McKENZIE RIVER VALEY – RURAL TOURISM STUDIO WORKSHOP #1: COMMUNITY TOURISM PLANNING Feb 22-23, 2011 McKenzie River Mountain Resort, Blue River, OR
Participants:
Nancy Mirr, Mirr Communications Carol Tannenbaum, McKenzie River Lavender Sandra Ratliff, Willamette Nation Forest George Adelt, High County Expeditions Craig Nickelson, High Country Expeditions Tom Lincoln, McKenzie River Gift Shop David Sanders, Forest Service Terry Brown, Terry Brown Glass Studio Lanier Watson for Marlene, Hotsprings Resort Carol Black, Blackberry Hill Nursery & Herb Farm Vicki Soudry, Applegate Regional Theater Dick Lauer, Volunteer, Caddisfly Resort Rod Phelps, McKenzie River Mountain Resort George Letchworth, McKenzie Communications Jef Sherman, McKenzie Track and Field Krista Shafer, Reservoir Dogs Chris LaVoie, McKenzie River Mountain Resort Elvin Edwards, Applegate Theater Amy Lukens, North Douglas Betterment Nan Devlin, Avid Traveler Consultants John Gonzales, Noble Scape Designs Teri Benefiel, TJ Glass Art Natalie Inouye, Travel Lane County Celeste Mathews, City of Toledo Mike and Karen Rodgers, Wayfarer Resort Steve and Kathy Keable Jody Arthur, King Road Stables Jim Baker, Blue River CDC Joe Coyne, Winchester Bay Merchants Jonnie Helfrich, A. Helfrich Outfitter Ryan Johnson, Evolution Mapping and Graphics Sarah Mizejewski, Lane County Matt Peterson, Willamette National Forest Kent Roberts, Harbick’s Country Inn Jeanne Fager, McKenzie Riverside Cottages
McKenzie River Valley RTS Notes, Community Planning, Feb 22-23, 2011 1 Part 1, February 22, 2011
What is your goal of attending the Rural Tourism Studio for yourself, your community or both?
Would like more events in the area such as biking, sporting, etc. Network throughout the valley, develop ways for shared experience. Tie in how we market the McKenzie River Valley How we can partner with community Network with members of the community (mentioned 3 separate times) More interconnectedness An awareness that there are other things in the area other than camping – art studio visitations Increase tourism in the off season (fall, winter and spring) Have more of a presence here in the valley as opposed to Eugene or in town How to have McKenzie River Valley become a destination Find the balance between tourism and getting people here and not ruining the natural resources Vital community and a bakery How to promote the track and field asset Economic vitality Enjoy living here while our businesses thrive and prosper, encourage attendees to get on the Chamber of Commerce mailing list. Vital community. See community grow Market region and a barber shop Interested in Rural Tourism and development Work together to find the identity of this region and pull people in Get ideas for her community from this program Get people to come to this area during the off season Would like to see thriving businesses in the area that can hire more employees that keeps the schools going Develop a sustainable economy
McKenzie River Valley RTS Notes, Community Planning, Feb 22-23, 2011 2 COMMUNITY TOURISM ASSETS – Flip Chart exercise
OUTSTANDING LODGING (places to stay overnight
• Wayfarer Resort • Eagle Rock Lodge • McKenzie River Inn • Holiday Farm • Caddisfly Resort • Loloma • Inn at the Bridge • Belknap Hot Springs • Horse Creek Lodge • McKenzie Bridge Cabins • RV Parks/trailer parks • Campgrounds • Patio RN Park • St. Benedicts • McKenzie River Cottages
TOURISM AMENITIES (public restrooms, signage, unique public spaces, unique public transportation) • Bus route – Eugene to McKenzie Ridge • Good road and location signs • Public parks • Track – MCTF • Hot Springs – Belknap Hot Springs (massage) • Signs at landings – historical, geological • Bazillion landings • McKenzie River Ranger District • Blue River Riverwalk • State Wayside – McKenzie Bridge • Community centers (Vida, Upper McKenzie, Leaburg, Walterville) • Camp Yale – bath house, laundry • Belknap Hot springs – restrooms • Forest Glen – restrooms
