Welcome everybody to Midday Magazine for this Friday, November 8th, 2024.
Have your host James here and right now we are joined by one of my favorite people to talk to Meredith Colleckler,
Executive Director of Visit Wisconsin-Rabbitz Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Meredith, always good to talk with you. Thanks for being here today.
Oh, thank you very much. I love to talk with you as well.
One of my early interviews was with you Meredith and really helped me get comfortable with the job.
And I always appreciate getting the chance to talk with you guys.
And we are just kind of joking in our pre-game here a little bit that we don't get to do this very often.
Because you guys are always giving of your time to other events and businesses in the area.
And I really appreciate that.
Well, we appreciate you providing a valuable service to visitors and residents alike.
So we're grateful to you.
One of the things that we don't get the chance to do is kind of touch on the who, what, when, where, why of our visitors Bureau.
And while I think that while we are specifically talking about Wisconsin-Rabbitz,
we have a lot of listeners and a lot of other areas.
I want you all to take some notes here and give a shout out to your local visitors Bureau.
They do amazing work in our communities and oftentimes don't get a chance to be highlighted.
But we're going to highlight you guys today.
And I want to talk about, right out the gate Meredith, why tourism matters and why it is so important to our communities?
Tourism matters because, for example, Wood County generated a record breaking $211 million in economic impact in 2023.
It's, it's, it's incredible.
I mean, the state, tourism is the fourth largest economic enterprise in Wisconsin.
And Wisconsin had a historic record breaking 25 billion economic development or economic impact from tourism last year.
So it's important because it impacts us all.
Whether you are a hospitality business, a restaurant, a hotel, a gas station, or just like a grocery store, a store that sells equipment.
People might need when they're in town, or you're a company that ships the products to all those businesses, or you are the person who comes to a tournament, or comes to enjoy a show, or anything in town.
We're all impacted by tourism.
And the dollars it brings into the community are of benefit to everybody.
So the tax dollars along the state and local taxes that came into Wood County last year were $12.6 million.
So it really does have a huge impact.
And in the city of Wisconsin Rapids, we have seen an increase the last six years straight in the amount of dollars that come into our community that can be used both by our organization to keep going.
And marketing and promoting, but also by the city.
Part of the reason I start off the show trying to one of the encouraged people to care about their local visitors bureaus and paying attention to that is because while Meredith and people like Meredith work at these places, don't forget that we all do.
We all work at the visitors bureau.
We are all mascots for our community.
We all sellers of our community because this benefits all of us.
This Meredith was just giving us the numbers of how many people out there like lower taxes.
You know, I'm seeing all hands being risen right now.
This helps towards that.
And when we have the what was 113 million visitors this year, Meredith, I'm seeing.
Yeah.
Every one of those individuals we're selling to.
We're selling our community to.
We're selling our events to and everything.
So it really does matter how we treat people and how much we care about our visitors bureau and the impact they make.
Those are amazing numbers to hear.
They really are.
And truly we can't do what we do without the great people in Wisconsin Rapids and the surrounding communities.
We are consistently told by visitors from all over the state and actually the world.
That everybody's welcoming and they appreciate how they how they feel when they come visit our area.
And really that's what that that's what encourages them to come back.
It's how they feel and the experiences they had.
So knowing how much of those things matter.
This is why we tell you what and who our visitors bureau is.
Get into that a little bit if you don't mind.
Not at all.
We are the destination marketing organization or the tourism entity for the Wisconsin Rapids area.
We represent Wisconsin Rapids and Southern Wood County.
We are not for profit organization and we're governed by a board of directors.
Who work in industries related to what we do.
Hotels, dining, attractions, those type of businesses.
We are funded by room taxes.
And I think sometimes that's important to note because we're primarily funded by the people who use our services.
Local tax dollars aren't paying for what we do.
We work to promote and market the area as a destination.
And we do that to try to attract tour groups which are starting to come back.
We just had one from lacrosse last week.
Good to hear.
But also business and leisure travelers, sports tournaments, meetings and conventions.
We work to try to bring them here for their first visit because it all starts with a visit.
You know, and something you mentioned there I think is really interesting too.
Certainly the latter part that you said there that's details that we don't always hear.
Or we all may not know, not common knowledge certainly.
But the idea of the board of directors.
And while you hear board of directors, most people give an idea on their head.
But I appreciate the extra step there of mentioning that it's locals doing this.
So when it comes to selling this area and certainly marketing this area or any of the above,
you have locals doing this.
You have people from here.
So many times, especially in the business I'm in, you have a consultant.
The famous consultant that comes in from some state 100,000 miles away
and tries to tell you what to do with your show that is not even from the area.
You have people from the area kind of promoting and marketing our area
that know it better than anybody.
That is a key part of this and a really cool part of this I think too.
