 The heritage area consists of 42 counties in central Illinois, with
Logan and Sangamon counties being in the center of the region.
The goal for the region is to develop a vast number of historical
locations and attractions that will draw visitors into the area for
lengthy stays.
After spending the first half of the two-hour meeting listening
to information provided by Peter Benton and Elizabeth Watson of
Heritage Strategies, the last hour, guests in the room were given
the opportunity to voice their ideas and discuss what they would
like to see happen to promote tourism in the heritage area, for the
purpose of compiling a list of possible actions for the management
plan that is set to be completed by the end of November 2011.
The first person to speak was Jan Schumacher of the Logan County
Board, who said a visitor center located immediately off Interstate
55 in Lincoln would be a great asset to the community. She commented
that information is available throughout the area about tourism in
Logan County, but to find it, visitors have to drive into town, and
not everyone will.
It was noted there is an "attractions" sign off the interstate
for Lincoln, but there are no attractions listed on it.
Geoff Ladd of the Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau said funding
through the state and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency for
signage has always been an issue. He said Postville Courthouse and
Mount Pulaski Courthouse both could qualify as "attractions" on
state signage, but there is no money to get the signs done.
According to Robert Crosby, the Looking for Lincoln Heritage
Coalition project manager, such signage has been an ongoing battle
with the state everywhere, but being national gives the area more
leverage.
Wanda Lee Rohlfs of Main Street Lincoln commented on the 49 areas
in Logan County that are directly related to Abraham Lincoln. She
referred to earlier comments from Watson and Benton about trails and
tours and said she'd like to see these 49 sites linked together in a
heritage trail.
Crosby talked about establishing self-guided tours along a trail.
This is something that Logan County already has to a certain extent.
Main Street has established the 49 locations and has a cell phone
tour brochure available through their office. The brochure provides
a cell phone number and codes for each site as well as GPS
coordinates for easy driving to the location.
Watson said that countryside driving tours are a wonderful way to
attract tourists but need to be publicized.
"Visitors won't come if they aren't sure there is something to do
or see," she said.
Watson talked about diversity, saying it is common in most
regions that historical societies, preservation groups and tourism
volunteers are not necessarily made up of young people.
Succession planning is what will keep the Lincoln heritage and
history alive, and that means getting young people involved now, so
that they can learn and become as dedicated to the history of the
community as those who are currently involved.
A comment was made that in order to do that, those in charge now
need to learn how to talk to young people the way they listen.
Watson drew on the comment about talking to young people the way
they listen and said the region needed to explore social media and
other means of communication.
Sue Pridemore of the Midwest Regional Office of the National Park
Service added that when promoting tourism and developing sites for
visitors, the group will need to create something that will hold the
interest of a 12-year-old.
Local historian Paul Beaver said there needs to be a push to
preserve authentic sites. He commented on the Postville Courthouse,
saying it was wonderful, but not the real thing. He then commented
on the impact of having the original Mount Pulaski Courthouse. He
spoke about buildings in the Middletown area that have been saved
and others located on private property in the area. He called these
sites the real jewels and said that we are lucky to have them and
need to keep them.
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Throughout the hour of lively conversation, several ideas came
out for everyone to consider, with about eight making it to the
final list Watson was compiling.
Tom Martin, who is on the Looking for Lincoln board and currently
chairs the Mount Pulaski 175th anniversary celebration, brought up
that there is an interest in agricultural tourism and Logan County
does have some attraction there. Beaver added to that, commenting
briefly on the history of the Scullys and agricultural development
in Logan County.
It was also discussed whether or not there should be more
promotional materials in local motels and whether there should be a
periodical publication that would give a calendar of regional
events.
That led to discussions of coordinating events instead of
creating conflicts and how the region could work together to have
multiple complementing activities going on at the same time.
Bob McCue, who is a local historical re-enactment actor and
historian in his own right, commented on visits he has made to
Ireland, where townspeople in one town would be sure to let visitors
know that another little community down the road was doing something
special. He said that this past summer while doing re-enactments at
the Lincoln Home in Springfield, they did the same thing,
encouraging visitors to visit other locations of historical
interest.
Discussions also revolved around turning everyone in the
communities into voices for tourism. Watson said everyone in the
community, even service personnel, the gas station attendants and
the waitresses in restaurants, need to know the stories, and if they
can say, "Oh, have you been to see so and so?" it will lead to more
tourism traffic.
Pridemore spoke along this same line, saying that one of the
problems she has seen in historical society organizations is a sense
of ownership that becomes territorial. She cautioned that in many
locations she will ask, "What are you doing to get the community
involved?" and the answer is, "Nothing." She said something that
should go on Watson's list was a program to provide trainings and
workshops that will educate the public and instill an interest in
the younger generations.
Mayor Keith Snyder said he felt it would be good to have a
regional strategy that would instill in our children a unique
identity for them to relate to.
He said: "Our youth are our biggest export. Our kids grow up and
move away, they feel like there is nothing here for them, and that
may be an economic issue, but I think it is also a heritage issue."
As the evening wrapped up, Watson said one thing that has to
happen is the development of an open line of communication among the
42 counties. She urged everyone in the room to "talk."
She also said that the heritage area is building a website for
the public and that Crosby is currently putting newsletters
together.
The newsletters will be sent to meeting attendees via e-mail and
will also be posted on the current Looking for Lincoln website.
Watson said that in the future, attendees will be contacted by
Looking for Lincoln and asked if they can give out contact
information to those who have attended similar meetings in other
areas, with the hope of establishing open communications between all
the counties in the heritage area.
During the course of the evening, there was not a great deal said
about how all these projects might be funded. However, in the
original press release announcing the meeting, it stated that there
would be funding up to $15 million that would be used across the 42
county region to "preserve, interpret and promote the heritage and
culture of the area, in the context of Abraham Lincoln's life in
Illinois."
[By NILA SMITH]
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