UNIQUE CULINARY EXPERIENCES (restaurants, food carts, u-pick, farm stands) • Vida Café – Monster burger • Vida Market sandwiches • Blueberry Farms • McKenzie Station
McKenzie River Valley RTS Notes, Community Planning, Feb 22-23, 2011 3 • Riverside Dining at Finn Rock Grill • Riverside Inn • Holiday Farm • Takoda’s • Aunt Dings • Reservoir Dawgs • Rustic Skillet • Herrick’s Farm Store • Bernadette’s Catering • Clear Lake Café (seasonal) • Tomaselli’s • Drain FM • Ike’s Pizza
OUTDOOR RECREATION ASSETS (trailheads, boat launches, wild and scenic rivers) • King Stable • Pacific Crest Trail • King Castle • Castle Rock • Track – MCTF • Clear Lake Trail • Blue Pool • Belknap Hot Springs (trails, gardens, ponds) • Waterfalls (Sahalie, Koosah) and trail loop • McKenzie River & South Fork • Blue River • Reservoirs • Triangle 5 Trail Rides • Proxy Falls • Covered Bridges • Rebal Rock Trail • Three Sisters Wilderness • Mt. Washington Wilderness • Hoo Doo Ski area • Wolf Rock • 2 Scenic Byways • Hot springs: Cougar • Indian Ridge lookout camp • Carpenter lookout • Cabin rentals (Fish Lake and Box Canyon) • Campgrounds
McKenzie River Valley RTS Notes, Community Planning, Feb 22-23, 2011 4 • Delta Nature Walk • Look out old growth trail • Crystal digging in mine areas (talimp piles)
TOUR OPPORTUNITIES (tour operators, self guided tours, educational tours, etc.) • Birding • Rafting • Fishing – McKenzie River Guides • Biking/Cycling • Hiking with maps • National Forest • Lakes Blue River/Cougar • Waterfalls • Aufderheide with tapes/cd’s • Delta Old Growth Trail • Lava – Dee Wright Observatory • Belknap Garden (the Hidden Secret) • Cougar Hot Springs • Belknap Hot Springs • Wineries • Kayaking • Applegate Trail • Fish hatcheries
UNIQUE RETAIL/ATTRACTIONS (art galleries, museums, theaters) • Zon Miner Museum • Christmas Treasures • Tatman Boats • Ken Scott Gallery • Terry Brown: Glass, McKenzie Bridge • TJ Glass, Vida • Voorhies Metal Studio, Blue River • Linda Abblett Studio, Vida • McKenzie River Inn Gifts • McKenzie Station Gift Shop (Cindy) at Inn at the Bridge • ECEC • Tokattee Golf • Libraries • Basketball Academy
QUALITY EVENTS (of interest to visitors) • McKenzie Arts Festival
McKenzie River Valley RTS Notes, Community Planning, Feb 22-23, 2011 5 • Lavender Festival • Wooden Boat Festival • Fish Festival @ hatchery in Leaburg • Tokatee • McKenzie River Golf Course • USBA McKenzie River Conference Center • Walterville Parade and Fair • All-comer track meets – MCTF track • Yoncalla • 4th of July and rodeo • Blue River parade
MARKETING & PUBLIC RELATIONS • USFS • McKenzie Arts Forum • Chamber of Commerce • School • River Reflections • Travel Oregon • Lane County Travel • Eugene Register Guard
SIGNIFICANT CULTURAL & HISTORICAL SITES • Old fish hatchery • Covered bridges • Fish Lake changing/re-mount station (part of Oregon Trail – Scott Wagon Trail) • Belknap Resort • Dee Wright Observatory • Wolf Rock • Lucky Boy/mines • Logging mills • Pack trips • Native American • Helfrich history • HJ • Early farm stories • McKenzie drift boat history • Guides 80 years • Applegate House • Pioneer Cemetery • Huckleberrys
McKenzie River Valley RTS Notes, Community Planning, Feb 22-23, 2011 6 • 242 • HUCRI • RD 19 Aufderhied • Hoover House • Library – lots of history • Vida • Leaburg
McKenzie River Valley RTS Notes, Community Planning, Feb 22-23, 2011 7 ASSET MAPPING EXERCISE -- Itinerary Ideas by psychographic
