Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Overheard at the State Fair




We like our volunteers to write down comments from the people that stop by the booth at the State Fair. Here's a few of them and some commentary.

Compliment McPherson on being progressive Thank You!

McPherson is a nice town

Miss the The Button Hole

Chamber needs better signage directing visitors to downtown from the interstate. Actually, the CVB put up signs just this year directing visitors to several local attractions from the east and west entry points of town.

Miss the The Button Hole. We heard this a bunch!

Like Krehbiels Meat

Love McPherson – great community

Love the Italian restaurant by the bowling alley

Miss The Button Hole – pretty town Go Pups!

McPherson – Clean town and friendly people

The Scottish Festival is too much money and it doesn’t change. Heartily disagree. There are many ways to volunteer and get free tickets and every year they add something new!

It would be nice to open & make safe the underground town like the Opera House. This is interesting. I wonder where the tunnels are?

RV Park is expensive. ?

Is Trolley wheelchair accessible YES

Miss The Button Hole

Best give-away table. Thanks for noticing! We gave away frisbees, hand fans, pens, pads of paper and 2010 calendars.

A lot of interest in the Opera House. Grand opening is the end of Jan. 2010.

Need info on Central Christian College as well as Mac College.

Are they done with the Opera House?

There are no holes in Calendars to hang on the wall. This one cracks me up! Use a thumb tack!

Lots and lots of questions whether or not we will get another quilt shop. I've not heard anything.

Many disappointments about The Button Hole closing!

Surprised McPherson has a Trolley! Holiday light tours 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30 Tues. and Thurs. nights Dec. 1-22.

Excited about The Well and all it will offer. I saw Pastor Neufeld-Dunn hanging flyers for a performance there later this month. Can't wait to see what all goes on in this new business.

Drove down from Manhattan to go to the fair. Signed up for Scottish Festival & said “you always have good things going on in McPherson.” :)

Couple from K. City. Stayed all night in McPherson last night at Best Western & heard trains all night !!!! Don't they have trains in KC?

Does McPherson have an RV Park? Showed him on a map. Said that would be a good place to camp.

Many nice compliments on the City of McPherson

One said housing was too high in McPherson would have liked to live there but couldn’t afford it.

Hated to see the quilt shop close

Love McPherson CVB Really? Thanks!

Loves the Opera House! Wants to attend Grand Opening

Water Park Flyers? Didn't think to send any since it's closed for the year.

Love McPherson’s Backdrop (in the booth)

You guys have a great diner Neighbor’s CafĂ© has the best cinnamon rolls in the world. I totally agree!!

Excited about Haunted Forest. Making a trip to visit the Deli, Cooks Nook & Stone Chimney.

Enjoyed the Opera House

Is $1 off Festival coupon just good at gate or also for advanced ticketing? Just the gate.

From Derby – McPherson is a great place! Knows MAC football player & brother minister in town.

Used to have the best fabric store ever

Were we called the “Light Capital”? In the 60’s . . . . had most street lights in town. Yes, we were known as the Light Capital because downtown lights could be seen on interstate.

2 women from Great Bend are now planning to attend Scottish Festival & stay 2 nights based on the brochures. Excellent!

Thanks for the calendar & welcome book!

Sad to see The Button Hole close Wow, someone really needs to open another quilt shop!!

Info for Central Christian College? We had McPherson College information because they volunteered to work three shifts in the booth. It wasn't a deliberate oversight. We'll bring some next year.

Is it a Scottish town? The fourth weekend of every Sept. it sure is.

You have to have a ticket for the Scottish Festival?

Terrible that The Button Hole went out of business.

Need bags for all the give a ways! They were under the table ;).

Great Calendars!

Several People wanted to know dates & times for Trolley rides.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Some interesting stats about McPherson




I don't know about you, but I find statistics very interesting. The Institute for Policy & Social Research has just released the 43rd edition of the Kansas Statistical Abstract.
Here's some facts about McPherson County
McPherson Count population in 2000 was 29,554.
It dropped by 510 to 29,044 in 2008.
Population is projected to grow to 30, 592 by 2020.
There are approximately 604K acres of land in McPherson County and 93.7% of that land is farmland.
McPherson County (212,105) is second only to Reno County (232,736) in the total number of acres of wheat harvested (and that's just because there are 200k more acres of land in Reno County). Kansas exported over $1B in wheat and products in 2007.

So, who cares? Statistics are fun but they are also easily manipulated. Some newspapers might proclaim population in McPherson County to be plummeting. For the purposes of tourism, I can see in what areas McPherson stands out. The fact that we are tops in wheat production gives me ideas for marketing.
The full abstract is at
http://www.ipsr.ku.edu/ksdata/ksah/KSA43.pdf if you'd like to look at it further. Take from it what you will. It's a fascinating read.