Tom Bishop reports on the Chamber's Role in Tourism in Patrick County, VA. See his latest report below.
2010 Update
What does the Chamber of Commerce do in support of Tourism in Patrick County?
Represent Patrick County at the following festivals and events in 2009:
 Martinsville Trade Show-each March -2 day event – 3000-5000 people
 Strawberry Festival -May– Stuart- 2000-3000 people
 Covered Bridge Festival -June– Woolwine- 2500 people
 Kibler Valley River Run – July-Claudville- 1500 people
 Peach Festival and Folk Fair – August- Stuart and Meadows of Dan- 3000-4000 people
 Patrick County Fair-September-Stuart- 5 days – 10,000 people
 Civil War Reenactment – October-Ararat – 3000 people
 Seniors Health Fair –November- Stuart – 300 people
 Patrick County Music Association-monthly concert – 8000 people
 Patrick County Schools-Career Fairs and Educational seminars
 Conducted 2 Tourism Demo’s at the Virginia Welcome Center on I-77, Lambsburg, VA (500 visitors per day)
 In 2010 we plan to participate in 2 Tourism “Blitzs� at the Virginia Welcome center during the months of May and July. These will be largely in promotion of the Covered Bridge Festival (June) and the Virginia State Peach Festival (August)
Operate 3 Visitor Information Centers in Patrick County
1. Blue Ridge Visitor Center –2577 Jeb Stuart Highway- Meadows of Dan (within 200 yards of the Blue Ridge Parkway entrance)- This is an invaluable promotion location, with it’s proximity to one of the most popular National Parks. Open 7 days a week. Serving “the mountain side� of Patrick County.
2. Visitor Center-Chamber Office – 20475 Jeb Stuart Highway-Stuart– Serving “the foothills� of Patrick County on 4-lane U. S. Route 58
3. Visitor Information Kiosk- Blue Ridge Street, Stuart (next door the Patrick County Library and Sun Trust Bank)- Serving the business district of the County Seat, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
TOTAL ESTIMATED VISITORS PER YEAR= 17,000
Mailing of Visitor Information Packets
To visitors to of our County. This ranges from 10-15 packets per month. Mailing cost is approximately $4.95 per packet.
>These originate from telephone calls, Chamber web site visitors and e-mails.
Maintain Visitor Guest Registers
For all visitors to our county who sign the guest register at the Visitor Centers. We experience over 45 states visiting us each year with many foreign countries too.
Maintain a web site with all the Attractions
The Chamber web site is www.patrickchamber.com. It includes Tourism Attractions, Music Parks, Lodging, Restaurants, Calendar of Events, News reports and much more.
This web site is extremely popular to those looking for things to do in our county.
From this web site we get many telephone calls and e-mails asking for more information. This is nearly a full time job to keep it current. We have labor cost and web site rental involved here. We respond to all e-mail requests for information too. The Executive Director spends volunteer time on nights and weekends to stay on top of all the interesting stories about Patrick County and what it has to offer Tourists.
The Executive Director takes numerous photos of Patrick County events and scenery which are shared with the media, published on the Chamber web site, Virginia Travel Web site, Blue Ridge Host web site, Blue Ridge Parkway 75 year celebration web site, tourism brochures, etc.
Distribute the Official County Brochure and Map
• The Chamber office sells the official Patrick County Map to our visitors and businesses. Estimated 500 sold per year.
• The Chamber distributes the official Patrick County Brochure by the 1000’s. This is given out at fairs, festivals, visitor centers, retail businesses and other neighboring county visitor centers.
Represent the County to the Media
The Executive Director appears on numerous radio and TV shows, sharing all the good news about our County. He has been on the following stations in the past year:
WHEO, 1270 AM – Stuart
WZBB, 99.1 FM, Super Country-Bassett & Rocky Mount
WMYN, 1420 AM, Mayodan, NC
WLOE, 1490 AM, Eden, NC
Fun Facts Radio, 24 hour Internet Radio Station – Stuart
BTW, TV Channel 21, Collinsville
WHEE/WMVA 1370 AM, Martinsville
WGSR, TV Channel 6, Martinsville
The Enterprise-Stuart
Martinsville Bulletin-Martinsville
The Chamber sponsors ads in the following newspapers and magazines promoting our Visitor Centers and Festivals. Many of these are partnership ads which are for trade of services rendered:
Piedmont Magazine, Madison, NC
The Laurel Lea, Meadows of Dan
The Enterprise, Stuart
Fairs And Festivals Newspaper for State of Virginia
The Virginia Travel Guide, Richmond
Blue Ridge Digest-Asheville, NC
Martinsville Bulletin, Martinsville
Mt. Airy News, Mt. Airy, NC
VIRGINIA DESTINATION MARKETING ORGANIZATIONS
The Patrick County Chamber of Commerce serves at the official contact point for the Virginia Destination Marketing Organization for Patrick County, Virginia as listed by the Virginia Tourism Corporation. Reference: www.vatc.org
The Executive Director represents Patrick County on many fronts that include the following:
• Blue Ridge Heritage, Inc. meetings
• Speaker for local civic clubs, community organizations, etc.
• Town of Stuart special projects
• Patrick County Board of Supervisors meetings
• Host visitors from State Government and US Government-both elected officials and those running for office
• Gift Baskets for visiting dignitaries to our County
• County Tourism Council meetings
• Meadows of Dan Community Association meetings
• Ararat Community Association meetings
• Patrick County Senior Activities committee
• JEB Stuart Preservation Trust meetings
• Patrick County Broadband Committee meetings
• Peach Festival Planning committee meetings
• Customer Service workshops
• Entrepreneur Workshops-Virginia Dept. of Business Assistance
• Employer breakfasts administered by Workforce Development
• Blue Ridge Parkway 75 year celebration meetings
• Blue Ridge Host, Inc. representative meetings
• Southwest Virginia conferences on agriculture, tourism and artisan network
• Longwood University Small Business Steering Committee
• Southern Virginia Return To Roots Steering Committee
• Smart Beginnings project steering committee
• Various ribbon cuttings, open house celebrations, groundbreakings.
Conclusion
As you surely know our Chamber office has been the “street soldiers� for promoting Tourism for our County. Our help consists of:
1. My role as Executive Director
2. Patricia Thomas role in the office as part time Administrative Assistant
3. Our many community volunteers, who work without any compensation
4. Our Chamber Directors who volunteer and give time away from work and of their personal time.
Date: 2/10//10
Prepared by: Tom Bishop, Executive Director
