Patrick County Tourism Advisory Council

Transcription

1 Patrick County Tourism Advisory Council Called meeting of April 20th, :00 pm Second floor conference room Present: Also Present: Absent: Joanne Spangler, Chair; Bessie Weber, Vice-Chair; Diane Lawson, Secretary. Rebecca Adcock, Tim Collins, Debbie Spencer, Ingrid Caldwell, David Stanley, Roger Hayden, Wayne Kirkpatrick, & Bert Hatcher Karl Weiss, Chris Owens AGENDA Sandra Puckett gave the invocation. Joanne Spangler called the meeting to order. The agenda was presented for approval. On a motion made by Bessie Weber, seconded by Debbie Spencer and carried, the committee approved the minutes. MINUTES The minutes of the meeting for February 16 th, 2017 were sent via and presented. Rebecca Adcock asked to correct minutes as follows: The February minutes noted Rebecca had voted on the town of Stuart of Mural project, she abstained because of her involvement with the project. On a motion to accept minutes by Rebecca Adcock, seconded by Ingrid Caldwell and carried, the committee approved the minutes. PUBLIC COMMENT Wayne Kirkpatrick discussed ways in which Duke Energy is trying to rectify their coal ash spill of 2014 in the Dan River including the promotional team s marketing plan for the Dan River area. Duke Energy will stop funding this campaign at the end of the year. The campaign is being offered to the localities in the Dan River Basin. Duke Energy s cost for continuing the campaign would be $6250 per month. The cost would be shared by all the localities in the Dan River Basin who choose to support the campaign. Stokes County has pledged $3000. Rockingham County and Eden have pledged a combined $ Halifax and Halifax County have indicated that they will support the campaign but have not yet come forward with an amount. The council did not make any decisions on whether to support the funding of the campaign. 1

2 Wayne also discussed having local historical photos and maps for the Mayo River Rail Trail kiosks. Sandra suggested that Wayne be responsible for picking out the photos, and the council agreed. Wayne said that he would pick out some photos and present them at the next meeting. Rebecca Adcock suggested designating a section on some of the kiosks as bulletin boards with locks for things like race registrations. Burt Hatcher of the Covered Bridge Committee wants to see the Bob White Covered Bridge rebuilt. Tim Collins said that the bridge would cost $70,000 to rebuild and $33,000 for the study required by the Army Corps of Engineers. Roger Hayden and Tim Collins said that the first step would be getting the study done. Sandra Puckett stated that the engineer that had worked on the past covered bridge cosmetic project would be happy to attend a Covered Bridge meeting to discuss the process of rebuilding the Bob White Covered bridge. FINANCE REPORT & HAPPENINGS Sandra Puckett reported the expenditures here to date were $359,000 with an available balance of $69,000. The first of the year is July Sandra is working on a Patrick County online newsletter. Brenda Quesenberry is organizing a Lodging Association in the county. The county is receiving 6 Carolina Panther football tickets and six Virginia Tech tickets. MARKETING REPORT David Stanley displayed the various advertisement running in different magazines. David has spoken with a writer about doing an article in Blue Ridge Outdoors about Woolwine bike trails. For $2,695 Patrick County can run an ad to Parkway Guide and in monthly publications. North Carolina Channel 2 has offered an advertising package called Road Tripping. 30 second and 90 second spots. When the project is complete Patrick County will have ownership of the video. The cost is $1500 and Channel 2 will produce it, shoot it, help us write it, etc. David has proposals on billboards. He is sorting through the locations. $2000-$2500 month for billboards. He said he will have more information next time. David discussed the design of new park signs. Facebook page is doing well. PROJECT UPDATES Hurt & Profit are developing a plan to implement sewer and water in Meadows of Dan. Sandra is continuing to look for grants for the project. We are now waiting for employee surveys to come back from the community. Guest book for covered bridges. Bessie Weber has talked to local carpenter Matthew McConnell, who has said he will build a protective cover for the guest book. She hopes to have quotes soon. Board of Supervisors voted that we make efforts to rebuild Bob White Covered Bridge. Waiting on funding. 2