Yeah, we're blessed.
We have board members that are lifelong residents of this area that have had businesses for years
and really bring a perspective that is really valuable.
And, you know, well, the time moves so fast and everything.
2016, not that long ago.
And not that big of a stretch of time to think of the amount of great work that has been done in that time.
It's really impressive, very impressive.
And the type of work that we're talking about here, let's talk about that.
Let's talk about what you guys do over there if you don't mind Meredith.
You know, people travel to our area for all different reasons.
And we work to try to attract all those people, all different demographics,
you know, families come for vacation, but sometimes they come to celebrate.
Maybe they're here for a class reunion or they're here to celebrate a birthday.
People come for business when what Connie Jail is being built.
We had a lot of business people, a lot of travelers coming for business.
Each year when the cranberries are blooming, there's a beekeeper that comes into town
and stays in town with his bees to be able to...
So there's some things that not everybody thinks about, but that's an example of business travel.
Of course, we have huge sporting events and we're really excited to be hosting another USABMX Nationals in 2025.
So it's one of only 30 in North America.
So we're very excited about that.
The Wisconsin State Water Ski Show is a huge example of that.
It's the largest and longest running in the world.
And that's just here in our community.
So it brings people, last year we had people from Belgium, Australia.
It brings people from all over.
So whether people are coming to just relax or to re-energize or to reconnect,
we work to let them know that they can do that here and this is the perfect place.
Actually, I should say a handful of my relatives, when my non-Ampapa first moved to Rome,
they would come up from Illinois or come from out east or whatever and they'd come here.
And every time they visited, they did not want to leave.
And these were, you know, downright city people.
But they'd get here and what they loved was they were in nature they felt,
but there was so much convenience to things.
Our area really does give you something for everybody.
Whether you are a single individual out there, you're a big family.
If you're young, old, there really is something for everybody when it comes to this.
And the entertainment, the culture, and the sports that are available in this area are second to none.
And there aren't many communities, our size, that have a local, like two baseball teams, a hockey team,
let alone all the high school sports we have.
That alone is something that stands out.
But you mentioned the, we have the biggest water ski show tournament in the world here.
We do, and it's free.
Yeah.
We have any metric cranberry blossom fest or some of these other events that,
as long as they've been around, only seem to get more popular every year.
It's really noteworthy, too.
Taking an event like that is an example.
A cranberry blossom fest has been around a long time.
In every year, they make it better.
And they're able to do that because every year, or not every year maybe,
but every once in every cycle, you have new people, you know,
putting their creative input into that.
And other members in the community adding to that.
So really, it remains fresh.
It remains interesting and cool every year.
And that's not, that's just one example.
That happens all the time with our area.
It's really something to what we're able to offer in this area.
And I bring this up not just for us, of course, locals that know a lot of this,
but we've got a lot of surrounding areas.
And especially when it comes to advertising.
You have hit your area quite a bit.
Come on over here.
Advertise with us over here a little bit and everything.
And we'll show you how much of the power of that here.
There's so many things to attach your name to.
It's a really unique area and a lot of really fun events that we have lined up.
Yeah, we're truly blessed by that.
We, you know, not, you mentioned not many cities have the sports.
We also have a great arts and culture.
You know, we have, we have two museums.
We have, we have three live theaters, you know, plus the cinema.
We have a lot of talented people in this community.
Artists and, and, and we're grateful that they're willing to share.
I, I joke with a lot of my Madison friends about this all the time that I will take our creatives
over their creatives any day.
And I love Madison.
I love Madison.
I've got a lot of friends over there and a lot of really fun creative people.
And that's a melting pot with the university.
Steven's point is another example of that.
I, again, I stand on this.
This area has some of the most amazing creatives and, and versatile creatives.
We're not just talking about singers and songwriters and actors or any of that,
but photographers and sculptors and woodcutters and so many different things.
It's really something that, to be what we have to offer in this area,
which is why when I'm asking who, what, when, where, why and when,
well, when is, is, is pretty much always.
It is always.
Every chance we get, we're, we're, we're blessed to be able to tell the stories of the people and the, and the attractions in this community.
And so every chance we get, we do that.
And we also are really actively listening and always learning more.
And, and that kind of leans into the how, of, of how you guys are able to do this.
There's so many different ways that you are able to promote our local businesses and our local events.
You know, we are, we are centrally located within four hours.
You can get here from Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, not to mention everywhere in Wisconsin.
So I like to tell people we're the Northwoods experience without the drive.
That's good, that's good.
But we, and we really do have so much.
You mentioned music.
We have a awesome burgeoning music scene, you know, and all different styles of music.
And, and, and you know, a country and rock and roll, all different types of music.
And this past year we saw a huge increase in the amount of live music happening in our community.
