Moving Mountains

by

Pikeville, Kentucky, population 7,100, is about the farthest east you can travel and still be in Kentucky. Located in the heart of Appalachian coal country, Pike County boasts signs welcoming visitors to "America's Energy Capital," a statement that is becoming increasingly out of date.

While many stories pouring out of the central Appalachian region highlight the waning coal economy, this town has a different tale. Pikeville has experienced unprecedented economic growth in the last 20 years and has emerged as a regional hub for health care, shopping, banking and entertainment, thanks to a mix of visionary leadership, a collaborative and supportive business environment, and a plucky entrepreneurial spirit.

City leaders cite the true foundation of their town's success as a 1960s-era engineering feat. The horseshoe shape of Pikeville is dictated by one of the great determinants in eastern Kentucky: geography. Surrounded by hills, the city sits on the flat land formed by a riverbed. While picturesque, the major flaw of the location used to be yearly flooding. The forward-thinking Mayor William Hambley lobbied the United States Congress for funding to reroute the river and the railroad tracks away from downtown. Now referred to as the Pikeville Cut-Through, the project, completed in 1987, was one of the largest civil engineering projects in North America.

Literally, this is a town that moves mountains.

One of the primary architects of the recent renaissance is Donovan Blackburn, who was hired as city manager in 2001. With strong business acumen, the former Lowe’s executive dedicated himself to the economic development of the city. “I love my community,” he says. “I want to be part of giving people the opportunity to stay here.”

Blackburn’s vision is recapturing the money that locals spend in major cities by providing basic services here. During his 16-year tenure, Pikeville saw a dizzying array of development and expansion. The tax base jumped from $2.9 million to $9 million in two decades.

His roadmap for development was an updated comprehensive plan. The process gathered input from a broad swath of the community—from high school students to CEOs—about their hopes and dreams for Pikeville. It became the city’s guide; 95 percent of the recommendations in the 2014 plan are now implemented. New businesses have opened, residents are buoyed by seeing their ideas become reality, the quality of life is improving, and the city is a more desirable location for businesses.

Blackburn accomplished this through a combination of strategy, tenacity and relationship building. He does his homework and can whip out obscure statistics gleaned from feasibility studies, traffic patterns, and marketing analysis that prove his point. For example, he knows that three major thoroughfares from three states converge in Pikeville in the third-busiest rural intersection in Kentucky.

Using his “gift of gab,” he builds connections with corporate, governmental and regional leaders. “It takes the personal touch,” he says. his web of connections, partnered with his attention to detail, was crucial to Pikeville’s development.

For example, when developing the 25-store retail complex The Pikeville Commons, Blackburn set his sights on having a Texas Roadhouse restaurant. The fact that a location in rural eastern Kentucky did not fit the corporation’s parameters didn’t faze him in the least. He gathered his meticulous and convincing research and drove to the corporate headquarters in Louisville, where he presented enough facts and incentives for Texas Roadhouse to give it a go. The corporate executives laughed when he predicted it would become one of their busiest locations. But Blackburn had the last laugh: Pikeville was the company’s No. 2 store nationally for a couple of years running, and Texas Roadhouse has twice expanded its dining room.

Blackburn left city government two years ago for the Pikeville Medical Center but did not leave his work of economic development. While the city was in the midst of its transformation, the 95-year-old Medical Center was expanding strategically to become a regional hub. The 340-bed Medical Center is the single largest employer in eastern Kentucky, with 3,300 staff members from 32 counties and seven states. Its work is vital to the region, providing nearly half of the city’s occupational tax base and 22 percent of Pike County’s total wages.

The Medical Center leadership had seen residents of the region leaving for medical services in urban centers such as Louisville, Lexington and Charleston, West Virginia. So it expanded its clinic services to 22 specialties, such as rheumatism and cardiovascular, which are unique in the region. Residents from a wide geographical area can now receive the same level of care close to home that they would expect in a big city. “We empowered to come up with the solutions that would help the most people,” Donovan says.

The newest addition under development is a state-of-the-art pediatric hospital, which took a giant step forward in August when the project received a $4.7 million SOAR grant. SOAR (Shaping Our Appalachian Region) is a nonprofit Donovan helped launch. “We have world-class adult care, but what the region is missing is a children’s hospital,” says Donovan, whose eyes were further opened to the need when his now 2-year-old granddaughter, Ava, was born with a sensory disorder. “For her to get the care she needs, it requires frequent trips to either Lexington or Cincinnati. For us, we can make that trip, but what about others in our area with similar issues? It could be a tremendous strain on a family.”

As CEO, Blackburn has developed the workforce beyond adding services. Work that used to be outsourced—such as billing and coding—is back in the community, providing more jobs and better outcomes. He also is working with government and education leaders to help solve a national crisis that hits close to home: a shortage of skilled labor, especially registered nurses.

When Donovan left city government, he could have easily retired to spend more time with his family, which includes two grown sons and two grandchildren. “This is home, and we wanted to give back to our community,” says Donovan, whose wife, Debbie, serves as a full-time volunteer and is chair of the Heart Ball, the Medical Center’s largest fundraiser. “For 32 years, she’s been my right hand and with me every step of the way.”

