Stepp-Coughlin Outlines Tourism Board’s Fiscal Goals By: Stephanie M. Mangino The Winchester Star The Winchester-Frederick County Tourism Board wants the local recognition of the 2004 National Tourism Week to be something special. Executive Director Melanie Stepp-Coughlin said the board hopes to cap the week of May 8-16 with an awards ceremony that would honor outstanding service in all of the tourism industry’s forms, from outstanding restaurant employee to an exemplary attraction and recognizing something that made a “big impact on a little budget.” Stepp-Coughlin said at Thursday’s meeting of the Tourism Board that she also hopes 150 people will attend the event, for which sponsors will be sought. The money raised likely would be used to build on a $1,000 scholarship established in Ruth Deskins’ name, she said. Deskins was the board’s executive director at the time of her death from cancer in July. The board does not have a reserve fund at the moment, and the money raised could also help in that area, Stepp-Coughlin said. Winchester and Frederick County provided the board with $181,000 each, for a $362,000 total, in the 2003-04 fiscal year budget, Stepp-Coughlin said. Only a little more money comes into the board’s coffers through gift shop sales and the renting out of some advertising space it has at the Clearbrook Interstate 81 welcome center. Stepp-Coughlin said she would like the board, which oversees the Winchester-Frederick County Convention and Visitors Bureau, to eventually have a budget with $10,000 in reserve at the very least. The optimal reserve amount would be 10 percent of the overall budget, she added. The board is also looking at creating a brand identity for the CVB and the area, to better market Winchester-Frederick County attractions and events. The effort would be a broad one, including research interviews, marketing strategy, and communication recommendations, according to Stepp-Coughlin’s report on the board committee devoted to working on developing a brand identity. Hiring a firm to perform such work is expected to cost in the area of $11,000 to $14,000, she said. Proposals will be solicited. “This is too important not to do,” Stepp-Coughlin said. “We’re going to find the money. “It is critically important to do it this way,” added board and committee member Jennifer Esler. In other business, the board: * Heard about a feasibility study conducted by Shenandoah University for the Historical and Tourism Center. Stepp-Coughlin said discussions are expected at January’s board meeting about co-locating with the HTC when a new facility is built. She said the study captures the idea of a cohesive partnership with the HTC, but it needs to reflect that the CVB is a destination and marketing organization charged with bringing tourism dollars to the area, not just a visitors center. Additionally, the CVB’s identity must be maintained with any co-location and the feelings of the board’s joint funding organizations — the governments of Winchester and Frederick County — need to be taken into account. The August preliminary report from the company doing the study, John Milner Associates, recommended a spot near Abrams Delight on South Pleasant Valley Road as the top site for a new HTC. The HTC’s current home is on South Cameron Street. The project is huge, HTC Director Bill Austin said, and no costs have been assigned. * Heard from Celebrating Patsy Cline Inc. Secretary Karen Helm about the organization’s history and recent progress. She said the group is close to buying the legendary pop and country singer’s former home on South Kent Street, and it also wants to collect oral histories that will help determine the use of that home. The story that the group hopes to tell would not be just Cline’s, but also that of the relationship of Cline and her mother, the late Hilda V. Hensley of Winchester. The CPC board will talk more about how to open the home to fans at its February meeting. Anyone interested in serving on CPC committees or being involved with the oral history project should contact CPC at P.O. Box 3900, Winchester 22604. Attending the Tourism Board meeting in the Timbrook Public Safety Center were Esler, Chairwoman Kitty Hockman-Nicholas, Todd Thompson, Pat Embrey, Rhoda Kriz, and Kim Dodd.

Originally Published In The Winchester Star On December 12, 2003







WLC © 2005. All Rights Reserved.