MAKERS Camp at Blue River or big lake (boat fish, hunt) Purchase beer at Harbicks Eat at Takotas Hunting, fishing, mushroom & berry picking Eat out at pizza Wife to Christmas treasures Maybe horseback riding, if it was affordable Drink, malt liquor Panning for gold
INNOVATERS Multi-day river trip Valet involved to pick up their luggage Stop along the way to drink wine and great food Furniture maker Art store Famous chef from the ______restaurant in town Pull ivy – engage with volunteer efforts Pan for gold, but walk away with a gold sample
EXPERIENTIALS Cougar hot springs Holiday Farm Lounge Æ spa Æ drink cosmos River rafting Survival course with a zip line (tree climbing) Knee boarding / snowboarding on a lake Vida café for burgers Gift shops Stay at the Eagle Rock Lodge or Camp Yale
McKenzie River Valley RTS Notes, Community Planning, Feb 22-23, 2011 8 Part 2, February 23, 2011
COMMUNITY IDEAS FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
Integrating history and linking the businesses through storytelling – the historical history of the river. A little at each stop along the river. History tour linking businesses. Buy stuff while they’re there – like lavender and hotdogs, lavender scones.
1946-1964 age group is maturing, rapidly. Elderhostel encompasses many journeys. Could work with them to design year round itineraries with this growing age group.
Creating theme-based travel itineraries. Take the guess work out of the planning. Make it idiot proof. Education based, historical based, soft adventure based, ag/food based, products of the valley
Fiberglass rainbow trout sculptures created by local artists, mount them way up high. From one entrance of Blue River to the other. Mounted on private property. Ties in with hatchery, rainbow trout. Could expand throughout the valley.
Common vision for the entire McKenzie River Valley. Alignment along the whole river.
Work together more to create package deals. People want ideas for things to do. Overcome communication issues between business to create packages. Inspire them to stay longer.
Package tours for each season for categories of people (psychographics) – address the seasonality issues
Create a website with information about a place to go – fish, golf, etc. Could create/choose your own adventure by traveler type.
o Information about who’s who.
o Volunteer travel planner
Informational kiosks along the entire valley. (3?) Wired with wi-fi and computers.
Mobile visitor information kiosk for events
New tour offerings: o Foraging trips for mushrooms o Lucky Boy mine
McKenzie River Valley RTS Notes, Community Planning, Feb 22-23, 2011 9 o McKenzie bike trails o Waterfall tours o Hiking to geologically unique areas (Wolf Rock, He He Mt.). o Old Growth tours
For wilderness tours link up with wilderness groups like Obsidian
McKenzie River Festival: something that would bring people to the entire river, activities all along the river for a day, a “progressive festival”
Old Scott Wagon Trail Road – original Native American path over the pass. Folks are re-mapping it, but nothing has been done with it yet. At the moment it’s protected. Section that you can walk (16 miles).
Event taking advantage of the fall colors. Tree climbing Institute during this time. River trip starting higher up on the river. Possible stops along the way. Fall Foliage Floats. o Experience Oregon (50+ people per bus) bus tours that do foliage drives (as well as others). Average demographic is 50 and up. Based in Eugene.
EWEB acquired property 30 acres (Mckenzie River Trust) that may have potential for local fresh food production / community garden (starting to see a rise in local foods at the food stand) o Working w/ EWEB to purchase hoop houses to extend the growing season. MRV may be a focus of this project.
Opportunity to develop something around Christmas as it’s known to be a beautiful time to drive the valley.