The couple has achieved much together, and the hospital’s new slogan is clear: “Together. We Rise.”

“It extends beyond the hospital,” Donovan continues. “Any success we have extends to the community, and by the community, I mean the region and the people of Whitesville and Prestonsburg and Martin and …”

Aside from the city and the Medical Center working on expansion in Pikeville, another anchor institution, the University of Pikeville, has recently added two new degree programs. A private liberal arts school, UPike has educated students and created opportunity for Appalachia since 1889. The university’s College of Osteopathic Medicine opened in 1997 with a guiding principle of educating physicians for underserved and rural areas, with an emphasis on primary care. More than 1,300 graduates are practicing across the country. The College of Optometry—the only one in the state—opened in 2016. Its students are from all 50 states and other countries, and the school receives hundreds of applicants annually for its 60 slots.

To stimulate and sustain this development, city and business leaders have worked together to create a culture of cooperative growth, and the ripple effects reach far into the community. Many efforts fall into three categories: downtown and small business, manufacturing and tourism. Initiatives throughout the city show evidence of Blackburn’s influence, whether through the comprehensive plan he shepherded, the relationships he nurtured, or the funding he pursued.

Downtown + Small Business

The now-thriving downtown Pikeville supports an array of small businesses, hotels and entertainment venues. City leaders say that every weekend there is something going on: a concert at the Appalachian Wireless Arena, a play at the Appalachian Center for the Arts, or another special event. These draw people to new restaurants and shops in the historic nucleus of the town.

Giving people a reason to visit downtown is one way the city supports small businesses. It also provides incentives and rent subsidies for strategic new start-ups, including $1-per-year rent in one of three storefronts. The city encourages the kind of new businesses requested by residents in the comprehensive plan. Beneficiaries this year include Broken Throne Microbrewery and Bridget’s Quilt Shop.

Four years ago, the city constructed a pavilion for the 43 vendors of the Pikeville Farmers Market, comprised of small, family businesses. David Walker, board president and owner of Walker’s Family Farm, is one of the four vendors who have boosted sales and constructed commercial kitchens, enabling him to ship his apple butter around the world. Farmers markets also serve as incubators for new entrepreneurs. Sweetie’s Cupcake and Sweet Shop, now in a storefront, established its customer base and honed its business plan through vending at the market.

Manufacturing

When a 600-acre surface mine 5 miles from downtown Pikeville was reclaimed, it was a real asset in a county where only 12-14 percent of the land is flat enough for development. City leaders considered establishing an airport or a housing development, but with the downturn of coal jobs since 2012, Blackburn and other city leaders firmed up plans for an industrial park. “It is important to bring in industries because our workforce has an ethic of hard work and many transferable skills,” he says.

The city developed the industrial park’s infrastructure, and it is open for business. The first tenant is Silver Liner, a start-up by a local entrepreneur. The tanker truck manufacturer markets vehicles around the world. With 50 employees, the owner plans to grow to 300 employees within five years.

Tourism

Recent tourism initiatives in Pikeville embrace its unique environment, culture and history. Close to downtown, a park is now an adventure playground, with horseback riding, zip lines and kayaking. Projects also capitalize on the notoriety of the infamous feud between the Hatfields and McCoys. Tours and historic sights are often what first draws visitors to Pikeville. The new Dueling Barrels Brewery and Distillery plays on this history, with two rifle barrels on its logo, a video sharing the story, and feud memorabilia, including the eventual peace treaty.

One Dueling Barrels product, moonshine, is part of the local culture. “We need to embrace our outlaw history,” says manager Danny Branham.

Opened in 2018, Dueling Barrels is one of Alltech’s three beverage operations. Alltech’s late founder, Pearse Lyons, wanted to be part of the solution for economic woes in eastern Kentucky, and Pikeville reminded him of his hometown in Ireland. Branham was born and raised in Pikeville, left for college, worked abroad for Alltech, and was tapped to manage the year-old business.

Branham sees real potential for tourism in eastern Kentucky, especially working together as a region. He and others are developing the Appalachian Moonshine Trace, similar to the Bourbon Trail. “I am privileged that after circling the globe for 20 years, I am able to take the education and experience I gained and bring it home to benefit the area,” he says.

Partly as a tribute to Blackburn’s leadership, Pikeville’s city government was named the first City Government of the Year by the Kentucky League of Cities in 2018, recognizing its transformation and positive impact on the region. But it doesn’t take an award to tell Branham about the changes since he left 20 years ago. He makes a list: the arena, the major hotels downtown, local restaurants, the growth of the university, the outdoor recreation activities. “Pikeville is completely different,” he says. “It has had a 180-degree turnaround and is leading the way in eastern Kentucky.”

This work and development come from a deep love for a place, a people and a rural way of life. That love is not unusual in eastern Kentucky. But folks in Pikeville do have something that is rarer in the region: a sense of optimism about the future.