The Decatur County Visitors Commission met on Thursday.
Executive Director of the Indiana Tourism Association Carrie Lambert was a guest speaker at the meeting. Lambert has been with the association since 2014 and discussed the state of tourism from her perspective with the board. The ITA’s mission is to advocate the value of tourism in our economy and supporting those who accurately represent tourism. They also work very closely with the state office of tourism. They are seeing that they are doing a lot better than they projected during Covid, and that people want to stay closer to home. This is a good thing for the Midwest which has plenty of things to do for its residents. Lambert made sure that the board knew that they are a resource and the board is always welcome to reach out.
Shawn Wasson and Pam Donohoe-Duncan were guests at the meeting. They are both excited to have been invited to go on the board retreat and believe that they have the skill set to help seeing as the board is a leadership team. Their goal is to help get the team aligned on ideas.
Bryan Robbins with the EDC discussed the partnership between the board and EDC to create a fund targeted for businesses such as breweries. They have given their first grant of $5,000 to the Tree City Brewery.
The grant committee reviewed the grant requests and gave their recommendation. The recommendation for the Choppers for Coppers was $750. There is a stipulation that $250 of that will go to Facebook ads. This was approved.
There was a marketing update given by Erica Gunn, Daniel Fayette, and Kennedy Weaver. They are getting a lot accomplished from a team perspective and more merchandise is on the way. Kennedy has been working on getting as many events as possible on the schedule. The new mural that is being worked on has gone viral with almost a thousand shares. They have been dropping off the new visitors guides to the hotels.
There was a bicentennial update given by John Pratt. The community is encouraged to like their Facebook page as announcements are happening all the time. Since the last meeting he has been busy creating events and forming community partnerships.
The arborist was in town to work on the tower tree. The tree should now be getting proper nutrients and have a steady water supply to stay healthy.
July 20th is the Board Retreat.
Morgan Schofield
WTRE News
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