you
Good morning!
Welcome to The Morning Show and I'll be your radio Marty Richards.
Greater Richland Tourism Director is our guest here on this program.
We have so many things to talk about for the upcoming weekend and getting into the month of October.
Good morning, Marty.
How are you?
I'm good, Phil.
Good morning.
Good to see you.
Um, on a serious note, we talked last hour a little bit about the 20th anniversary of the, uh, John Klang, um, losing him at Western schools and Eric Fichtel the same day.
You were head football coach at that time and, uh, 20 years goes by pretty fast.
Yeah.
It, it, it, it feels like it was more than that.
And, um,
You know, there were a lot of personal connections there.
I have to tell my favorite John Clang story because John, um, I've always told people through the years when they figured out my connection with Weston, I said, whatever accolade you ever heard about John was true.
John was just really a quality individual cared for his community and he really cared for the kids.
And what had happened, it's kind of a funny story.
What had happened was I had coached Ithaca for 11 years.
I was at Wonnywalk for five, really enjoyed those stints, but because of different work obligations I had to kind of give it up for a while.
And I was doing color commentary of football games in the scenic bluffs for WRDB radio with Tom.
Um, demean, demean and, and having a blast.
It was an awesome.
And after that season was done, our last game of the year was at Weston and they did not had a good year.
It was a really rough season.
And John kind of caught me on the way out off the, off the field and said, Hey, what are you doing next season?
And I said, well, John, I said, I loved coaching football, but I kind of used Terry as the scapegoat.
My wife and I said, I.
I just, there's no way that Terry would really want me to put that much energy into it with our kids.
Holly at that point, our oldest was now in high school and I'm like, I kind of need to pay attention there.
I'm sure she wouldn't allow that.
And I said, you'd have to get her to say yes first, which I thought that this is easy.
This would be done.
Well, fast forward then about two months later, Weston is down at Ithaca playing girls basketball and Holly was on the team.
So Terry and I were at the game and I,
thought nothing of it, you know, and at halftime we're out in the commons and John says hi to me and I'm like, Hey, John, we talk a little bit.
I go back in for the second half and Terry's missing.
And I'm kind of like, What the heck?
And I from my seat in my vantage point, I could look out into the commons from the gym and see John had Terry cornered in the corner and I'm like, Oh, no, I know what this is about.
I'm going to get chewed when I get home.
This is going to be painful.
I get home.
And, uh, Terry doesn't say a word.
We kind of do our, our typical, make sure everybody's getting their homework done with the three girls.
And that's always fun.
If anybody's lived through that and we get them into bed and Terry says, okay, I got to talk with you.
And here it comes.
I was ready to get the full treatment.
And she goes, you need to go up to Western coach football.
And I just, what in the world did John say to her?
And.
John at that time said, he said, I think you're the right person for the right time.
And as time kind of war were out, as time went on and we saw how that progressed, I think he was right.
And I had personal connections with Tim and Bobby Fichtel and Eric, and that's kind of a missed thing from that day.
What those kids had to go through and that community after losing John and losing Eric in the same day, within basically 10 minutes of each other, that no one should ever have to do that.
Um, however, that is a resilient community.
Um, they're, they're really close and good people.
And I just, I just remember the intensity of that, uh, that time.
I mean, we're, we're trying to have, we tried to keep things as normal as we could.
Um, somebody asked me on social media, they said, Hey, can't, you know, in our current situation with Ithaca and them having to forfeit or having to not
play that one game against Wazika, Steuben and Seneca.
Can't they fit that in?
Well,
Weston football that year was very much in the same situation.
Ithaca-Weston is this year and that is we were fighting for a conference championship and they had not been in the playoffs for 10 years or more ever.
I can't remember even when Avidus was coaching up there if they were in the playoffs or not.
I'm not sure.
Gary Siftos said I think in
1996 maybe.
So
it's been a long time since they've been in the playoffs and
We, um, because it was homecoming, I think is what we kind of latched onto is we need to have homecoming and we need to play that game.
