Tourism Tidbits
Annual Newsletter
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Greetings!
The past months have been filled with exciting things at the Indiana County Tourist Bureau! Here are the highlights and latest tourism tidbits:
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2018 Event Wall Calendar Mailed to Members
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Members - keep an eye out in your mail for your FREE copy of the 2018 Annual Event Wall Calendar!
The calendar features the annual events of our members occurring in the upcoming year and highlights the remarkable talents of local photographer Anthony Frazier. It's a great way to make sure you don't miss out on these exciting events.
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ICTB Staff
Executive Director
Denise Liggett
Office Manager
Laura Herrington
Tourism Associate
Debbie Isenberg
Group Tour Coordinator
Ashley Canose
Graphic Artist
Jen Buckles
Brochure Distribution
Tony Greenawalt
Officers
President
Gregg Van Horn
Vice President
Sandy Trimble
Secretary
Valerie Balogh
Treasurer
Jacquelyn Hathaway
Member at Large
Robin Gorman
Board of Directors
Commissioner Mike Baker
Larissa Csanyi
Martin Harbaugh
Linda Maguire
Jim Struzzi
James Tweardy
Jordan Gwinn
Andrew Thompson
Jackie Montgomery
Upcoming Events
Find out more
about the fun events and festivals happening in Indiana County!
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ICTB Announces New Visitor Guide in Development
ICTB is excited to report that the 2018-2019 Visitor Guide is currently in development and the local business Gazette Printers will once again be printing the guide!
A 100,000 copies will be printed and serve as our primary promotional piece for visitors. Visitor Guides are also used as the fulfillment piece for marketing initiatives and are distributed at travel trade shows as well as other tourist bureau's and PA Welcome Centers. Additionally, they are included in various welcome packets.
As a perk of membership with the tourist bureau, all members will receive a complimentary listing with an option to purchase full-color ads at the same rates as offered in the previous guide.
The guide will be used for approximately two years and will tentatively be distributed in April 2018. Not a member of ICTB? NOW is the time to join to ensure your complimentary listing within the new guide. Call ICTB at 724.463.7505 to take advantage of this v
ery inexpensive way to promote your business/club/event.
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Enter Our Online Photo Contest
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Enter your favorite photo(s) depicting tourism in Indiana County in our quarterly online photo contest. Winners will receive a gift certificate or promotional item courtesy of ICTB or from one of our members. All photos must be in good taste and taken within the county lines. Get out there and snap some photos! Click
here
for a complete list of Photo Contest Rules or to submit your photo. The photo contest concludes February 28, 2018.
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Congratulations to Jared Divido, our latest winner!
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Brochure Distribution for Members
Attention Members:
Have a new rack card or brochure you're excited to distribute to the public to help spread the word about your business or organization? If so, don't forget to drop some off at our office! We have 40 brochure racks located throughout the county where we can display your rack card or brochure!
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Tourism Information Requested Over the Past 6 Months
Indiana County Tourist Bureau received 3,507 direct requests for tourism information.
Statewide paid distribution of Visitor Guides and member brochures totaled 5,300 pieces.
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The Latest Tourism Happenings
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Celebrating "Indiana County Day - Christmas in July" at Idlewild & SoakZone
July 21
st
was “Indiana County Day – Christmas in July” at Idlewild & SoakZone in Ligonier. ICTB distributed Visitor Guides and member information to park visitors. The first 300 kids who visited us received free Indiana County backpacks! A beautifully decorated Christmas tree, donated by Ron Mancabelli, a member of the Tree Growers Association, provided holiday fun at Santa’s location.
FAM TOURS
Also in July, ICTB hosted a travel & tourism writer on a FAM Tour. The writer was so impressed with Indiana County that she produced two articles for online publications detailing all that Indiana County and the surrounding region have to offer. The articles written by Malerie Yolen-Cohen, can be found at
here
and
here.
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ICTB Coordinates Use of Former Festival of Lights Displays
On behalf of the Indiana County Commissioners, the Tourist Bureau coordinated the distribution of light displays from the former Festival of Lights at Blue Spruce Park. The Tourist Bureau contacted all 38 Townships/Boroughs offering lights displays for use during the holiday season. Ed Patterson and his team at Blue Spruce assisted in the light distribution. The displays will remain the property of Indiana County. We are grateful to help further the holiday spirit via this project throughout the entire county this season!
Indiana County Tree Growers Promote Indiana County with Donation
For the seventh consecutive year, The Indiana County Christmas Tree Growers Association is promoting Indiana County at Kennywood Park. Their generous donation provides recognition for Indiana County to the approximately 50,000 people who attend the Park's Holiday Lights event. In addition to the 60 6-foot trees donated, visitors will also see artifacts on display from the Jimmy Stewart Museum and promotional materials from the Indiana County Tourist Bureau. The eight local Christmas Tree Growers participating are: Bennett’s Nursery, E-Mar Acres, Fleming’s Christmas Tree Farms, Gregg Van Horn’s Tree Farm, Johnston’s Nursery, Musser Forest, Preston Fleming, and Willow Springs Nursery.
