Look back at 2010

Now that the Globe Refiners mural is up and dedicated it’s time to be thinking of new projects for the CVB.
Before we do that, I want to take a minute to reflect on 2010. We’ve had a great year and accomplished several things in addition to the mural. Movies in the park are still going strong. We published our second calendar using photos from our annual “What’s Your McPherson?” contest. We’re making many contacts for conventions and group tours and our guest tax revenue for the year is up. We’ve partnered with the Chamber and Main Street on a number of projects this year. (Don’t miss all the fun activities this holiday season.) The ASD parade had a great attendance this year. We added a Saturday night event with the McPherson Scottish Festival and had about 100 people attend. Things aren’t happening overnight but they are happening. I don’t mean to take credit for the success of any of these events because everything we do is in cooperation with other organizations or volunteers in McPherson. That’s the CVB’s role, to assist others in being successful and helping market and enhance attractions and events to attract visitors to our community.
In an effort to do just that, next year we’ll start two new types of grants through the CVB – sports tournament grants and event/attraction grants. Our existing grant program has been limited to assisting with marketing and we saw this as a great way to encourage community members to have activities that would bring visitors to town. If you’re interested in either type of grant, call me at 241-3340 or go to www.mcphersonks.org/visit.
I’m excited for all that there is to look forward to in 2011. It will be the 75th anniversary of the Globe Refiners win of the national AAU tournament and participation on the gold medal Olympic basketball team. We have the 98th annual ASD, a great line-up at the Opera House, and many contests and festivals coming up. But first we have all the great holiday activities. Be sure to catch one of our holiday trolley light tours on Dec. 9, 16, 23 beginning at the Opera House. Or go ahead and purchase tickets now for the Dec. 20-22 tours beginning from the Mid-Kansas Model Railroad display at 1111 E. Kansas Ave.
Are you on Facebook? Check out our Visit McPherson page at www.facebook.com/visitmac for updates on upcoming community activities.