New Old Town Cape director announced

For the new executive director of Old Town Cape, coming to downtown Cape Girardeau will be just like coming home.

That’s because Liz Haynes grew up in the 1870s-era Victorian-style house at 605 Broadway on the corner of Broadway and North Frederick Street. Now known as the Indie House, Haynes’ childhood home is in the heart of the Old Town Cape district.

Old Town Cape’s board of directors announced Friday that Haynes has been chosen to succeed Marla Mills, who resigned earlier this summer after serving as the organization’s executive director since 2006.

Haynes has more than 13 years’ experience in fundraising, community relations, board engagement, media relations and event planning. She will begin her new role Sept. 3.

“This role is important for our thriving downtown and our community,” Old Town Cape board president Danny Essner said in a news release announcing Haynes’ appointment. “Liz is positioned to lead and her passion for this community and this role makes her a perfect match for the organization’s next chapter.”

Haynes lives in the St. Louis area where she is a regional director of development and donor engagement with Washington University, a position she has held for the past year. Before that, she spent seven years at Maryville University where she was director of special programs and assistant director of alumni relations. She also served several years in various positions with the American Red Cross in the St. Louis area.

She is a Cape Girardeau Central High School graduate and earned a Bachelor of Arts in 2006 from the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she majored in communication and theater.

Haynes is the daughter of Steve and Mary Ann Robertson, who both operated businesses in downtown Cape Girardeau when Haynes was a child. Mary Ann Robertson founded an antique business at 536 Broadway now known as Annie Laurie’s, while Steve Robertson ran Robertson’s Photography in the family home.

“I can speak with authenticity as to what it’s like to be a small-business owner in Cape, because that’s the life we led,” she said.

Haynes said downtown Cape Girardeau was her “stomping grounds” throughout her childhood.

“We would routinely shop at all the downtown businesses, and on Saturdays my mom and I would often walk our dog down to the river and we would stop at My Daddy’s Cheesecake when it was downtown and have muffins.”

Haynes said she often would help her parents in their businesses and she would also run her own downtown “business” from time to time.

“I remember having a Kool-Aid stand on the lawn in front of the Indie House and we’d always give the proceeds to a nonprofit like the Humane Society or the Red Cross after the Mississippi River flood in 1993,” she said. “So in a sense, I guess I was a small-business operator in downtown Cape back then.”

She said she and her friends often would hang out at her mother’s antique shop and she remembers playing “dress up” with a friend when they were in the second or third grade.

“We came across some wedding gowns, put them on and walked down Broadway in them,” she said. They ended up dancing in the gazebo and playing in the fountain behind the Common Pleas Courthouse. “I’m sure we were quite a sight to see,” she said.

Haynes recently brought her 5-year-old daughter to that same fountain and, just as she had done years before, her daughter also played in it.

As Old Town Cape’s executive director, Haynes will be responsible for:

• Coordinating the activities and implementation of action plans of the Main Street Program committees;
• Promoting downtown economic development strategies that are based on historic preservation;
• Assisting tenants and property owners with physical improvement projects through personal consultation, providing advice and guidance pertaining to financial mechanisms for those improvements;
• Encouraging a cooperative climate among downtown interest and local public officials; and
• Helping build strong and productive relationships with appropriate agencies on the state, local and national levels.

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