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Home My WebLink AboutM040919 Tourism Coordinating Council – Jefferson County Minutes of the Meeting of the Coordinating Council April 9, 2019 (DRAFT) The April 9, 2019 meeting of the Tourism Coordinating Council (TCC) for Jefferson County, was called to order at 10:05 am by TCC Chair Roney, noting a quorum was present. • Voting TCC Members present were: Bill Roney, Marsha Massey, Crystie Kisler, Joy Baish, Aaron Terada, Cleone Telling • Partners Present: Commissioner Greg Brotherton, Diane Smelan, Christina Pivarnik, and Bethany Smith • TCC Marketing Coordinator present: Steve Shively CALL TO ORDER Bill welcomed all, with introductions of Bethany Smith from Old Alcohol Plant, and Diane Smelan President of Port Ludlow Associates. Diane will work with Bill to send letter of interest to BoCC for appointment on TCC. (Replacing Debbie Wardrop). TCC members and partners provided intros, the TCC consent docket, including minutes from the meeting conducted on March 12, 2019, Moved by Cleone, Seconded by Joy and available March 2019 TCC financials, Moved by Joy, Seconded by Crystie were approved, each by unanimous votes. CONSENT AGENDA Commissioner Brotherton shared information on the following topics of tourism related interest and insight: • BoCC looking into SR104 Round About • Heading to Westend – will be in contact with Joshua regarding new lodging and dining • Queets flood plain issues • Attended NOAA – OCNMS meeting in Port Angeles • Progress in Critical Areas Ordnance updates related to construction and Ag. impacts to Commercial, Residential and Agriculture. A taskforce will be forming with consultation work provided by Burke Assoc. • Broadband meeting – involving dark fiber infrastructure (vs. 5G wireless technologies) on both Marrowstone and Hood Canal. • Sewer progress for Hadlock – following State funding in both House and Senate. • Tarboo Ridge – Fort Discovery, delay due to public notice of violation with Dept. of Ecology, plus traffic issues with non-permitted traffic through Pope Land holdings. • Rhody Fest is still looking for a home for the carnival. Memorial Field may not work. • A four-fold increase in Growler training flights at NASWI Whidbey. Noise impacts! OPTC Update: Marsha Massey updated TCC on OPTC’s recent meeting held in Sequim, highlighting: • Last week OPTC’s annual recognition of Volunteers from all partners. Fielded 45 participants, approx. of whom are 15 volunteers from all over the Peninsula. • OPTC meeting was hosted at B&B Family Farm Sequim, By Bruce and Bonnie part of the Sequim Lav. Experience • Program for OPTC featured Museum’s featuring 4 museums across the N. Olympic Peninsula. • Olympic NP reported the seasonal start of the final year of Lake Crescent Hwy 101 construction – Spring closures Monday-Thursday scheduled for 4-hour closures, in additional to the “regular” 20-30 pilot car delays. Plan according. • Spring ads in place. Doing well. Good requests for travel planners. • Website updates including lodging photos and Trip Advisor links are being updated. COMISSIONER’S UPDATE OPTC UPDATE • Upcoming Seattle Hotel Concierges industry event will have OPVB and TCC sharing Olympic Peninsula resources. New Business WSDOT SR-104 Roundabout – Bill, Marsha and Christina updated TCC on OPTC’s current position of joining TCC’s proposed formal comment to WSDOT regarding their Intersection Control Evaluation (ICE) proposed State Route 104 and Shine Road/Paradise Bay. TCC reviewed the formulated comments for consideration in a TCC letter to WSDOT. Joy moved and Aaron seconded a motion that the letter be sent to WSDOT as written. Motion approved. Marketing Report Steve provided a TCC briefing of current marketing activities, including: • March’s JeffCo. budget committee reports are still not out. However, OPTC’s DOR reports shows JeffCo. up 7.71% MTD over 2018. • Digital promotion with building visit.enjoyolympicpeninsula.com personalized travel planner trip itinerary engagement resulted in good returns, and higher than typical male demographics. The winner was Ashely H from Idaho. • Review of current UTrip analytics reveled changes in activity preferences, many