Tourism Council marks 36 years with an eye toward the future
PAWTUCKET – The Blackstone Valley Tourism Council wanted to try something different for its 36th Annual Celebration in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it appears the resulting offering hit the mark with Blackstone Valley supporters, according Robert Billington, Tourism Council founder and executive director.
This year the celebration included an exclusive YouTube video production on the Council’s efforts to promote the Blackstone Valley over the past 35 years and also a gift bag crammed with art, books and fliers, games, and special donated mementos from Blackstone Valley businesses and organizations- – all for a $50 contribution to the organization.
“It was a good idea and we had fun with it,” Billington said of the April 14th annual celebration and fundraiser on Tuesday.
“We sold the number of bags we wanted to sell and we identified a lot of fans of the Blackstone Valley,” Billington said.
“We knew we had a lot of advocates for the Blackstone Valley but we found so many more,” Billington added.
The gift bags included over $300 worth of Rhode Island and Blackstone Valley memorabilia assembled by the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council’s staff in advance of the annual event.
Included were limited edition revival posters of Project ZAP the Blackstone back in the 1970s, a PawSox baseball, a Bananagram tote bag and one of the Bananagram games manufactured in Rhode Island by the Nathanson family creating it.
There was also a Red Sox championship poster by artist Frank Galasso, two tickets for the Blackstone Valley Explorer riverboat and the book “Cumberland by the Blackstone” by David W.
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Balfour and Joyce Hindle Koutsogiane.
The late Paul V. Palange, the Tourism Council’s director of development, had made the project a key focus of his work at the Tourism Council just before his death on Easter Sunday.
“He took it on and worked hard with it,” Billington said while recalling Palange’s efforts to reach out to Tourism Council supporters in advance of the event.
The council set a goal of selling 200 of the gift baskets as a successful outcome and reached that goal by the time the event was held.
“It was a difficult year for everyone and we had decided we just didn’t want to say to everyone “come to a Zoom meeting and listen to some speeches,” Billington said of the annual celebration.
“We wanted to offer something more,” he said.
The video production includes Billington recalling the founding of the Tourism Council while visiting its original headquarters at Northgate in Lincoln, and also a tour of the organization’s new offices at Central Falls Landing at 35 Madeira St. where the Council plans to relocate from 155 Main St. in July.
The video also gave a rundown of the Tourism Council’s many undertakings over the years, from promotion of
the Blackstone River Valley to events such the Polar Express theme train rides out of the Woonsocket Railroad Depot and the annual Dragon Boat Races at Festival Pier, according to Donna Houle, the Tourism Council’s manager of products.
“It was a great success and we were very happy how it turned out,” Houle said of the annual celebration.
It was very sad to lose Paul Palange just before the event was to be held, but its success was a tribute to the work he put into it, Houle said.
“Oh it was heartbreaking,” Houle said while explaining Palange’s loss is still being felt by the Tourism Council’s staff.
“It was his final project
and he was always pushing,” Houle said while recalling Paul’s efforts to reach out to his contacts in the Blackstone Valley to participate and also line up some of the items included in the gift bags with the help of his wife, Andria.
“We were going to include $200 worth of items and ended up putting together bags with more than $300 worth of items in them,” she said.
Although the original gift bags have sold out since the Annual Celebration, the Tourism Council has enough leftover
items to make a smaller gift bag available to anyone wanting to buy one after the event.
The bags are $25 and include two tickets to the Explorer riverboat, posters of the Blackstone Valley and upcoming events, a PawSox baseball, Tourism Council mugs and more.
Arrangements to have one delivered can be made by calling Houle at the Tourism Council at 401-724-2200.
The Annual Celebration is another example of how organizations and businesses
have made the necessary adjustments to get through the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year, Houle noted.
“It’s been different and you have to pivot with COVID-19 to keep going,” Houle said.
It also shows what can been done when everyone works together despite the pandemic, according to Houle.
“We set a goal of selling 200 gift bags and it was great to reach our goal,” Houle said.