Tourism Group Meets at Crowley

By Janet Frederick

December 10, 2004

The monthly meeting of the Southeast Regional Tourism group was held at the Crowley Heritage Center in Crowley on November 16.

Verlin Hopkins, Springfield, gave a recap on what had been learned from CDOT on TOD (Tourist Oriented Directional) highway signage. It had been understood that these were only available on interstates, but this will be checked on. Each county is asked to put together a list of all signs they would like or need by April. This ‘wish list’ will then be sent on to CDOT.

Dwight Gardner with Crowley County acted as meeting facilitator. Discussions were held on the series of workshops being planned with funds from the Arkansas Valley Area Marketing Coalition EDA grant. Results were as follows:

Dates for the DOW Birding Workshops were set tentatively as January 28 in Crowley at the Heritage Center form 12:00 – 4:00 PM and January 29 at LCC in Lamar from 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM.

The Museum Workshop on preservation and design will tentatively be on January 10 in Las Animas. January 7 and 14 are backup dates for that workshop. (Note, since this meeting the Museum Workshop has been set for January 7 from 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM at Bent’s Fort Inn in Las Animas. Please RSVP to Kathy Finau, 719-456-0452 as soon as possible).

Next Steps with Judy Walden from the Center for Sustainable Tourism will be held in conjunction with the next Regional Tourism meeting. The meeting will be from 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM at Our Place Restaurant in Eads on December 15. Call Janet Frederick at 719-438-2200 or email kcedf@kcedf.org as soon as possible with reservations. Judy will also be holding private consultations in each county during this time. The consultation with Kiowa County will be Tuesday, December 14 from 12:00 – 2:00 PM at Our Place Restaurant.

The Value-Added Business Workshop, which will have a component of Agri-Tourism will be held on January 26 at the Community Building in Eads.

After all workshop dates are finalized, Janet Frederick will prepare a flyer for all counties to use, and Julie Worley will prepare a press release. Designers will be contacted to see if sample logos for Southeast Tourism can be prepared for consideration by January 15.

Meeting was adjourned to begin the Marketing Workshop presented by Connie Cornelius.

Next meeting will be January 15, 2004 at Our Place Restaurant in Eads, 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Agenda items will be: Southeast Tourism Logo; EDA Grant; Next Steps Workshop.

Additional representation from Kiowa County is needed. If you would like to be a part of this group, please call Janet Frederick at (719) 438-2200.