County officials, tourism partners conduct meeting at Price museum

By Sun Advocate

A second meeting of county officials and tourism partners was recently conducted at the College of Eastern Prehistoric Museum and Castle Country Regional Information Center.
The group gathered from west Emery County and included elected officials, tourism related representatives and business from Castle Dale, Ferron and Huntington.
The first gathering in April hosted tourism officials from the Green River area.
The meeting was organized by Kathy Hanna-Smith and Chanel Atwood, both of the Carbon County Travel Bureau.
The focus of the latest meeting was partnering.
The discussion centered around businesses and agencies joining ranks to outline opportunities, values and discuss resources available to expand services.
Atwood, who is the new informational specialist, also echoed the partnering theme, discussing her aspirations of networking with government agencies and businesses.
“Most people who come here and stop at the museum are from the Wasatch Front. We are working hard at educating them,” said the informational specialist.
Atwood talked about increasing efforts to distribute brochures and also acting as tour guides encouraging people to explore the many opportunities the area provides.
“We are trying to project the wonderful recreational opportunities that are available and, rather than stay for a couple hours, work at keeping the guests that are here for a couple days,” stated Atwood.
Atwood also talked about encouraging people to travel down U.S. Highway 10 and trying to keep people in the area longer.
Discussion among members of the assembled group also involved the Castle Valley Pageant coming to the area July 25.
A brochure highlighting the event is available at the CEU museum.
Hanna-Smith discussed recent promotional efforts at a tourism conference in Grand Junction, Colo.
Hanna-Smith also addressed the matching grants the agency has received to improve and update the photos and texts at three of the areas rest stops.
The location include the rest stops at Emery, Tucker and Thompson.
A lot of discussion also centered around the Super Host program and alternative methods of training the front lines for giving good, accurate and friendly advice as well as answers to visitors in the area.