Roger Brooks, the tourism and economic development guru who visited Carbon County with his wife in May, returned to Price Thursday morning for a follow-up visit.
Brooks hosted a discussion at Price City Hall. A number of city and county officials, local business owners and interested members of the public were in attendance.
Brooks outlined his findings from a May visit—billed as a secret shopper-style tour of the area.
Brooks has done hundreds of such visits and consulting work for communities all over the nation and in foreign countries.
The consultant told Price stakeholders the city might be among the most challenged he’s ever seen.
The most pressing problem, he said, was that visitors are not being properly directed to the city’s best assets. He said visitors also have no idea how to get to the nucleus of the city—downtown–because signage in and around the city is inadequate.
“You have plenty of signs to help people get out of town,” he said, but none on how to get to downtown.
Brooks said building a wayfinding system for vehicle traffic and pedestrians would be an investment with a quick return, suggesting Price could deliver such a system for between $60,000 and $80,000.
“Wayfinding is the number one priority for this community,” he said. “Probably three-fourths of your best assets nobody would even know you have.”
Price Mayor Mike Kourianos said he is excited by lots of ideas to improve Price’s attractiveness to outsiders, but said money is an enduring obstacle for the community.
“We have a champagne appetite with a beer income,” he said.
Brooks presented a few ideas to overcome the financial burden, including seeking grants, partnerships and the like.
Brooks also talked about improving downtown as a way to keep visitors there. He said a committee of a dozen people, including business owners and officials should form a non-profit and begin the work of planning improvements to the downtown area. One idea would be to have a small business improvement district, with some tax money earmarked for a fund strictly to go toward turning downtown into a destination location.
“If your locals don’t hang out in your downtown, your visitors won’t either,” Brooks said.
The consultant added that he is astonished by how early downtown businesses close.
The vast majority of shopping is done after 6 p.m., he said.
“The number one activity of visitors is shopping, dining and entertainment in a pedestrian setting,” he said.
One downtown business owner brought up a problem with downtown as he saw it—government housing and people using drugs. He said until the city solves that problem, no amount of economic development would be successful.
Kourianos responded that Price police are keeping a close watch on the area and plans are being mulled for mitigating issues with one particular housing complex.
Brooks said he would like to see Utah State University Eastern get more involved with downtown redevelopment, since the school would reap such rewards from helping create a space popular with younger people in Price.
“The university should spend some money on downtown Price so students want to go there,” he said.
Expert tells Price officials ways to jumpstart local tourism efforts
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