And we got into a stretch where we played, I want to say it was five games within about three weeks.
Uh, and then the playoff game shortly thereafter and we were spent.
As a coach, I was done.
I had no more energy.
The kids did great.
You know, we tried to keep the schedule the best we could for them to be normal.
I know I probably spent
I know close to $500 on pizza and that stretch, uh, they'd come to our house and we'd do goofy stuff that high school kids do and a coach who thinks he's still in high school.
And, uh, it really, I, I talked to kids from that time or now grown adults and some who have kids going to school, uh,
and involved in Ithaca, Western sports now.
And they said, you know, that was just, that was just really different, but, uh, it really did create a bond.
And I know with that community and with the Clang family, we're just really good people and big family.
Um, you know, that, that was a really tough time, but I know.
that from that time, there are some relationships that I have that just don't change.
Uh, they're really special.
They're really tight.
And there's a couple of kids from that football team that have come back several times looking for a little guidance as time went on.
And, and, uh, it just, you know, it's something that never leaves you.
Right.
And so for Ithaca trying to replay that game this year, I just said, don't do it.
don't even try to replay that, you know, to play that Wazika, Steuben Seneca game number one, it's not a conference game, doesn't mean anything.
And the kids are still and it'll come out later.
They're working through stuff still.
It takes a lot of energy to keep going and some of the games they've had, you know, an overtime game at Cashton, the big game with Bangor, which, you know, they won two really tight contests.
You know, that's taken a lot of energy.
And so I'm glad to see that they're just
kind of progressing.
We went through the WIA debacle last week.
And fortunately, they saw clear heads prevailed, we'll say.
And they saw the right way to go with that where everybody agreed, including the opposing schools.
You know, let's, let's just declare that a no contest and let's keep moving forward.
So I'm glad to see that that's being handled best you can.
But yeah, I, I just reiterate, if you ever hear an accolade about John,
uh, about what he meant to that community and to that school.
Um, it's, it's true.
John truly cared and did what was best for kids and what was best for that community.
You bet.
We miss him.
Yeah.
Let's turn to, uh, this weekend center color fest.
I don't know.
Again, we maybe have said this before, but I don't know if you can pack more stuff into a weekend than this weekend.
Keep showing
up.
Yeah,
it does.
Yeah.
We've, you know, it, it.
That's good news, right?
There's a lot to do and with added events then it's showing that yeah people are thinking that hey there's some cool stuff going on
I always I'm of the opinion that you don't have to always look for the weekend where there's nothing happening if you're scheduling an event but if you can find a weekend where events work well together especially in timing that's fantastic and there is some opportunity here where you can make multiple events you know wheels of time is
probably one of the longest running and one of the biggest events that we have coming up this weekend, Friday through Sunday.
Well, with three days, that gives you an opportunity to really go see all of the fine Alice Chalmers tractors that are out there.
And Phil, you know,
and others, you know, green
paint is pretty expensive.
But you know, and some folks know I grew up
on a dairy farm and we had all Alice Chalmers tractors basically.
So I'm particularly close on this one that I'll make sure I get out and take a look at those.
But that's at the fairgrounds, you know, all weekend.
So that gives you a chance on Sunday, you could run out there and get a good look at everything.
Friendship Quilders Guild is at Schmitt Within Hills and that's annual event and they're
They really do a nice job of showing off their members talents and skills and they always have featured quilter.
They do.
And I remember the first time I heard this term, there will be a bed turning and I was, I was disappointed the first time I went to that.
Well, this isn't what I expected, but anyway, um, they, uh,
They really do a nice job with the bed turning kind of tells the story of many different quilts.
So they kind of turn the quilts and open them up and show what that story is about.
And that's that Saturday and Sunday as well.
And then Oakwood Fruit Farms customer appreciation days.
I'm going up.
Tomorrow, like you are, I'm the follow-up.
That or you're the opening act.
I don't know which way it is.
I'm coming out of the bullpen.
We'll call
it.
