The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Lake, Geauga to highlight lore, color
Officials from Destination Geauga and the Lake County Visitors Bureau recently talked about the last year in tourism and what’s on the horizon for 2018.
Both agencies welcomed new leaders to their respective teams in 2017.
Destination Geauga’s new management team — Melinda Kerr and Laura Zigman — took the reigns midway through 2017 and say they look forward to promoting the county’s simple charms, back-to-basics aesthetics and unique mix of commerce and entertainment.
“People like to come to Geauga
County to see simpler lives,” Zigman said, adding that the county is home to the fourth-largest Amish community in the world and the second-largest in Ohio. “And that’s a big (tourism) draw.”
During a recent phone interview, the pair said visitors’ favorite Geauga County attractions include its park system and numerous other outdoor-recreation opportunities like the Maple Highlands Trail and other hiking/biking destinations; a number of cheese producers, including the Middlefield Original Cheese Co-op and Rothenbuhler Cheese Chalet; some wineries, including Laleure Vineyards in Parkman Township and Sharon James Cellars in Newbury Township; along with an active, 75-year-old historical society and a host of uncommon retail vignettes.
“We have a lot of little, individually owned shops which offer some really unique shopping experiences,” Zigman said, adding that visitors often put together their own “shopping tours” with Destination Geauga’s help.
Thanks to the numerous attractions spread throughout the county, Zigman said Destination Geauga’s Spring Drive-It-Yourself Tour is also a popular event. Then there’s the maple. “Maple products are huge here,” Zigman said.
According to the Burton-based Ohio Maple Producers Association, of the 12 maple-producing states, Ohio typically ranks fourth or fifth each year in terms of maple-product production.
Both Kerr and Zigman agreed one of the county’s most popular attractions each year is the Geauga County Maple Festival,
which turns 89 in April.
Destination Geauga is working now to produce its 2018 Visitors Guide, which people may obtain through
the organization’s website.
Meanwhile, in Lake County, the new executive director of its visitors bureau has been busy moving
forward with his vision for the organization, which he sees as a conduit for the businesses and other organizations that constitute the tourism industry in Ohio’s smallest county, geographically speaking.
Scott H. Dockus, who took the helm as executive director of the Lake County Visitors Bureau six months ago, says he a commitment to historical preservation is something he holds close to his heart.
“There are numerous ways to cut the tourism pie,” he said in a Dec. 21 phone interview. “One way is through heritage tourism. Heritage tourism is a growing area. And, when it comes to it, you have to have the heritage sites, structures and destinations.”
He said one way to make sure this slice of the Lake County tourism pie remains a viable outlet for visitors and a reinforcement for county commerce is to “work with preservationists and promote these one-of-akind destinations.”
A solid example of the kind of partnership he’s talking about took shape Aug. 1 with the inaugural Lake County Barbecue, with which the Visitors Bureau partnered with the Fairport Harbor Historical Society.
They organized the event inside of two weeks and, through it, raised thousands of dollars to help fund needed maintenance on and around the nearly 150-year-old Fairport Harbor Marine Museum and Lighthouse.
He affirms the Visitors Bureau is not in the business of organizing events, but rather it’s in the business of engaging its community’s resources and working with community stakeholders, businesses and other organizations to help promote all the things the county has to offer visitors.
“We could do all the advertising we wanted,” he said. “But it’s only going to do so much good. We have to work with our stakeholders in the community. All these people need to work together to make Lake County a success. It’s all of us. I mean, Lake County is a small county. But there’s a lot going on here.”
He said the Visitors Bureau plans to sponsor another community barbecue, likely at a different site, in 2018.
Another Visitors Bureau staple — its annual meeting — made quite a splash among attendees this year, thanks to a partnership between the Fine Arts Association in Willoughby, the Mentor High School Orchestra and Trans-Siberian Orchestra violinist and cofounder Mark Wood.
On Oct. 18, Wood participated in a master class with students at Fine Arts Association’s Corning Auditorium with the goal to electrify string players and interest more young people to participate in music education.
The following day, Wood, who is also founder and president of the music education program Electrify Your Strings, was the keynote speaker at the Visitors Bureau’s annual meeting, where the Mentor High School Orchestra, under the direction of Matt Yoke, performed with Wood during the meeting.
Both of these examples illustrate the conductive nature Dockus said he hopes will characterize the Visitors Bureau’s mission as he grows into his relatively new position.
“When I say ‘engage,’ I don’t mean we want to make them better. It’s that we want to help them do what they want to do,” he said. “Everybody needs help now and then, and the word ‘can’t’ is not in my vocabulary.”
When asked what has characterized his first six months on he job, he replied: “I would have to say how welcoming and supportive — and I mean this sincerely — the community has been. It’s extraordinarily refreshing to work with such great, considerate and helpful people.”