Reinventing Wheels....

Posted Wednesday, October 7, 2009, at 9:05 AM

As we continue to consider the likelihood or for some of the "Debbie Downers" and "Negative Nelsons" in our midst, the un-liklihood, that Greene County someday will become a tourism destination, I would dare us to rethink what we already have going for us. That is, what has already become time-honored tradition bringing multitudes of visitors to our humble county?

Being a native of Linton, I must first point to the Linton Freedom Festival, which if I am not mistaken just celebrated its 104th year. While I am no math expert by any means, I think that figures back to 1905. Surely along the way we have drug a few people into our county as tourists. In fact, I am positive that we have! And this is only one example, the Apple Festival, the Phil Harris Festival (now the Greene County Foundation Festival), and the Worthington Townwide Yard Sale, as well as other events and places, have contributed to bringing tourists into to Greene County.

Which brings me to my next thought, what makes a visitor, a tourist? Funny question, but have you ever asked it of yourself? When Uncle Joe and Aunt Susie come to your house, are they not coming for a visit? When the kids who moved away to college and decided to stay and raise a family there and come home for a holiday, is this not considered a visit? The answer of course is a resounding yes. And, in a sense these visitors share similar qualities with tourists ... they come, they spend, they enjoy, and they go back to where they came from and tell everyone what a great place Greene County is, not what it was, but what it is today.

These visitors are the given ones, but without them, I believe that local businesses, charities, clubs, and organizations would significantly notice. So in the process of defining what really makes a visitor, a tourist; I will resort to Mr. Webster who defines a tourist as "one that makes a tour for pleasure or culture."

So maybe the folks described above are tourists, leading me to consider, what is all the fuss about? Do we need to invent something to bring more tourists? What if we could boast the tallest stalk of corn, over 25 feet high ... would they come then? My point is, focusing on what we have to offer and not what we don't have to offer will make us all rest a little easier. We must realize as a county that we are unique, that we have something to offer that no one else has, and that we can and have a proven track record of attracting people to our county. We don't need to fabricate it, we don't need to invent it, we just need to grease the wheel.

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Actually, I think that's a great idea. Focus and reinforce what we have. Over the years I've noticed that the Freedom Festival and Apple Festival (the examples you've given) are smaller and/or have less excitement. They've almost turned into complete commercials and flea markets.

Perhaps this is because we are trying to spread ourselves out too thin? Instead of having what seems to be one festival for every month of the year, why don't we do one or two per year, and to them very well.

Sincerely,

Negative Nelson

-- Posted by per moenia urbis on Wed, Oct 7, 2009, at 9:40 AM

If Greene county towns would synchronize their individual festivals to one week long county wide "Greene County Heritage Festival" , then it would bring in a lot more people than all the different festivals of the county scattered throughout the year combined, in my humble opinion. Look at Parke county's covered bridge festival- I would guess most folks go to that festival just because it is a festival, not because of the covered bridges scattered around the county. There is strength in numbers, folks. Imagine a county wide yard sale going on at the same time for those 10 days....look at the traffic Worthington brings in for it's town wide yard sale. We would have to find a week that doesn't compete with any other major events or festivals around the state and then we could have something here much bigger than the covered bridge festival.

I vote for a 10 day weekend through weekend "Greene County Heritage Festival"!

-- Posted by hopeanddust on Wed, Oct 7, 2009, at 1:54 PM

Negative Nelson here I guess, but I would say it would be hard to establish a tourism industry base here based on a handful of events. What businessman would build a hotel, restaurant, or other establishment based upon that? You need to be thinking of attracting hundreds of people for more significant periods of time in order to attact people to invest in businesses to cater to these visitors, and to ultimately provide jobs. Who wants a job where you are only employed for half a dozen weekends, or less, throughout the year?

-- Posted by Question? on Wed, Oct 7, 2009, at 2:17 PM

You all are great for trying to think of ways to help our county. Is there something that we can do to boast on being different? To bring an air of mystery....to fill a need....or even to create a need. Consider the economy and ways to help others deal with it. Families have trouble going out to eat or finding entertainment that is affordable. How can we help? What are our talents? What do we have to offer? Go beyond just ways to get tourists here and relieve them of their money. (I say this kindly) How can we make a market or a reputation for a place of fun, unique gifts to buy if they so choose, and reasons to come back?

people may not remember what we say or do, but will remember how we made them feel.

-- Posted by deepthinker on Wed, Oct 7, 2009, at 11:33 PM

deepthinker, your post just got me thinking...

Wouldn't it be neat to have a Greene County Store?

Think about it...what all is produced here...jacks from the jack factory, bottled water from the Walnut Grove folks, soon will be Soy yer Dough by Sawyer Sparks from his amazing sales pitch on national television, and then there are small businesses, like a couple of handmade wood furniture makers who market in their front yards only, or bee keepers who have honey to sell, and soy candle makers, and farm produce in season, and seasonal homemade items...they could all bring their products to one location locally to sell them so we would all know what's produced here. Some people cannot get out and go all over the county, but they could go to one place to shop.

What if a very enterprising person (or group) who owns a building or property in the county (maybe some of those empty buildings along the highway in Worthington or Switz City), where it is right on the main roads for all "tourists" to see as they drive, would open it up for a Greene County Store.

THAT WOULD GET ATTENTION from everyone from truck drivers to passers-through, to people coming here to visit. All of the marketing could then be done by one organization -- people pooling their money to make money.

Any takers?

-- Posted by Greenee on Thu, Oct 8, 2009, at 11:53 AM

Another image came to mind after the last post...can you just imagine the wood carved sign (made in GC) that stretches the length of the front of the building (kind of like the old west merchantiles) with the GCEDC image of the bird in flight with the sun in the background...

charming rocking chairs on the front porch (made in GC), handmade teas (from one family I can think of in GC) brewing and for sale in take-home bags, books written by local authors for sale, seasonal decorations done by local artisans (whose items will be for sale inside), CDs from local musicians for sale (and playing on the stereo system inside)...the possibilities are limitless...

-- Posted by Greenee on Thu, Oct 8, 2009, at 12:08 PM

geesh...and the opportunity for mentorship would be great too...student interns who want experience in farming, marketing, sales, retail, manufacturing, etc, could work (and be trained by the people who produce things and those who have the skill sets). Perhaps an individual or locally-incorporated group could set up mentorship classes there (in conjunction with Work One or other agencies) and maybe these individuals or group could apply for a "loan" or funding through not only the new GCEDC USDA program, but also the Greene County Foundation, other groups who give grants to such enterprises...

It could satisfy several pillars of the HTC -- which might make GC eligible for additional rural development funding...

...this really has me thinking...

-- Posted by Greenee on Thu, Oct 8, 2009, at 12:21 PM

Sounds like a scene from a movie....I love it! Are there grants to help? I am ready, but then I can be a bit impatient at times.

-- Posted by deepthinker on Wed, Oct 14, 2009, at 9:26 PM