Two people alone cannot save or rebuild a downtown, but Jon Ferguson and Sam Heighton are certainly doing their part.

Heighton, the manager of the now-thriving Farmers Market in downtown Ironton, and Ferguson, the director of the Ironton aLive community organization focused on business growth, are two of the individuals who are working hard to re-energize the city. Saturday’s efforts at the Farmers Market were just the latest example.

Their efforts, combined with the Ironton-Lawrence County Community Action Organization, the now dissolved Ironton Port Authority, Ironton In Bloom, the Ironton Rotary Club and others are starting to make a difference.

More people are visiting downtown, especially on the weekends, and the town looks much more inviting overall.

Now is the time for the businesses to follow this lead and run with it by promoting themselves any way they can, having sidewalk sales and simply letting potential customers know they are there and what they offer.

Revitalizing Ironton’s once booming business district won’t be easy and it won’t happen overnight, but we have to start somewhere.

The old proverb is that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. Heighton, Ferguson and others are leading the way.