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Jerry's Jottings: Learn how to tap into more tourist money
by Jerry Fleagle, Hoover Association · Op-Ed · March 28, 2014
The snow is gone, the holidays are behind us and spring is on the way. It’s a time of renewal and growth, and for planting the seeds that will lead us to a bountiful summer.
The Main Street West Branch program has already begun the “planting” and is cultivating several projects to draw more visitors into town.
A committee comprised of West Branch merchants and members of the Hoover Campus are working on promotions to attract tourists to West Branch through a variety of low-cost promotions.
Among them are brochures for Iowa welcome centers, downtown businesses and Hoover attractions.
There will also be training and networking opportunities for local businesses to participate in where they will learn tourism “best practices” and other easy, low-cost ways to build their business.
These meetings are free of charge to West Branch business owners and managers.
The first of these meetings will be held Tuesday, April 8 at 6 p.m. in the basement meeting room at Community State Bank.
The presentation features Keith Rahe, CEO of the Dubuque Convention and Visitors Bureau.
He will discuss how Dubuque changed their image of an old, uninteresting city into one of the most successful and growing tourism areas in the Midwest.
“There are many parallels between our two cities,” said Rahe. “Many of the same steps we took can be used by West Branch.”
Our committee is developing the West Branch version of Dubuque’s program that will help our local merchants get a share of the new business coming in from the thousands of people visiting West Branch every year.
This program presents a great way for the entire West Branch business community and Hoover Campus to work together to create a unique experience for visitors and shoppers.
If you’d like to represent your business at this meeting, please RSVP to Mackenzie Krob at Main Street West Branch (mainstreetwb@lcom.net) or by phone at 319-430-6094 by Thursday, April 3. We will be serving pizza, cookies and soda for $5 as an option.
So as we continue to look forward to the spring season, imagine each business and attraction in town as a different colored flower.
By themselves, they look nice, but when planted together in this garden we call West Branch, it becomes something truly spectacular.
See you on April 8!
Jerry Fleagle is the executive director of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association.
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