Tourism Bureau hears update on Tropics sign restoration
Discussions move into supporting physical attractions

[June 22, 2017]  LINCOLN -  On Monday, June 19th, the Logan County Tourism Bureau met for its monthly meeting at the Mill on Route 66. Prior to the meeting, the Mill was opened for board members to come in and take a tour if they wished. As the meeting convened, all board members were present, which included Gale Apel-Sasse, Kevin Bateman, Emily Davenport, Cindy Fleshman, Kathy Horn, Steve Parrott, Shawn Taylor and Marilyn Wheat.

The board learned that Kenna Shaffer had resigned from the board. Shaffer was the hotel/motel representative on the board. Her resignation came about because she is no longer working for the Best Western in Lincoln.

Also on hand at the opening of the meeting was Tom McLaughlin. At that time McLaughlin was a candidate for the board. Later in the evening at the voting session of the Lincoln City Council, he was approved as a board member replacing Ron Keller and representing Lincoln College and Lincoln Heritage Museum.

Left to right: Bill Kelly, Bill Thomas, Bob Wilmert, David Doolin, Geoff Ladd

Others on hand for the meeting for the bureau were Interim Director Cris Wibben and Administrative Assistant Megan Gleason; guests Geoff Ladd, Bob and Barb Wilmert for the Mill; Bill Kelly of the Route 66 Byways; Bill Thomas representing the Tropic sign restoration committee; and David Doolin, website developer and owner of the Explore Logan County website.

After being called to order by Sasse, who is currently the acting board president, Ladd introduced the guests in the room, and welcomed the board members to the Mill.

Tropics Sign

Bill Thomas was the first to speak, sharing information about the fundraising efforts for the Tropics sign restoration project. To date, the committee has “in-hand” $47,816 with a goal of raising $70,000. Thomas was asked if that included any outstanding grants. He responded that there are grants yet outstanding that will be added to that total if awarded.

He specified that the committee has not heard from the Woods Foundation about the application for $27,000. He said he believed the Foundation should make a decision by the mid part of July. Thomas said if the project does not receive the award, he will have a discussion with the Foundation to determine why the grant application fell short, will adjust as needed, and resubmit the application with the hopes of then receiving the grant.

Thomas said that the committee is moving forward with the restoration, and that next week on Tuesday, Ace Sign Company of Springfield will come to Lincoln and retrieve the sign. It will be taken back to Springfield where work will begin.

Thomas also talked about the ownership of the sign. If the restoration project is completed successfully, the Logan County Tourism Bureau will own the sign, but the city of Lincoln will be responsible for it. While it now looks like the restoration project will be completed, if it is not for some reason, ownership of the sign would then revert back to the Goodrich’s.

Thomas, Kelly and Ladd talk about supporting ‘brick & mortar” attractions

Thomas also suggested that the board give consideration to making grants available for preservation of tourist attractions in the county.

He noted that the bureau currently uses all its cash resources for marketing grants, but capital grants are needed in order to maintain and develop tourist attractions in the county. He said that it is getting harder and harder to find grants for capital improvements, and the bureau could become a new resource.

Sasse asked for clarification that Thomas was referring to supporting the “brick and mortar” or physical attraction. Thomas said he was. That money is needed to keep attractions in good repair, and also to seek out new attractions and make them into desirable places for tourists to visit. He said that it is a proven fact that good tourism promotes economic development.

Wibben said that under the terms of the state grant funds, money cannot be spent for capital improvements. However, money could be designated from the hotel/motel tax for capital projects.

Later in the evening Kelly and Ladd would both address this same topic. Ladd would point out that in Pontiac, the city tourism bureau pays for part-time staff at the Route 66 museums in town and pays the utilities on the various sites. In Litchfield, the annual contributions are made for maintaining attractions, and an annual grant is awarded in Bloomington Normal for the same purpose. Ladd said this shows there is a precedent for supporting physical attractions in addition to promoting them through marketing.

Ladd was asked about the tax revenues in those communities. He said that in Pontiac the hotel/motel tax revenue is less than the city of Lincoln. He noted the small community has fewer motels than Lincoln, thus less income from the tax.

Kelly also supported the suggestion from Thomas saying that tourism does drive economic development and brings income into communities. He said that Abraham Lincoln and Route 66 are two big draws state-wide for tourism, and Logan County has both. In the 2014 and 2015 tourism reports, it showed that Route 66 counties do very well in attracting tourist. He also noted that at the last report, Logan County ranked fifth out of 102 counties for tourist traffic, excluding Chicago.

He commented, “As we approach the anniversary of Route 66, the world is going to show up here. It is in tourism's best interest to invest in Route 66.”

Parrott asked of Thomas just how many brick and mortar locations there were in the county, both those established and those that need to be established for tourism.

Thomas said that was a tough question to answer. He said, “That’s an excellent question, because, even though I am a preservationist at heart, hard core, in this instance, you have to look at it strategically as to what to preserve that is going to have a direct return of investment from tourists, not just preservation for the sake of preservation, but preservation melded into a strategic vision of using tourism for economic development.”

Parrott said he wondered how many buildings that would be, and Thomas said right now he couldn’t answer that specific question, but that he had an approach for identifying those key locations that would help spur tourism.

Ladd and Thomas also talked about using tourism dollars to match other grants when needed. Thomas said if the bureau decided to move forward with this type of support, it could also reach out to other funding sources for matching funds partnerships. He mentioned specifically the Danner Trust in Mount Pulaski, who has awarded dollars to several projects in the county.

It was noted by Ladd that the first National Park Grant the Mill received was a few years ago for the restoration of the floors. In that project the Danner Trust provided the matching grant funds required for the National Park Grant.

Thomas concluded by encouraging the board to strongly consider this suggestion. He said the "key" first step would be to develop a strong policy and strategic plan for establishing the grant program.

[Nila Smith]