3 SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS Public Relations / Advertising Sandra asked if anyone wanted to come do the WHEO radio show on May 10. Tim Collins volunteered. Sandra discussed Feastival sponsorship at Primland. On a motion made by Rebecca Adcock to sponsor the Feastival for $1000 and seconded by Bessie Weber and carried, the committee approved the motion. WHEO wants $100/month sponsorship. In turn, they will do advertising for the county. On a motion made by Rebecca Adcock for WHEO $100/month sponsorship and seconded by Ingrid Caldwell and carried, the committee approved the motion. Website / Social Media David pulled up website stats. Last month there were 1,229 unique visitors. 4,651 page views. 1,379 sessions. Stats have increased. David is running Google Adwords. Booking website customer service is good. Tim says we need statistics for how the website is doing. David says we need hotel to accommodate large parties. Grants/Sponsorships On a motion made by Rebecca Adcock to approve the Tourism Incentive Grant for seconded by Debbie Spencer and carried, the committee approved. Wayne Kirkpatrick stated that the BHRI went down to $130. On a motion made by Rebecca Adcock not to reimburse three items for the PCMA that did not meet the grant requirements and to only partially pay for the one item that partially met requirements. Ingrid Caldwell seconded the motion and carried, the committee approved. The TAC Council agreed to only give one Tourism Achievement Award for this year. It was discussed possible recipients for the award. On a motion made by Rebecca Adcock to give the award to Nancy s Candy Co. Bessie Weber seconded and carried, the committee approved. Chamber Report- Tim Collins Listed board members: Past president - Brian Barns Current president Frank Fox Vice president Terry Lebiner Secretary Brit Williams 3

4 Treasurer Anna Lester Directors - Jennette Filippi, Trinity Goad, Stephanie Vipperman, Erica Cipko, Chris Pruding, and Terry Tilley In the past month, the Chamber has put brochures in the following locations or checked to see if they need brochures: Poor Farmer s Market, Nancy s Candy Co., Henriedda Crafters, Boyd s Restaurant, The Reynolds Homestead, Meadows of Dan Visitor Center, Lee s Kargo, Blue Ridge Visitor Center, Jeb Stuart Birthplace, Crooked Road Kiosk, Blue Ridge Visitor Center, Blue Ridge Real Estate, Dan River Grocery, and Fairystone Pit Stop. Special Events in the last month: Leadership program at Primland and Chamber After Hours at Outdoor Entertainment. Next Chamber After Hours will be April 27 at Pioneer Clinic (meet the providers). In May going to dedicate garden at Landmark Center for Alzheimer s and dementia. Ribbon cutting May 17, New Chamber Office. May 31, Lunch and Learn demonstration on Canva, free graphic design website. Teach graphic design for business. Website numbers for last year are down. 483,000 visitor last year to chamber website. Hot Fun in the Summertime Festival and Front Porch Festival received $5000 in grant money from VA tourism. Chamber approved signage for new PC tourism and creative arts center. Chamber is getting prices. Chamber wants to become a certified tourism center by the state of VA. Looking at grant funding for someone to work weekends. Kiosk at Suntrust, in May, will take 5 weeks. 24 hour visitor center at the Love Sign Pick up Patrick, yearly cleanup program, will start May 1, self-motivated. New ambassador program. Someone who is not a member of the board, but represent the Chamber. Pick half dozen. New Instagram, #What s new PC, something new in a business or tourism location. Take picture, hash tag, explain it. Moved into new creative arts and tourism center. 64 people came to open house. Open house for entire thing May 17. Ribbon cutting at 12. Lunch. PC rocks with Reynolds homestead. People paint rocks move them around take pictures, kind of like geocaching. Sandra says that Tourism is partnering with Tim for Pickup for Patrick. Interns are cleaning up Love Sign, gravel, pine needles, replacing tree and shrub. Announcements 4

5 Joanne Spangler asked about Crooked Road sign on Main Street. The back of sign requires maintenance work. Tim wants some kind of representation of tourism in the chamber tourism center. Perhaps stand up signs. Rebecca Adcock said we need to start making Mountains of Music signs. Sandra said we should get Signspot to take care of it. Adjournment On a motion made by Rebecca Adcock to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Debbie Spencer and carried, the committee adjourned the meeting. NEXT MEETING: Thursday, June 15,