I know you're doing a live remote
of
Oakwood tomorrow.
And then I'm coming in after to do a video with Judy and kind of talk about the weekend and all the things people can enjoy.
And we'll have that on our social media channels so everybody can see.
If they go up for customer appreciation day, Saturday or Sunday, they'll get to see what's going on up at Oakwood.
Um, and then, um, yeah, the UW Richland alumni association, uh, fall brunch is Saturday and you better, if you're interested in going, uh, I'd make sure that I call and preregister at 608-489-3269.
Uh, so they, they are inducting, uh, some, uh, alumni, uh, some outstanding alumni.
Um,
I don't have the list of who that is, Phil.
We'll have to ask Todd.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
Um, and I'm, you know, uh, Ms.
Granger will straighten me out on that.
I'm
sure, but, uh, we're happy to make sure that everybody knows, uh, you know, there's a legacy there of some great people that have been through University of Wisconsin, Richland.
And, uh, it's great that they're recognizing those folks.
Um,
And then Jeffrey even messaged me recently.
He said, Hey, we've got a block party.
If you don't have anything going on, uh, this weekend.
And I'm like, dang Jeffrey, could you have scheduled that on any other weekend?
Would have loved to have been there, but they're having a block party in Casanovia and it's the 80th anniversary of salt wheels store.
There have only been two owners of that store and that store has been there basically since the formation of Casanovia.
because the namesake of lee lake ever at lee started that store very shortly after the city was founded or the city of the village and then the salt wheel family purchased it uh back i want to say it was in the late 40s uh well if we do the math we could figure it out but you know i that was not my strong suit i'll let folks at home do that but uh
They'll have a DJ, a smoked pork and chicken is going to be provided.
They'll take a goodwill offering to cover that, but they ask that you bring a dish to pass.
And so that sounds like a lot of fun in CAS this Saturday.
Wild Hills Winery also has their grape stomp on Saturday.
A lot of things happening up at Wild Hills with music, the grape stomp contest and other things.
Canyon of Lightspray, that's my big to do.
I'm really thankful for the volunteers that make that happen.
Susie Rable is helping me again.
She's kind of my parade marshal as far as keeping me in line.
And then also Lacey Thorson's been helping me out quite a bit and she's going to be helping with the parade as well on Saturday.
And that's a seven o'clock step off.
The route, you'll be able to see that.
That'll be on our social media channels, but it's a, it's just a rectangular route starting
uh, on, um, sixth, I believe it is.
If I remember at sixth street, uh, it goes down to central Avenue central to court and then court back down park.
Uh, so, um, just a, it's, it's a nice route.
Uh, that parade has grown in popularity, uh, in both entries and in people coming to it.
Uh, I think nighttime parades are really a hit, uh, in this day and age because we have a lot.
more opportunity to really express our nighttime illumination qualities, you know, with computerized and easy access to electricity or low voltage of electricity.
That's that's one of those things that really has kind of grown.
So the hardest thing
uh, that we've had to deal with there is as it's gotten longer, I've realized at the end, I've got to change how they finish because, uh, two years ago we hadn't sent off all the units yet and some of the units at the beginning were coming in.
And so we, I'm like, hold the phone.
We had to make a quick change where we kind of sent the beginning of the parade up through the employee parking lot at, or not the employee, but the hospital main parking lot to keep them out of the way of.
the rest coming through so that was a quick change adjustment we had to make very quickly but that parade and it's not too late you can get your entry in if you're sitting there at home going oh my gosh that's this weekend the other thing I'd say is we really
are the only thing we're a little light on in categories we don't have a ton of like collector trucks or trucks that people have glowed up where they've put a lot of lighting on them and last year we had quite a few of those and I know the folks with hub city dirt drags you'll have them on and that's the next weekend they've got a lot going on that weekend so they're not able to be there this weekend but if you're an individual that
wants to show off your dressed up glow up on your truck feel free to get a hold of us or any business or civic group that hasn't entered yet.
