Inside Cool Spring Downtown District: Fayetteville’s Nonprofit “Magic Elves”

By: Mathias Marchington

You’ve seen the orange polos, no doubt. Walking around downtown with an air of “I belong here, and so do you.” You can talk to them, you know. Ask questions, directions, advice on what’s going on and what to do. They’re the street team, and they’re out there every day, keeping the streets clean and the locals informed.

“They’re also the concierge,” says Ashanti Bennett, president and CEO of the Cool Spring Downtown District. “If you’re feeling a little lost, find the guys in the orange polos,” she adds. “They’ll help you figure out where you need to be. They’re aware of everything going on downtown, and events even beyond what we’re doing.” Bennett is referencing the robust event schedule that Cool Spring organizes each year—with two major annual festivals curated and hosted on behalf of the city of Fayetteville—one facet of a many-faceted organization.

You might think of Cool Spring and their staff as the little elves, and downtown as the shoemaker’s shop in which they set everything right. Each aspect that goes into a vibrant, evolving, and worthwhile downtown—even the ones that go unnoticed—is probably thanks to them.

More Than a Pass-Through on I-95

Fayetteville is about 30 miles off of the exact midpoint between New York City and Miami. A perfect stop for road-weary folks making the journey. There are six exits off 95 devoted to Fayetteville. One of them takes you right into downtown.

“When I travel, I like to go someplace where I’m surprised by what I saw,” Bennett says. “You know, you might think: ‘…Small town, North Carolina, off 95, okay.’ And then you come and see some world-class exhibition that’s just on the sidewalk. That’s what you come back for. That’s our thing: not getting folks here, but making sure they remember us well, and come back again.”

The numbers sure seem to imply that Bennett’s ethos is working. Downtown welcomes around 4 million visitors annually. 1.8 million of those visitors are unique. The rest are repeats.

Building Downtown’s “Third Space”

Bennett, plus her staff of just four other people, envision downtown Fayetteville as a central “third space” at a time when those places are becoming harder to find. (If you didn’t know, a “third space” is a low-pressure, social environment separate from your home—your first space—and your work—your second space. A spot like a local bar, library, community center, park, barber shop, or cafe.)

“It’s for all citizens,” Bennett says. “Visitors, we can get those in, but I want the people that are in this city to love their downtown because it’s theirs. They make downtown.” Cool Spring works to create a welcoming atmosphere where everybody can plug-in the way that they need to plug-in. “Whether that’s taking an offsite meeting at a coffee shop, taking part in a chess club at one of the built-in chess tables out here. There’s some way, shape, or form for you to connect in downtown.”

It seems like a lofty goal, but Bennett and her staff are far from having their heads in the clouds.

The Mandate: Creativity, Culture, and Commerce

“Our mandate is to sustain and promote downtown Fayetteville as a dynamic hub of creativity, culture, and commerce,” Bennett says with such confidence that it’s as if she’s said it a million times before. Maybe she has. The organization, she emphasizes, is collaborative. And a lot of their day-to-day work involves conversations; reaching out to local businesses, organizations, and whoever else might have a hand in keeping downtown thriving—but also conversations with the public. They direct walk-ins who need help navigating, they assist with locals curious where they might see a certain event or get a bite to eat, and they field phone calls from folks with all sorts of other queries.

“We joke sometimes that we’re sort of like the old school telephone operators, you know? Let me connect you to so-and-so,” Bennett says with a laugh. “We push out a lot of public information.”

Running the Municipal Services District

Anyone might think the work of constant event-planning and maintaining a helpful presence in downtown would be enough work, but—”We also manage the municipal services district,” a tax-based district of downtown. It’s a model that’s common across the country. Small businesses in downtown pay an enhanced tax rate in exchange for enhanced services.

“For instance, we manage a shared waste management program called Clean Streets.” Cool Spring manages dumpster recycling pads (“An effort to reduce roll cart trash cans, you know, that are just kind of on the sidewalk,” Bennett adds) performs maintenance and beautification of the streets with clean-up days and bulk trash pickup, and even undertakes landscaping projects.

The list of responsibilities that Cool Spring balances seems nearly endless. In addition to everything else, they manage the safety and engagement ambassador program, those familiar faces in orange polos; they advocate for downtown and the people that work and play there, showing up to work closely with the municipal government in shaping a vibrant downtown; and they adjust on the fly to whatever obstacles crop-up, be it bad weather or a global pandemic.

Not a City Department — A 501(c)(3) Powered by Partners

It’s a common misconception that Cool Spring is a government entity, with how heavy a hand they have in downtown. “I think people think we might even be a city department,” Bennett says. Cool Spring is not. It’s a 501(c)3, “and we sing for our supper, as all other nonprofits do.” (Where they find time to sing amid all of this other work is unclear.) A big chunk of support comes from other like-minded organizations in Fayetteville, most notably The Arts Council of Fayetteville | Cumberland County. The Council, which helped to formulate the original idea that became Cool Spring back in 2017, supports between 8-10% of Cool Spring’s annual expenses, as part of the Council’s mission to promote cultural tourism in Fayetteville. A lot of their other support comes from donations, the solicitation of which is just another thing that falls under Cool Spring’s purview.

Just from speaking with Bennett, the weight of all of those responsibilities wouldn’t be obvious. She’s energetic, passionate about her work, and full of good humor.

Her energy is reflected back in the most recent addition to the Cool Spring staff.

Meet Dominique Womack: A Hometown “Magic Elf”

Dominique Womack, a native of Fayetteville, always wanted to give back to her city.

“Growing up in Cumberland County schools, they always stressed the importance of community and volunteering,” she notes. A millennial, Womack says that a lot of people her age have moved out of the city, either in search of jobs elsewhere or under the misconception that there’s not enough activity for families. “[This work] is a way to stomp that myth. And prove to my people that there is something to do here. It’s a beautiful place. I love my city. I got it tattooed on me. So working in this position, it was meant to be. It was perfect.”

Bennett speaks highly of Womack. “Dominique’s gonna underplay herself a little bit,” she says. “She’s got an ‘it’ girl thing, she’s got a magic.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, both of them embrace the moniker of the city’s little elves.

“We’re the magic elves.”

“All those things that you don’t think about until maybe it doesn’t happen, and you’re like, ‘Huh? Who’s going to do that? Where are the magic elves?’ We’re the magic elves,” Bennett says. Womack laughs, but nods knowingly. It’s a bigger job than people might realize.

Find the Magic Elves This Season

You can see the magic elves of Fayetteville at work this fall and winter, with both the Christmas Parade and New Year’s Eve coming up, alongside a handful of other events, all made with returning locals in mind, maybe more than those on the road to Miami from New York. As Bennett says: “One of the things that I believe in is that a downtown district should be evolving. It should be responsive to the needs of the community.” So get out there, and see how Cool Spring has already responded to Fayetteville’s needs, whether through world-class public sculptures, or beloved annual events.

And if you get lost, look for the orange polos.