So, so we, we work to, to just get the story out and connect the local resources to those visitors that might be interested in them.
It's, it's really one of the first things when we've had like a bluegrass on the lake or doves nest or some of these groups that are wonderful, wonderful people in organizations.
That, when they're just getting started.
It's one of the first things that they did or they will suggest to people is reaching out to your other visit Wisconsin's rabbit's bureau.
You guys are able to market and help people and, and guide people in many ways when they're beginning these things.
That's the same thing for a business out there or any nonprofit or any of the above.
You, you, you reach out and you attach yourself to the visitors bureau.
They're going to have your back, they're going to be able to help you navigate these things better than anybody can.
Yeah, and we're happy to do that. And actually, there's, you know, what our services, there's no cost for us to promote.
As long as an event is open to visitors, of interest to visitors and open to, to the public, we're happy to promote it.
We just need to know about it. So, so we're, we're happy to do that.
We have a website, a calendar on a website that's very popular. We, we promote social media.
And then we do a lot of print advertising. It's not seen so much here with the exception of our annual visitors guide.
Which we're working on now. But, but we also do a lot of advertising.
We last year we advertised in Canada. We were on billboards in Toronto.
Awesome.
We, we worked to bring people from the outside in. So a lot of our print advertising isn't seen here.
Which is a great point to bring up and what I was touching on earlier when I was reaching out to other communities and everything.
This is what smart marketing is. This is your area knows you're this business.
And it's not to see you don't market in your area. But if you got a pie chart and you're putting 20% here, 20% there.
We encourage you to put that to maybe, you know, 30% of it or whatever in another town, in another state even sometimes.
You just don't know who's going to see that. And hey, we're vacationing. We go to the same place all the time.
What's this rat Wisconsin rapids? What's that? This sounds interesting.
You just never know who might, and who that person might tell, hey, this is really good.
That's how my family ended up here is this way and stuff.
My papa drove semi through up to Canada and had friends from Wisconsin that would rave about Central Wisconsin.
And so he got curious. Here we are. And now you're stuck with me.
No, I'm the story, too. I'm the story of a visitor who became a resident.
Same thing. I had a great aunt and uncle who lived here and I used to visit as a child.
And then my sister got a job and Steven's point and said, hey, we really think we want to live in Wisconsin rapids.
And so, you know, so we came to visit. And so I'm the story, too.
That's awesome. I didn't know that. That's very cool.
And it's part of why we encourage this so much. We know what we're talking about.
And we can back it up. And we do that with the wear a lot, too, Meredith.
And where you guys are able to do these things and put this focus.
Yeah, we, you know, we see an increase. Social media is very popular.
I really believe print people sometimes still like to have a map.
Or the cranberry highway map is very popular every year.
And people, you know, we had visitors from Arkansas and Texas and all over coming to see cranberries.
Because they, it's something they don't have. So we are, we are, we love our cranberry heritage.
And it's what helps bring people here. But then we like to expose them to all the other great things.
Yeah, you use the cranberries to lure them in. And then we get them.
They do all seriousness. It really does. And it's nice way to kind of sandwich these things, if you will, of,
Hey, this, you come here because of this. Well, look at all these other things.
The visitor's guide is certainly you mentioned that. That's something that is really helps out a lot to a lot of, not just locals,
but certainly others. Trade shows are another one that we don't get to touch on very often.
But that's another way of helping and, and, and where you guys can make an impact.
We go to state fair, the Wisconsin state fair every year. We have a day at the state fair where we go and promote Wisconsin rap,
the Wisconsin Rapids area, the Green Bay RV and camping show.
We participate in, and we, we also work regionally because we understand that sometimes people come for a whole experience.
So, for example, the NFL draft is coming, you know, you know, that's probably going to impact everybody in the state on some level.
We work with travel Wisconsin at the State Department of Tourism. We also partner with our friends and visit Marshfield.
And the Stevens Point area convention and Visitors Bureau for Central Wisconsin Tourism.
So we work to get us listed regionally. So one of the things we actively work on is to get on the travel Wisconsin events and places,
website and widgets. So our businesses and our events are, are being promoted all throughout the state.
It's, it's incredibly smart and, and, and, and thought through and, and calculated. And I appreciate that.
I really appreciate hearing, like, like, was on Marshfield and these other community bureaus working together.
We're stronger together. And, and it's nice to see that. I think that we all know that we have people that,
they know people that live in different communities or travel for work or anything. It just makes sense for us to work together on these things.
That's really cool to hear. And, and, and I know people are out there listening and wondering,
well, well, I'm not, maybe you're not a business. Maybe you're just an individual or so.
How can you help? How can you impact your community and be a part of things? And I want to get into that a little bit with you Meredith.