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Indiana County Tourist Bureau Hosts Holiday Bus Groups
The Indiana County Tourist Bureau welcomed three tour bus groups to Indiana County over the weekend of November 17-19. One bus traveled from Souderton, PA, one from Bethlehem, PA, and one from York, PA. All groups chose to stay at the Park Inn for two nights and experience a full itinerary that included touring the Jimmy Stewart Museum, the Victorian Clark House, and Fleming's Christmas Tree Farms. Our visitors enjoyed dining at local restaurants and shopping in Smicksburg and downtown Indiana. On Friday, November 17, many of the travelers rode on floats as part of the Lucy Donnelly Holiday Parade while others enjoyed the view from the second floor of The Coney Island Irish Pub!
ICTB also hosted a group travelling from the greater Chicago area. They chose to stay at the Park Inn for two nights over the weekend of December 6-8. This group was part of a mystery tour, which means they did not know their destination in advance. They toured the Jimmy Stewart Museum, the Victorian Clark House, Calvary Presbyterian Church, and Fleming's Tree Farms. They also enjoyed shopping, dining, and visiting the First Commonwealth Bank "
It's A Wonderful Life
" Festival in downtown Indiana. We are thrilled by the opportunity to welcome these groups and introduce them to Indiana County during the festive holiday season.
Indiana County Highlighted in November Issue of Pennsylvania Magazine
ICTB is proud to announce that Indiana County received great exposure highlighting area holiday festivities. Travel writer Cindy Ross recently wrote a six-page article that appeared in the November issue of
Pennsylvania Magazine
. Ross, who was here for a FAM tour last year, continues to return each year and highlights the greatest attributes of Indiana County in her articles for others to discover the appeal of Indiana County to visitors. The tourist bureau's collaboration with Ross has proved very beneficial.
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Trees for Troops Success
Executive Director Denise Liggett and ICTB were proud to take part in this generous program. Initiated each year by JD Fleming’s Christmas Farms and spear headed by Kevin Lazor, the Trees for Troops Committee takes great pride in providing Christmas trees for our active men & women and their families. This year, 357 trees were loaded on the truck for distribution this holiday season. Of those trees, 220 were sent to Fort Knox and the other 137 went to Fort Sill in Oklahoma. This year’s donations pushed the cumulative total of trees collected over the years to be more than 2,500! Special thanks to everyone who supported this great cause!
Proposal for Special Events
ICTB has been the “hands-on” creator of various proposals in partnership with the CEO and its affiliates, which will hopefully result in Indiana County being selected as the host for their multi-day events. We hope to share more information about this soon - stay tuned!
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Spreading the Word on Indiana County
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Advertising Highlights from July - December
ICTB continues to be busy advertising to prospective visitors through print, web and online advertisements in addition to member events and other special events.
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PRINT:
Guest Quest Travel Magazine
Homer City Athletic Association Boosters Club Tournament Program
Indiana Gazette – Indiana County Resource Directory and Community Service Tab
IUP Football Program
Lively Arts 2017 Fall Program
PA Happy Traveler Guide
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Travel Brochure
Pittsburgh Technology Magazine
Recreation News
Where & When Rt. 422 Co-op
WEB/ONLINE:
Google Web/Keywords
Groundhog.org
Guest Quest.com
Indiana Gazette.com – various member ads
PA Route 422.com
Recreation News – Eblast
VisitPA.com
VisitPittsburgh.com
DIGITAL:
Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex Jumbo Tron
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MEMBERS/SPECIAL EVENTS
(print & online):
Blairsville Community Development Authority - Knotweed Festival
Blairsville Underground Railroad - Twilight Cemetery Tour
Brush Valley Antique Iron and Power Club – 4
th
Annual Tractor Show & Car Cruise
Burrell Township Library – Run 4 R Library
Cookport Antique Machinery Show
Dillweed Bed & Breakfast – Harvest Party/Fall Open House
Downtown Indiana – Taste & Tour, Northern Appalachian Folk Festival, Oktoberfest, 5
th
Annual Wine Walk, Lucy Donnelly Holiday Festival & Parade, The First Commonwealth’s “It’s A Wonderful Life Festival”
Green Township Community Fair – Cookport
Homer City Business Area Business Association – Hoodlebug Festival
Indiana County Day – Christmas in July
Indiana County Tree Growers Association -Indiana County Day – Christmas in July
Indiana County Fair
Indiana Midday Rotary Club – Rotary Rally
Indiana Potters Association – Potters Tour
Indiana Road Runners Club - Run for the Trail, Kids Klassic Races
Ox Hill Fair
Smicksburg – Peachy Saturday, 28
th
Annual Fall Festival, Old Fashioned Country Christmas Open House
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2017 New Member Year in Review
We're pleased to share that we had numerous new members join ICTB in continuing our promotion of Indiana County and their business/organization throughtout 2017. We welcome each of you:
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D. Greg & Linda Gibson
Simply the Best (kettlecorn)
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The Indiana County Tourist Bureau Officers, Board of Directors and Office Staff wish you an enjoyable and prosperous New Year!
We look forward to continuing our partnership with you in 2018 and are proud to promote the great amenities and assets of Indiana County, PA!
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