You can call us.
you know 608-630-2452 or just go to our website greaterrichlandtourism.com and there's a link there is hit the link fill out the email and and we'll get that to you and for those those who are already entered you'll get your lineup information by the end of the day on thursday so we because i still have entries coming in i had somebody ask well where's my lineup info it's like i
I got seven entries yesterday.
So I, and I'm a master procrastinator.
So I am not yelling at anybody.
I, that's exactly how I operate.
Um, it's just understand if you registered and you're ahead of the ball more so than somebody like myself, uh, understand that on Thursday, by the end of the day, you should have your lineup information, but we can still take new people after that.
We don't have the announcer stand to try to keep things lined up and in order so that when they get to you,
you know who the heck is coming so we're okay we can take late entries that's not a problem and then the big event I think this is probably the one everybody's going to show up this weekend for that's the those are the days live at the city auditorium Philip
Um, do you have big things planned for that?
We have great things planned.
Absolutely.
Our solid gold dancers will be there.
We'll have some, some comedy skits, some live commercial reads.
Uh, we'll be playing music.
Some of our past, uh, employees and workers may show up.
So yeah.
And we'll be, uh, um, it's, it's a benefit for the, for the rich and center city auditorium as well.
So we have, uh, been willed some cans of ski.
So you get a cold can of ski for a free will donation.
Yeah.
Uh, fuzz McCauley will be there for the FFA alumni.
He's going to be grilling some hot dogs for us.
Okay.
So yeah, it's going to be a big winging and there are no tickets.
So, you know, you can go to the parade.
Yeah.
You can stop by afterwards or before after or during whatever
you
want to do.
You bet.
Yeah.
The parade goes right by, right by there.
Yeah.
You can easily go get a good look at the parade and catch the back half of the show.
So that's awesome.
Um, yeah, I'm excited for it.
I'm going to try to catch the, the end there and see what kind of shenanigans
occur.
Well, maybe there could be a Marty and the Corn Dogs reunion.
There could be.
There might be.
There might be.
Yeah, that could happen.
That alone should pack the house.
Come on.
Yeah, well, for free.
We'll wait till everybody leaves.
Yeah,
maybe.
That works.
And then really the final item I'd mentioned about Center Color Fest weekend, the 80 German warehouse tours, they're getting down towards the end of their season with tours.
And they do have tours this Sunday.
Those always start at 11
7 o'clock am they leave on the hour and the last one I believe leaves at 2 o'clock so 80 German warehouse and there's a lot of information there I'll tell you I had not really been in that warehouse throughout it until about two years ago.
Um, I'd been in parts of it previously, but when you start to hear kind of the legends and the stories and I know some of the history, it's really interesting to go through a tour there and it's well worth it.
And I, I'll bet there are a lot of local people who have not been in that warehouse and I, because I've run into some of them and I'd encourage they check that out.
So.
Um, but that's, that's kind of the summation of the events.
Um, there's other things happening, um, that lead up to it.
Of course, uh, Friday, you get to go a Friday evening and have a sneak peak, a sneak peak at the 80 German warehouse.
Uh, as I'm sure they have music, uh, I can't remember if Michael Johnson's playing this weekend.
He was there last
weekend.
Okay.
Um, but you can go to the 1921 pub, uh, the lounge.
and you can enjoy a beverage and hang out and get a kind of a look there.
Uh, and that's always enjoyable.
It's just a nice conversation.
Um, I know English prairie we'll have in muscaday.
We'll also have, uh, some specials and things happening this Friday and Saturday.
Uh, so a lot of things happening in the area.
Um, I know from just my experience that the short-term rental.
uh, business has been booked for a while that I had somebody call me about four months ago inquiring, do I have any short term rentals or do I know of any?
And I said, gosh, uh, the ones I knew of were already full.
So, um, that's, uh, something that, you know, I hope you got your lodging figured out already.
So, and, and we'll talk about that, uh, a little in the back end about
what leakage is.
I did not know this term existed, and I was, you know, I was a little concerned.
At our age.
At our age.
Yeah.
