After the County Commission approved a motion to continue funding Tourism on Tuesday, a task force was formed to contribute ideas, and planning that was delayed is slated to resume.
“We will now get more aggressively involved in things we’d been looking at before,” said Tonya Stevens, executive director of the Elizabethton/Carter County Chamber of Commerce.
The denial of funding since August has led to a cautious approach to promotions, according to Stevens. Projects that were already underway — like getting the county into the state handbook, developing a promotional video and other marketing strategies were executed — but as far as upcoming events, the lack of funding has caused a delay.
Stevens said the Chamber has been interested in hiring a tourism coordinator for months, but the uncertainty of funding has made it impossible. With the funding returned, she said they plan to hire a coordinator which will help them move forward with several projects.
“We’ll be able to look at other opportunities and to have a fresh and creative mind come in to help implement some new initiatives,” said Stevens.
One of the biggest Chamber-sponsored events of the year will be the 50th anniversary of the Covered Bridge Celebration.
“The money loss has already impacted the celebration during the planning phase,” said Stevens. “Where we were short-staffed and creating presentations regarding tourism, it diverted attention from planning and working with our Covered Bridge Committee,” said Stevens. “Now we’re better able to support those events like the Covered Bridge Celebration, so it will be very helpful.”
Stevens said they will continue marketing initiatives through various publications and via the internet in order to draw in more visitors to the area, as well as planning and promoting events.
Another plan for the coming year is to establish Carter County as an Appalachian Trail Community. This means marketing the image of the community as one hospitable to hikers passing through. Some nearby communities like Erwin have also done this by marketing its hiker hostel, and posting “Hikers Welcome” on church signs. Stevens hopes to increase the appeal to hikers that may be passing through as they typically come from around the country and remember towns that accommodated and welcomed them along the trail. Stevens said this will be one task of the tourism coordinator and that they plan to coordinate with volunteer groups as well.
The commission opted to continue working with the Chamber for Tourism but developed the task force to help foster new ideas. One of the ideas proposed in the county’s alternative tourism promotion plan were to partner with Sycamore Shoals State Park and Milligan College, which Stevens said the Chamber already does.
“We’ll listen to those ideas and get together with them,” said Stevens. “It never hurts to improve, and there may be ideas out there to help us improve.”
The task force, proposed by Commissioner Cody McQueen, is comprised of eight commissioners, one from each district, a representative from the Chamber of Commerce, and a representative from Elizabethton and Watauga, which have not been designated at this time.
On Tuesday during the Commission meeting, the three representatives of each district elected the commissioner to represent their district. The Commissioners who will serve on the task force are: Dr. Robert Acuff for the First District, Mike Hill for the Second District, Charles VonCannon for the Third District, Danny Ward for the Fourth District, Bobbie Gouge-Dietz for the Fifth District, Randall Jenkins for the Sixth District, Scott Simerly for the Seventh District and McQueen for the Eighth District.
A contract will have to be signed between the county and the Chamber, per the requirements of a private act, and this will allow the funding to continue to be funneled from the hotel and motel tax to the Chamber for Tourism.
Overall, Stevens was relieved to have the funding issue resolved and to be back on track towards promotion of the county.
“We were very pleased to know that we were supported in what we’ve done and been doing and in the relationships that we have made, which are key,” she said.