directly influenced by the featured sample itinerary we’re prompting. This combined with Olympic NP statistics, indicate greater “active” adventure seekers vs. our traditional persona of “soft” or “front-country” adventure seekers. • Credit to Crystie for directing a FAM tour with SIP publisher Erin James. She’ll be staying at Chevy Chase Beach Cabins (with her dog) and visiting the cider route. • Spring ads are out with TCC print and digital ad sets featuring new “hero” images. Spring ad buys include: WA State Visitors Guide, Homeport Seattle, MV Coho, OutdoorsNW, Strait Up, Adventures NW, and 1889 Washington’s Magazine • “Serving Up Sustainable Hospitality” will be the Ocean Shores educational topic facilitated by Olympic Culinary Loop. Marsha will share last Fall’s Tourism Summit’s interest in a Destination Management Plan, and NOAA’s OCNMC will explore the opportunities of a Olympic Peninsula Blue Star recognition program for practitioners of sustainable hospitality. • Welcoming both Bethany Smith and Diane Smelan to TCC Area Updates: Port Ludlow - Diane • Easter Bruch is coming! • May 5th Glassy Baby pop-up supporting the Jefferson Food Banks. • Port Ludlow is welcoming a new Mexican restaurant in the Village Center. • Watch for “Cruise-In” Port Ludlow starts 4PM Wednesday’s between April and September. Chimacum – Tri-Area – Crystie & Bethany • Finnriver adding live music on Fridays, Chimacum CraftFair (Chimacum Be Dazzle) coming the same day of the Wearable Art show. • Rock hunt vs. Easter Egg hunt this Easter at Finnriver. • More conversations of FEED (Food Education and Entrepreneurial Development) work at Chimacum schools. • Crystie challenged us all to be intentional with efforts to have images depicting visitor diversity in our ads. Bethany discussed the upcoming Aug. 1st Hadlock Block party. They are looking for food vendors. NEW BUSINESS TCC MARKETING COORDINATORS REPORT AREA UPDATES • Donated Land sought for workforce housing – Aislinn Palmer is the lead – via Bayside • Watch for a local art show featuring Old Alcohol Plant staff. Gateway VIC – Bill • The updated Activities Map is out! • Seasonal build-up at VIC is underway. Always looking for more volunteers. Over 1,000 hours of volunteer service is key to keeping the Gateway VIC open all year long. Quilcene – Cleone Quilcene little league starts today! • “Permit purgatory” is the Worthington House’s current mantra – Conditional Use Permit conversion from single family dwelling, • This Saturday is a Spring-Cleaning event at Museum. • Big Easter Egg. Sat before Easter. April 26 parade. Looking forward to hosting the National Director of the US Forest service. • The lack of parking lot bathroom facilities at the Mt. Walker trail head has been noticed. Marrowstone – Aaron shared the on going WW1 historic accommodations renovations. No impact to either camping or group dorms. • The museum will be open by May. Daily hours 11-4 for Historic Museum entrance and Tours. • Bridge and dredging will be underway mid May. • Friends of Fort Flagler concert series and the rumor of seasonal Cider on Marrowstone. Stay tuned! Brinnon – Joy shared that Dosewallips State Park’s additional cabins and Glamping Tents result in great visitor traffic increases throughout Brinnon. • Rocky Brook parking getting busy • Elk Horn – a volunteer trail has been created. Campground remains in good shape. • Look forward to ShrimpFest – Mostly Culinary and Entertainment and plenty of fresh Shrimp. Port Townsend, WTA/WTMA – Christina shared that WTA is looking for digital marketing director. 6-mo. contract. • In the midst of working on redesign for EnjoyPT.com • Media room on www.ExperienceWA.com recently updated and expanded online photo library at https://www.barberstock.com/experienceWA • Travel and Words conf. last week – lots of sharing and pitching the Olympic Peninsula story. A take-away is that a leading trend in journalism is Social Influencers over traditional travel writers. Esp. on Instagram Adjournment - There being no further business the TCC meeting was adjourned at 12:22 PM Next meeting of TCC is Tuesday May 14, 2019 – 10:00 AM at the Inn at Port Ludlow. AREA UPDATES (Cont.) ADJORN