Tourism Committee,
Marshall Chamber of Commerce
May 24, 2007
Committee members present: Bill Orendorf, Roseanne Huck, Arlene
Borchers, Stan Moore, Ken Yowell and Cynthia Crawford
Also attending: Rachel Harper from the Democrat-News,
Honorable Mayor Lattimer, Bill Riggins, Angie Wells
Chair Stan Moore called the meeting to order.
Minutes from last meeting were voted on an approved. Arlene made the motion
Mayor Lattimer 2nd.
Arlene Borchers reported that Division of Tourism Director Luetkemeyer
and Mary Ellen McVickers very much enjoyed the FAM (familiarization) tour
in the area May 9.
The question of signage was raised with regards to the Parks & Recreation
Area. They Mayor will look into this for the group. There is flexibility
within the city limits, but not so much outside the limits. Any signage
will require approval from MO DOT.
2008 Funding apps from the Marshall Tourism Committee will be available
on/about July 1 with a late October deadline. Roseanne will approach PahloArts
about their desires to join in the Chambers request for funding. Angie
will approach the Community Theatre, and Ken is going to approach Friends
of Saline Counties. Angie will provide their applications (after their
approval) to this committee for review. This will give the committee a
better idea of what each group will be looking to receive & if the
committee wants to invite the group to join.
Bill Riggins asked for clarification on the direction of the Chamber.
Ken stated that right now the Chamber is steering the direction of tourism
out of necessity not really choice. They seemed the likely candidate to
point tourism in the right direction. Most agreed that increasing traffic
in Marshall ultimately benefits the local businesses, too.
It was brought to the attention of the committee that the DMO requires
a full time paid employee devoted soley toward tourism as a qualification.
Discussion of this employee & details will be table for later. Also,
the city or county needs to issue a proclamation that address the chamber
as the lead in tourism in the area. The Mayor stated she would issue such
a proclamation, however, not extra funds are available at this time to
appropriate to the tourism committee & its goals. Roseanne has agreed
to take the lead on organizing the application process for the DMO status.
Cynthia & Roseanne will be address the Kiwanis Club with the “Sidewalk
Ambassadors” presentation. This is an asset to the community but
more infrastructure is needed to better promote the areas, ie more hotel
beds are a must.
Currently work on the updating of the visitors guides are in progress.
Suggestions are:
H marking the hospital, Memorial Gardens also need to be added. Letters
to current listing will go out for verification of information. A January
print date is expected.Kiwanis clubs wants a concession stand project
to be constructed at the Fairgrounds. They are requested funding for this
project for the Marshall Tourism Commission.
Boonslick Quilters are looking for barns in the surrounding areas to “paint”.
Similar to Grundy County in Iowa.
Newspaper coverage has been very helpful, 2 more series left to run.
Roseanne printed out a series of charts regarding the website for review.
There are a tremendous amount of details available for review, a very
comprehensive look at the website & its usage by the public.
Angie will provide applications for Marshall Community Theatre, Pahlo
Arts Center & FOSC for review at the next meeting, set for June 21,
2007.