So, so really just tell us what's going on. Let us know if you, if you have a great event or a fundraiser.
A lot, there's a lot of great fundraisers that happen in this, in this area that benefit awesome charities.
But they are also provide really cool, unique experiences. You mentioned a couple. So, so tell us, just let us know what's happening. We'll get it on the calendar.
The earlier the better, because then we have a little more time to schedule some social media posts. We are fond, we did, with the rafters this past year, we for their heroes week.
We did giveaways, social media giveaways, where people could win gift bags and tickets to the games.
So, we're always looking for creative ways to help engage people and get them involved.
Yeah, with our river kinks, which is so nice to any chance. Well, I mean, you can tell them a big hockey guy.
So, any chance to talk about that. But the kings are one of our better examples, like the rafters and others in this area of really being able to similar to the cranberries.
Hey, you want to come here because you love hockey, you come here because you love baseball. Well, look at what else we got and look at these other things.
They are, you know, certainly mascots and, you know, sellers of our area just as much as any of this.
And it's another great set of events that are coming up. We just got done this week wrapping up the Glen Miller Orchestra coming to town last night.
Yeah, I heard so many great things about that show. We've got other great events coming up as well, Meredith.
Before we get people a ways to contact you, you know, if they have further questions or want to be a part of things, let's talk a little bit about some of the events coming up at the end of November here
and getting into December.
We have the venture space beginning dinner happening with our friends at the VFW 2534. That is going on this weekend on Sunday.
Be sure to make plans for that. Rekindle the spirit parade is right around the command that is right around the corner.
It is. It is.
Wow. That is 27th. I see that that's turning on. So that would be a big event.
Oh, did you have something to say?
Yes, that the city is lighting the Grand Avenue and the Jackson Street bridges.
So the lights will reflect in the water and there's hopes that that will be ready to be done on the night of Rekindle the spirit.
So they'll be a bridge lighting ceremony.
That's we've talked about this a little bit behind the scenes. I'm so excited for this. That's going to be really, really cool.
Here's fingers crossed. Here's hoping and shout out to all the workers out there that are working so hard on all that to get that done.
And the city and the city actually invested locally too. It's a local. It's a local vendor that's doing all that work. So we're excited about that.
And we're very excited here about the 40th annual 40th annual already cranberry classic coming up at Assumption High School.
That's going to be cold on Thanksgiving week in the 29th and the 30th.
We have the guys from Assumption on to talk about this usually on playmakers and stuff and cannot wait for that small business Saturday another big event to wrap up November.
Yeah, that's huge and the Hartiff Wisconsin Chamber does a great passport experience that encourages people to go from shop to shop and invest locally.
Yeah. And December right around the corner and I wanted to make sure to mention the Zor Shriners Festival of trees.
Another event that I wouldn't get to touch on very often but a really fun event.
It started last year and it's really fun to go through and you can bid on the trees. You can bid to win the trees, which is really interesting.
And they again, you know, all the proceeds go to benefit local.
December alone has something for everybody on the Nikusa Christmas parade coming up on Market Street over on the 7th.
You have the Christmas family dinner happening and rooted in red on the 7th as well.
7th through 9th with the 8th annual Christmas tree walk happening with our friends at the South of County Historical Museum.
Big shout out to them. And white Christmas with our great friends with God's Rabbids community.
The 8th are going to be premiering next month on the 7th. Looking forward to that one as well.
I'm going to be or I'm sorry white Christmas. Yeah, premieres on the 7th. It's going to be a great one.
And boogie Niojo's Christmas with you. I love those guys. That's going to be great. That should be fun.
So many great events. River Kings hockey throughout the month of December as well.
Get tonight. Tonight tomorrow River Kings River Kings hockey something notable about the River Kings.
They're celebrating their 10th season.
You know, promoting hockey up and down the river.
And last night we celebrated our Wisconsin Rapids area sports commission awards.
And coach Paul is the winner of the MVP award.
Very proud of him for that. Been embarrassing him every chance I get.
There you go. That's good.
Meredith a great conversation as always. We don't get together nearly enough.
Can people have follow up questions? One of them more just work with the bureau.
How can they do that? How can they reach you?
They can stop in and see us anytime.
We're located downtown on the east side of the river on the corner of Jackson and second streets.
We're open 9 to 5 every day or business or Monday through Friday.
But you can also reach us on our website.
Visit wisprapids.com.
And of course you can call us at 715-422-4650.
And be sure to follow them on social media everybody.
It's a great way to keep up the data and all the things going on in your community.
Meredith, thank you again for all you guys you and your team do for the community and hanging out with us today.
Thank you so much. I really enjoy this. Thanks James.
And we'll have more midday magazine for you right here at 97-5 FM 13-20 AM.
We are WFHR locally grown radio.
