Daily Freeman-Journal photo by Kolleen Taylor: The First Impressions committee gathered to review the final report from the state tourism office Thursday, to consider the strengths and recommendations visitors to Webster City discovered last summer. Those attending were (back to camera from left around table): Amelia Oliver, Jamie Griffith, Jim Richardson, Lori Westrum, Brian Lammers, Mark Ferguson, Janet Adams, Maureen Seamonds, Diane Sinclair and Robin Streigle.

The First Impressions Tourism and Community Assessment program released their report on Webster City this week. The report was a culmination of multiple visitors who came to Webster City during the summer of 2025 with an assignment: to evaluate Webster City from the perspective of a visitor.

One of the biggest messages from the report was the need to communicate better, from updating business hours online, both social media and business websites and a need for more and better signage throughout the community.

But the report overall was good.

“I felt there were good things, there are always things you can work on and overall it was a good report,” said Kathy Birkestrand, co-owner of Osweiler’s, “It said that people were friendly and helpful, that’s important in a small town.”

The committee that has been reviewing this report includes many chamber members, county and city staff and other community leaders.

For the travelers who evaluated the community, the first five minutes in the community was a good impression. In their words, the town appeared clean and well cared for, not only along the entrances but throughout the community. Despite the challenges of the aging downtown buildings, the downtown business district received very positive comments.

The list of strengths were as follows:

Outdoor recreation

Briggs Woods Park and the trail connecting the park to Webster City

Recreational trails-land and water

Public art and sculpture tour

Historic sites and preservation efforts

Unique locally owned businesses with great staff

Outstanding customer service with great staff

The list of challenges included:

The trail connectivity to business and attractions in town

Lack of signage and information to attract trail users to community

Varied business hours

Continued historic preservation of buildings in downtown area

Drawing visitors into town from the highway

Connecting better with visitors to Briggs Woods Park

The recommendations included the following

Enhance community entryways

Connect trail users and visitors to Briggs Woods to opportunities in Webster City

Trail connectivity and wayfinding signage

Lean into public art and culture and weave these throughout the community

Make it easy for visitors to find Webster City information online and in the community

Enhance cross-marketing efforts and collaboration

“I was pleased to see recommendations of things that were already happening,” said Jamie Griffith, Executive Director of the Webster City Area Chamber of Commerce. Areas mentioned were already being addressed.

That’s not to say everything was in process. There was a sense of urgency to encourage business owners to get online and claim their Google business account. This is a free way to get visitors to know what is available in the city. Their Google maps feature helps bring strangers directly to the door.

That message was echoed throughout the discussion. The Webster City area Chamber of Commerce also has a paid for a service called “Locable”, which is available free to chamber members. But the number of chamber members actually connected through this is low.

“You’ve got to be communicating with the world,” said Amelia Oliver.

It takes time to update so many sites. Training to use Locable, which was offered last year, needs to be repeated. This can can help in updating many sites.

The committee is tasked with creating action plans for creating short, medium and long-range solutions. A quick solution would be to update Google business accounts.

A longer solution is getting signage along Highway 20; there are a lot of restrictions and hoops to jump through to make a significant impact.

“Many of the items were already on the radar,” said Brian Lammers, Hamilton County Conservation office. There were a lot of things about the trails in the report, both good comments and suggestions to make them better,

Griffith summarized the report.

“The importance of the final report is the follow through and working together to get the recommendations done.”

The report, which is nearly 50 pages long goes at length to highlight the positive aspects of the community, but to also give direction for some areas that should be prioritized. The next steps will be to identify the projects from the list of recommendations and get those accomplished.

The process has started, and the work is being done. The group will be tackling some of the biggest challenges, and will be meeting again in early March, hoping some of the initial steps are completed.