We're taking any medication these days.
If somebody says, oh, you might have a problem with leakage.
My ears go up and I start paying attention, but there is such a thing as in the greater Richland area, we have a little issue with guest leakage, meaning they're coming to our area,
but they're not staying overnight literally because there isn't anywhere to stay.
So we'll talk more about that.
I thought it better be clear when we start bringing up terms like
that.
Absolutely.
Right away.
Well, we'll get into that a little bit deeper when the morning show continues.
Today we're getting updates from Greater Richland Tourism.
Marty Richards is in to talk a little bit about some things in the greater scheme of things here and talk about how it's been going this year so far.
Marty, it's been a good year.
Yeah, it's been a great
year.
We've accomplished quite a bit this year.
Some of it seen, some of it unseen real quick.
We talked about this once before, but I want to bring it up again because it is huge for our future efforts.
and that is we transitioned to an independent organization.
Now Greater Richland Tourism is its own 501C3 and that's official.
We got that designation from the Internal Revenue Service, so that makes things work better.
It allows us to be a little more nimble, a little quicker.
We can act on things faster.
We can take advantage of opportunities or help in situations where things need to be, there needs assistance.
I have to thank Brian McGraw as president of the board of directors.
Wes Hankey, who's the vice president.
Todd, your own Todd Copernall, who's secretary.
And then Dennis Frey as treasurer.
They've really stepped in and helped us with
with rolling out and get moving.
I've stepped in a little bit to take a little bit of weight off.
One of the things we've learned is when you're your own organization, there are some expenses that you may not have had previously.
And we knew that.
We knew that going in.
And I thought, you know, one way I could help it, I have the ability to do so.
I reduced my pay down to 80% of what the full-time salary is.
still putting in 100% of the work, but we just in this timeframe as we learn what our budget really is, because we're, you know, we discover some things.
We need insurance that we didn't have previously.
We're paying expenses to have the space we have.
The city is being very good to us.
We're still in the depot, but we did take on the energy costs there, which makes complete sense.
So, you know, we pay the heat, we pay the air conditioning, we pay the lights.
and take that off from the city's responsibility.
So, so we're kind of learning a few things, but it has allowed us to then move forward on some efforts that we've been seeing and wanted to work on.
We are very fortunate in that recently there are two townships, Westford Township and Bloom Township just in the last two months have adopted the room tax ordinance.
and they are partnering with Greater Richland Tourism as required by state law to provide that destination marketing for them.
With more townships what happens that allows us then to take those resources and grow our marketing efforts and so we're we're real excited about that and then there are other
townships, other villages that we're talking to, and kind of getting them the information they need to know.
And I shared last time how that benefits a township.
You know, that room tax income is the one way that a township can actually increase their tax revenue.
Number one, by not putting any weight on the residents of that township, and then it benefits
the residents of that township.
So really for any township that's been wondering about this and hasn't really investigated it yet, it's really been for those townships who are participating, they can point to actually very effective, an effective way to help their budget out every year.
and not put any weight on the residents of that township.
So we're happy to see more townships getting that.
We now have eight municipalities with a couple more working on it and we expect more in the future as well.
And then one of the things that being our own 501C3 allows us to do is become a little more proactive in making sure that
different, um, unique experiences that we have in the area are available for visitors when they come.
And what I mean by that is you've heard me talk all year or this, not all year this summer about the pine river and the work it takes to keep that, uh, flowing and, and to keep it navigable for kayakers.
Um, and that's been work.
It's not been an easy task.
It's a heavy lift.
We're fortunate.
We've had some real good volunteers always willing to step in and work on that.
Um, but
in a previous model that we were operating under, it was difficult for us to be able to do that.
There's also some work being done where I'm working with the Snowmobile Alliance and Richland County with the highway department.
And we're looking, Josh Elder and I have been looking at, there are two bridges on the Pine River Trail that need some attention.
And I think Phil, you and I talked about one or two of those previously and that makes sense.
Uh, the deckings getting a little bit old.
