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SRACC Nov. 17th Meeting Follow Up
Jack Haskins, Sharp County Ranger for the Arkansas Forestry Commission was the guest speaker for the Spring River Area Chamber of Commerce’s monthly meeting at Fredrick’s restaurant in Highland Nov. 17.
After being introduced by Chamber President Charlotte Goodwin, Haskins addressed the audience about tree damage that resulted from the recent ice storm, as well as tornados, straight line winds and extremely wet weather experienced by the county over the last year.
Hospitality Training Seminar
The Hardy Advertising and Promotions Commission (A & P Commission) will host a Hospitality Training Seminar on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010, from 6pm until 9pm at the Hardy City Hall.
This seminar is for every business owner or manager within the Hardy City Limits that is interested in teaching key employees the art of “Good Hospitality” that should be shown to visitors and local residents.
Sign up now by calling the Hardy City Hall at 856-3811.
Deadline for sign up is January 6th, 2010.
This seminar is free. Refreshments will be provided by the A&P Commission.
Scale and the Public Sector in Tourism and Economic Development
Many individual tourism-related businesses and attractions fail because they begin at the wrong scale. While finding a local entrepreneur often is an essential piece to building and tourism and economic development program you want, make sure that local person is supported in the same ways that I hope you support all local entrepreneurs. In particular, they need to do market research and be sharp and realistic about expectations.
The Experience-Based Society
Now, more than in previous decades, people respond well to quality and taste. The trip is about the experience. People with more money to spend in your town are particularly apt to be sensitive to incongruous elements that seem to ruin the atmosphere.
The most appealing towns and cities demonstrate that not every single building and business must contribute to the ambiance, and that a place can still be a magnetic destination even with a few mistakes thrown in. But try to avoid mistakes all the time, and thus to minimize the number of mistakes actually made.
From One Tourist Attraction to More
Then you need a technique for converting one tourist attraction, which most locations already have, or can uncover or create, into more than one attraction. If you have one of something, attempt first to develop more attractions that people with similar interests would enjoy.
Sometimes in smaller communities the additional attractions need to take the form of organizing a tour or joint promotion that extends over several nearby towns. In one area where I worked, about eight wineries in four or five towns over a 30 or 40 mile area combined marketing efforts with considerable success. You may have seen antique stores combine to help antiquers hop from one town to the next, to the benefit of all.
Tourism and Economic Development Go Hand in Hand
Tourism and economic development are good partners by the very definition of economic development we use–a new activity that generates income from outside sources for your community.
To have at least a partial connection between tourism and economic development, you’ll need:
• At least one tourist attraction, which we define as something someone outside your community would want to see or do.
Dining around town…
As we all take our turns eating out at our neighborhood resturants…if you’ve had a good experience, then, please share it with the rest of us. On the other hand, if your experience was less than you’d desire it to be, then tell the resturant. There is NO one in business who wouldn’t appreciate being told how you really feel. What is done afterwards is totally up to them.
Why I Love Hardy…
So…here is what this particular area is all about. Here we can share our stories of Hardy and the lives we have had and continue to have. We can tell our tales of how, why and what brought us here and the love for Hardy that we all share.
I’ve had the priviledge of falling in love, running a great business and meeting great friends, watching seasons pass, leaves fall and meeting all the wonderful people who live and travel to and through Hardy. What a wonderful place to experience life. I love Hardy and I’m glad that I’m here.
Local Church Fundraiser on Main Street
Today on Main Street in Hardy visitors and locals had the opportunity to purchase some wonderul jams, and bake goods provide by the Hardy Methodist Church Ladies. This was part of a fund raising event for their church.
In addition to the ladies selling goods in the park on Main Street their was also wonderful live entertainment provided to keep you entertained while shopping along the downtown area.
Even some local tourist were able to come up on the stage and get into the fun! The weather was great for walking around the strip. Even though Hardy may be the smallest main street in Arkansas, it has the biggest heart !!
Spit For The Cure
Today in Hardy at the Old Hardy Gym during a local Bazaar they were asking for participants of women who were at least 18 and older to be part of a unique study benefiting breast cancer research.
This is put on by Spit for the Cure which is a research study currently lef by Martha Phillips, Ph.D. and conducted at the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health and Winthrop P. Rockfeller Cancer Institute at UAMS.
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