Lamp stepping down after 10 years as HDM director

For the past decade, Historic Downtown Millersburg has had Judy Lamp guide its many activities, parades and gala events, from the art walk to visits from Santa, Halloween, chocolate extravaganzas and fireworks.

However, with a new year comes a new beginning, and the longtime executive director of HDM has now officially retired from her role as she prepares for new ventures in life.

“This has been a fun and challenging ride,” Lamp said. “I just tried to bring as much energy to the role as I could, and I’m very satisfied with the things I’ve been able to accomplish and the advancements we’ve seen take place in the past 10 years.”

Lamp received the 2020 Historic Downtown Manager of the Year for Heritage Ohio and has been instrumental in creating numerous activities that have helped bring thousands of people to the downtown area.

In addition, she has helped generate close to $2 million in grant money that has gone toward revitalizing and beautifying Historic Downtown Millersburg.

Lamp said each downtown area creates its own image and its own path to success, and she said one thing she found in her tenure is there is no specific blueprint.

“You just kind of create as you go,” Lamp said. “We had the base here when I first started, and each manager before me got to where I was when I came in, and my goal was to enhance the things we had and create new and fun opportunities for people to visit our downtown area. It was kind of neat because I was given freedom to kind of create what the downtown area meant to me and to the many business owners.”

While she enjoyed the challenge of bringing more people in for special events to bump up sales 15%, Lamp said her bigger focus was creating ways to improve sales numbers throughout the year.

The grant funding played a big role in accomplishing that.

“A big part for me was expanding our reach and making sure all of the buildings were full and vital,” Lamp said. “We’re getting younger generations to visit Millersburg and shop, and we are seeing younger generations opening shops here, and that’s the ultimate goal because movement creates movement and youth brings youth.”

She said the shops that have been mainstays continue to support the HDM effort while new ventures like Tracy Van Curren purchasing the old DeWitt Drug Store building that has been vacant for years and Dylan Kaufman’s rejuvenating the American Building are proof HDM is trending in a good direction.

She also said another one of her goals was to continue to highlight the antique theme of HDM while growing the artisan aspect, where several businesses have helped promote both local and national artists.

As for who will take the reins now that Lamp is stepping aside, that is still to be determined. Lamp said it is definitely a role for a younger person who has vision and energy because the job is physically and mentally challenging.

“It just takes passion and vision, and you have to care about the people with whom you work,” Lamp said. “We’ve got some exciting things coming up in 2024 including the eclipse, our art show growing into year two and some different programs that will be a lot of fun and important for HDM.”

Having lived in Millersburg, Lamp has grown deep roots and will continue to call it home and help do what she can to continue to make it a thriving community.

HDM board member Jason Hummel said the board appreciates Lamp’s effort over the past decade, and they are now in the process of finding a replacement.

“Judy has basically taken it from nothing to where it is today,” Hummel said. “She’s built and grown multiple events. She’s set up our Facebook and social media sites and has been instrumental in taking the position and making it her own and growing the businesses. She’ll be missed.”

Hummel said the board is currently creating an updated job description and will seek the best possible candidate to fill the role. Once the role is redefined, the board will begin accepting resumes for the position.