Uh, so Richland County highway department through their, uh, efforts are going to take a look at those bridges and see, okay, uh, with an outside contractor, what do we need to do is are the pilings?
Okay.
And the structure's okay.
It's just the decking and the rails, uh, you know, the handrails or is it more?
So they're going to determine that the snowmobile alliance and greater richland tourism and
I'll tell you, we're looking for other individuals that the Pine River Trail usage has been increasing.
People are becoming more aware of it.
The county has put more resources towards maintaining it.
And it's very enjoyable.
And I talk without people from outside of the area that have said they really enjoy that trail.
And we need to keep it up, though.
It needs to be where word of mouth is or what we see online that, hey, that's a great trail.
Things are in great shape.
The bridges are awesome.
We can't let it get to the point where I don't know if I want to go across that bridge.
Well, you want it safe for bicyclists and everybody else that uses it.
And you know, the people don't think about this, but the rails, the handrails or guides on the side are one of the things that are starting to show a little bit of issue as well.
And so that
that could be a hazardous thing if somebody were to lean and it wouldn't hold them.
So that's something we're looking, I'll be honest with you, we can get grants for that work.
However, typically with grants, when you're working on bridges of that type for public conveyance there for recreational use or just health, you need to come up usually with half of that cost.
Now, we don't know what that cost is yet, but we're going to get going right away on
trying to raise the funds so that when we apply for those grants, we're ready.
Because we did, I think it was about a year and a half ago, I think it was Snowmobile Alliance, or it might have been the highway department, did apply for a grant and you
had to
have that half down.
It was approved.
We could have gotten the grant.
We didn't have the half.
We did not have the amount of money needed to actually get the grant.
So that's something that, you know, if there are businesses or individuals out there that really.
feel that that's something they're passionate about and would like to help financially with that.
We'd ask that you get a hold of either Snowmobile Alliance or you can start with myself.
But I see the Snowmobile Alliance has really been involved in keeping those bridges in good shape.
They've themselves done a lot of work on the bridges.
So we'll keep working on that.
You'll hear more about that as we go.
And then also we're looking at the future of the Ash Creek Forest.
I'm working with the Richland County Board.
And they kind of asked me to come in and chat about it.
And there are a lot of different opportunities there.
And so I'm starting to do some research on what are the best options of the use so that it gets more use.
Ash Creek Forest is getting used.
There's no doubt right now.
However, it's underused.
It's a big property.
It is not being utilized at the level that benefits the county
or really enough people in the way that it is today.
And so we're just looking at, okay, how is the best way that we can use this as a resource for the county?
My goal is to get where it pays for itself and more.
Literally, if you offered 365 or 345 acres,
to an area, a business person that wanted to either build a campground or an ATV-UTV park or some, you know, think about an outdoors experience, they jump on it, especially with the streams that are there and the different, the hills.
They certainly would figure out a way to
make it profitable and that's what we need to do for the county and for the taxpayers the area we need to find a way and there are ways I know there are that we can turn that to a profitable property.
Yeah might be another great destination for people and speaking of which you want to talk a little bit about the analytics and one of those events I know where you really can log how credit card business is going is the hub city dirt drags coming up in a couple of weeks.
Yes so you might remember that I shared
shared openly here about probably two appearances ago, how I was trying to sneak a peek through just demonstrations of there's two different companies that really measure how credit card purchases are occurring in your area and tracking how much business is happening.
Pacer AI was one of those.
Arrivalist is the other.
And they kind of focus on hospitality.
So they're really looking at that.
I was lamenting my complaints about that because it cost $18,000 for us to contract to truly get that information to the folks that we do our streaming advertising with gray media and they said well heck you know as a client of ours we can get you some of that specific info what do you need and I was like okay you know they just saved us $18,000 annually I mean that's we weren't gonna do that right we didn't have it it wasn't realistic but now
we can get a snapshot of when an event occurs or even throughout the year, how many people are coming, what they're spending, how long they're staying, where they came from.
