters shared drone footage documenting construction progress.
Using mobile analytics
While working with the community, LeMier tested new ways to use cell phone location data to better understand visitor patterns and guide marketing decisions. “DeeDee tracking cell phone data was really cool,” Biessener says. “It helped us pinpoint areas that experienced a decline in visitor traffic due to the construction.”
LeMier's findings showed visitor traffic during the project, allowing for real-time outreach efforts to key visitor markets. This led the Lane Changers to focus outreach efforts on local media, in addition to the Spotify and button campaigns. Over the course of the construction project, visits from the area immediately surrounding the community increased by more than 10%, and visitors from the area increased by more than 11%.
Celebrating the completion of construction
Last month, the community hosted an event called Taste of Hackensack to celebrate the completion of the construction project, and about 300 people attended.
“When I arrived, my first impression was simply, ‘Wow,’” says Holly Holm, principal office and administrative specialist at the Cass County Extension office. “The atmosphere was wonderful. It was really great to see the collaboration between local organizations, businesses, volunteers and community leaders.”