Minutes: Econ Develop: Tourism: June 2012

City of Evansville Economic Development Committee Subcommittee on Tourism Tuesday, June 5, 2012, 6 PM Creekside Place, 102 Maple St., Evansville, WI MINUTES 1. Call to order at 6 p.m. 2. Roll call. Present: Sue Berg, John Decker, Dave VanDerHaegen; Ex Officio Sandy Decker, Jim Brooks. Guest: Peggy Hels. Excused: Susan Farnsworth, Mary Rajek. 3. Motion to approve agenda. Decker/VanDerHaegen. Unanimous. 4. Motion to waive the reading of the minutes from May 1, 2012, and approve them as printed. VanDerHaegen/Decker. Unanimous. 5. Citizen appearances. None. 6. Marketing planning. (Mary Rajek). Sue Berg reported on behalf of Mary Rajek, who explored securing mailing lists for affinity marketing through UW-Whitewater Small Business Development Center. Due to high costs, Mary recommended exploring other options including free access to Reference USA lists through the library. 7. Barn quilt brochure. The brochure is finished, with 3,000 copies printed. Total allocated budget was $1600. Expenses were $120 for maps and $777 for the printer. The committee recommended payment of $100 each for graphic design work to Larry Dobbs, Kim Bates and Mandi Firgens. 8. Name the bridge historical marker. Sue Berg reported that the CCC Veterans Memorial Bridge may qualify for the Wisconsin Historical Markers Program. There is a review process that requires several weeks. If accepted—and there is a good likelihood based on comments from the program supervisor Rick Bernstein—then the cost would be approximately $600 for a 16x24-inch plaque. Historical markers are published and become a tourism attraction. About $160 has been collected so far. Sue is continuing to search for donations through Tourism. John and Sandy Decker will check with Historic Preservation for a contribution. Sue will check with American Legion for a contribution. The VFW has contributed, and might contribute more. Jim Brooks will check with Public Works to see if a contribution is applicable. 9. Downtown banners and sponsorship. Peggy Hels, on behalf of the Farmers Market, presented an inquiry about purchasing light pole banners to promote the Farmers Market, beginning in 2013. Downtown currently has 31 light poles with brackets to hang banners. The City currently owns four complete sets of banners: a green set that is seasonal spring/summer; a green set with a harvest theme; a blue set with fireworks; and a blue set with snowflakes. The Water & Light Department puts the banners up on city-owned poles, as prompted by the Mayor’s Office. Discussion followed about banner costs, and protocols for allowing others to sponsor banners. Discussion included managing the banner program. It was concluded that the downtown banner program will join the downtown flowerbasket program, and the downtown holiday lights (light bulb replacement) program, all managed by the Evansville Community Partnership. The Tourism Committee recommended the following protocol for sponsoring banners: 1) it must be a non-profit group; 2) the banner must be connected to tourism somehow; 3) that the banner/sponsorship must be enduring, lasting at least 6 months (as opposed to promoting a single occurrence event), and 4) that the sponsored banners must be blue or green, and similar in look and style to the existing banners. The Farmers Market may sponsor up to four banners, if they’re interested. Peggy Hels will take this information to the next Farmers Market board meeting. 10. Tourism activities a. Civil War summary: John Decker reported that School Day went very well. Some fine tuning for School Day and the weekend event will occur. There will be a concerted effort to build attendance for the weekend event, particularly the Saturday evening meal and the Victorian Ball. Discussion focused on acquiring a JEM grant by partnering with two other communities. Sauk City, Cambridge and Boscobel were discussed. Sue Berg reported that Kelly Gildner offered to share photos she took of the event. b. Plein Air contest update: Jim Brooks reported that entries are slow. Contest organizers will be discussing whether to proceed. c. Fourth of July update: Jim Brooks reported that volunteers are needed for a variety of shifts. d. Inside Out Days update: nothing to report. e. June 2 dairy breakfast update: Sandy Decker, Sue Berg and Carl Schlapbach ran an information booth at the Dairy Breakfast held at Larson Acres. 300 Discover Wisconsin brochures, 500 Evansville activity sheets, 170 Rock County brochures and about 30 Historical Walking Tour brochures were given away. 11. Advertising a. Beloit Daily News ad: an ad promoting tourism was published in the May 23 newspaper, and paid by ECP and the Chamber. Neither group is requesting payment at this time. b. Discover Wisconsin update i. Website advertisers proposal: The two-year contract to maintain the Evansville’s presence on Discover Wisconsin’s website includes advertising options for local businesses. Discover Wisconsin is offering an alternative: instead of DW recruiting local businesses to become two-year advertisers for a total of $3500, Evansville could buy the allotment for $1500, and then sell it to local businesses at any price. Sue recommended accepting the offer, sharing the savings with businesses and still raising a little money. Upon discussion, it was determined that the Tourism Committee, on behalf of the City which holds the contact with DW, couldn’t be involved in the business of making money. The opportunity will be offered to the Chamber, and then to Evansville Community Partnership, with an expectation of responding quickly. The two-year contract commences mid-June 2012. ii. State Fair exhibitor: Discover Wisconsin extended an invitation to participate in their booth Friday, Aug. 13, at the State Fair from 9 a.m. -5 p.m. Jim Brooks and Dave VanDerHaegen will be the contacts, and arrange participation. 12. Potential of rescheduling July 3, 2012, regular meeting date. Due to the holiday, there will be no Tourism meeting July 3. Instead, the meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 17. 13. Meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m. Decker/VanDerHaegen.