And that's really helpful to us because it helps us with tailoring where we're marketing to.
And real quick, I'll run past just a couple of things.
Madison is our highest location of visitor source, meaning that most people
come to the Richland area and either at least stop and buy something or their cell phone is pinged here.
So keep in mind, it's not just if they make a purchase, but as they're driving through.
So they may drive through and not buy a thing and their cell phone will ping and it's included in that number.
So for tourism, that individual may not be of value to us.
So that's our number one market.
Well, Milwaukee's number two.
And if you remember any of my discussion in the past, and it's close number two, if you remember any discussion in the past, Milwaukee has been a target market for us.
We've been doing streaming advertising.
We've been doing digital billboards.
We still do print advertising in Milwaukee.
And how do I know that Milwaukee may be a better market for us to advertise in than.
Madison.
Well, through this information, we know Milwaukee visitors stay an average of a minimum of two full nights on their visit here.
Madison has one of the lowest number of nights when they come here.
So they're like at 1.6 nights per stay.
So what that means, there are people just passing through there.
There maybe we are on a route.
If you don't like the interstate, you're going to go from Milwaukee to La Crosse.
that's going to erode on the number of nights that are actually stayed here.
And keep in mind as a funded by room tax, we need to pay attention that we are spending our efforts on those overnight stays, on attracting overnight stays.
Madison people could go back the same day though.
It's a day trip
sometimes.
And the question is, can we convert those two overnight stays?
that's undecided at this point.
And when we have enough resource, we may take a shot at that.
We may start marketing to Madison more.
And then we'll also see the Minneapolis, St.
Paul, and Chicago area were also very high for us for locations.
So we always kind of thought this, right?
I know I'd come in here and try to sell you on it and say, geez, Phil, I know our visitors are coming from three hours away.
So that puts these different locales being targets for us for marketing.
And I was trying to sell you on it and you're like, I don't know, Richard, I've known you a long time.
Well, Minneapolis is the one that surprises
me.
So, but we've been seeing that and that's climbing lately.
Yeah.
They've had some civic.
unrest, civil unrest there.
And they've had some things that have pushed people out of their urban areas to where they've had some tap rooms, some some beer brew pubs that have closed their retail space.
And now they're just distributing.
And so I saw that about three years ago was happening.
And that's why we started streaming operations ads in the Minneapolis, St.
Paul area here, just like
eight nine months ago because we saw those folks were starting to come this way and that's starting to pay off and they again are a high they're like 1.9 average nights per visit so that's great the other thing i'll say is our visitor numbers so so now it used to be we had to guess we simply had to guess um
on how are we doing?
I was looking at website views, you know, how are we doing right now?
And we always had to wait until six months after the year was over before the Department of Tourism and Department of Revenue sent us our direct visitor spending to really see how we did.
Well, now we can see, you know, the last three months, how have we been doing?
Our visitor numbers are increasing just in the last 12 months in a big way.
So we are 15%.
So as of August 1st, we were 15% year over year.
So our last 12 months are 15% ahead of the previous 12 months in visitors coming to our area.
And that's huge for us because we've got five years of increasing direct visitor spending.
So that's an increase over a good year.
So that tells me boy next year when we see those reports from the state They should be really strong and then I will address real quick the elephant in the room and that's leakage Visitor leakage what in the world is that well right now?
51% of the people who come to our area are staying overnight at least one night 49% was that's a pretty big number
are just coming through the area.
They're not staying a night.
Now, some of like I talked earlier, some of those Madison folks, we may never get them to stay.
It could be business.
Who knows?
Or it's a day trip.
But
We do have opportunity, and I know, and we've talked about this for the last several years, we need more typical or traditional lodging, so hotel rooms.
We do not have enough hotel rooms.
With more hotel rooms, I think we can capture a lot more of that.
But leakage, what that is, is that those folks are coming here
They're spending money or their cell phones getting pinged, but then they're going to another town to stay.
And the towns that work, we can see where they're going.
They're coming here first, spending some money.
Uh, their cell phones getting pinged.
And then there are number one destination after here is Reedsburg.
Uh, they're going to Reedsburg to stay.
Reedsburg has a couple new hotels.
Um, also basketball is one that's getting quite a few stays from folks that are coming to our area.
because they're going to those two, that's telling me that they were planning on coming to the greater Richland area, but they could not find lodging here.
And I know that's true in our big events because I'll hear from folks with wheels of time that are coming here and they're like, gosh, you don't have any hotel rooms.
Where can I go?
Well, the best I can do is say, well, the closest are these.
And, and that's where they're going.
And so I, I assumed that was happening.
I know it's happening now.
So adding more traditional hotel rooms in this area is very important to us.
That would be very
good, wouldn't it?
Yeah.
Well, it not only increases then just the hotel stay, but there's so many associated things with that supper, breakfast, going retail shopping, things like that.
So there are a lot of things connected to that.
No doubt.
Anything you want to add?
Obviously you want to encourage people to be around this weekend here,
right?
Yeah.
You know, there's more analytics I could get into that are very interesting, but I'll save that for another day.
But this weekend, I really encourage folks to, to hang out and the colors are just starting to come.
We're just starting to see the maple's turn.
And that really means, Hey, we're going to, it's going to feel a lot like fall and the box elder bugs came.
So it's fall.
It's officially fall.
Um, so I just really encourage folks, uh, to go out, uh, if you check our website, greater richlandtourism.com, I've thrown a lot at you the events, but they're all there on our calendar of events or go to our social media and you'll see it there.
You folks on WRCO also, uh, are helping people be aware of the different events that are happening.
Uh, the parade, if you want to get that entry in, you can still do that.
I think the best way to do it is
go to our website greater richlandtourism.com and you'll see when you go to the calendar of events right there is a registration actually the banner ad the registration is right there on the front page so it's pretty easy to get that registration in if you're not an IT person you don't want to go online you can always call us 608-630-2452
and you can get us get that registration in, but the more the merrier.
That's always been our opinion on the parade, Canyon lights parade, and we do have a lot of entries, so I look forward that it'll be a really nice parade.
I have not looked forward to the weather.
I usually do, but I
think we're
supposed
to be
decent.
I think it's going to be pretty
good.
I haven't
had anybody tell
me, oh, what do you think of that weather for Saturday?
No, no.
So that tells me it's probably decent.
Not
like
dreary as it was
the weekend,
the Ithaca fair.
Yeah, the
Ithaca fair.
And we hit it lucky.
We really did it.
You know, it rained a little bit during football, but you can deal with that.
The parade was dry.
Yes.
And then when it rained the hardest, it was during the meat animal sale, but.
credit to the Ithaca fair committee.
They had a nice tent put up and that was fun because you were kind of closer.
And so there was a lot of ribbing and the bidding was tough.
I, good friend of mine, McHipps and I did our best to try to buy a pig and we could not make it happen.
So we thought, Hey, we'll buy some cheese.
When the cheese hit $800 for like
three or four pounds of cheese on that.
I think I'm done.
Ouch.
Well, the most common question that we will get all weekend long is about the parade.
So you're going to line up in the hospital parking lot.
Hospital employee parking lot is the line up.
And then you'll go down, you'll cross over church, right?
And then down to central and then down
central to court to court.
Yep.
Court, the downtown area court to church street.
Yep.
Park.
You're going all the way to the
park.
That's right.
Because you go by the hospital.
You like
to go by the hospital and they appreciate that.
So then we come up park, court to park, park back.
to the employee parking lot.
There you
go.
Similar.
I mean, you've, you've done that for a long time.
I think only maybe when there was some construction.
Well, we had to shorten it.
We had a request by the color guard to shorten it a little bit.
We only got shortened a couple blocks here a couple of years ago, but it basically that's been the route for some time.
Great.
Well, we'll look forward to that on Saturday.
Get some rest cause it's a big weekend coming up there.
Marty Richards joining us, great original tourism director, and we'll be back with more coming up.