Organized poker runs (already a lot of cars and motorcycles on the road in the summer time)
Could let people know that often times it’s not socked in along the MRV when it is in the W Valley. o Get more days of sun and more rain than Eugene. 70 more days of sun than Eugene.
Could run/cycle here and have fresh air and better weather. Don’t have the grass seed here.
Lumberjack festival – local competitions
Haybale structures along the valley. Google “hay sculptures”
Attracting artists and photographers in the off season – easy to do in the off season.
McKenzie River Valley RTS Notes, Community Planning, Feb 22-23, 2011 10 GREAT DESTINATIONS / BRANDING SEGMENT
Destination Attributes Activity
What did you rate as high in importance and low in performance? Sample from group discussion: • Restrooms • Safe and clean sidewalks • Cultural places to visit / historical places to visit • Wi-fi – where there is no cell coverage it would be great to have wifi • Drinking fountains – at Belknap they have 300 acres and no drinking fountains throughout o McKenzie Mist bottles a local spring and could promote this drinking water.
What did you rate as high in importance / high in performance? Sampling • Landscaped gardens and flowers planted by locals • Friendly and helpful people
What surprised you on your scoring sheet? • Historical sites • Bus service. We have it – a bus out of Eugene 4x/day – but its not very useful for transportation within the area for the local area. They will see mt. bikers taking the bus up.
John Kelsh’s Recommendations on the Visitor Readiness Report • On positioning & branding o You are a mountain-based river recreation area • Attractors and Experiences o MRV has a natural stage with natural lures o Your challenge is to make these lures accessible and convenient to the visitor – you can do this through how you build your products and your services. Do it from before they arrive by how you present yourself online and after you arrive, online. o How you as a group are going to make the connection between the visitor and those natural resources as fun, convenient and seamless as possible • Visitor Services o #1 Get signs up for your restrooms o #2 Get signs up that delineate where you start at either end of the corridor and to identify the special places along the way. Make sure there is mileage on those signs. • Marketing communications
McKenzie River Valley RTS Notes, Community Planning, Feb 22-23, 2011 11 o Put initial full focus on developing an omnibus website that actually gives them answers to your questions and makes them convenient o Make it convenient for them o To build your brand, social media is probably the best space you can be in • Soft Adventure operators and outfitters o No harm in being a diversion; its where the money is spent. Capitalize on that. o In addition to outfitters – food, shopping is a great way to go. Try to create critical mass. • Leadership and organizations o Hope they can get past the idea of logo and taglines and focus on developing the product. It’s what makes the brand. o Be careful not to market something where there is no beef there.
Misc recommendations • Get a few successes under your belt • Focus since you do not a lot of money
McKenzie River Valley RTS Notes, Community Planning, Feb 22-23, 2011 12 15-YEAR COMMUNITY VISION FOR TOURISM Note: These are raw statements generated during the session that will form the community vision. This is not the community vision statement.
Note: the participants in this session rated which aspects of the vision were most important to address first to move them forwards. They appear in order of importance.
1. CONNECTIVITY & RELATIONSHIPS AMONGST LOCAL BUSINESSES & STAKEHOLDERS IS IMPROVED (received 21 points) Connectivity – local transportation, tour packaging, cross-sell, festivals, area to area activities A cohesive group of networking businesses working together
2. COMMUNITIES HAVE IDENTIFIED THEIR UNIQUE THEMES AND ARE LINKED UP AND DOWN THE VALLEY (received 18 points) Aesthetics Generate a theme oriented aesthetically driven community (i.e. stores) Critical hubs – food, lodging, shopping, retail rentals The highway is the thread that is keeping the “pearls” together Nodal Cascadian style architecture – mix use business lower/upper Individual Community theme with in overall theme
3. RECREATION AMENITIES ARE ROBUST AND INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORTS THEM (received 11 points) Diverse opportunities and uses on public land Safe bike route along 126 Diverse accommodations – Glamping and rustic, hut to hut, outdoor theme Recreation hubs – safe parking, restroom Ease of access to public lands
4. AREAS NATURAL ASSETS ARE PRESERVED (received 6 points) Healthy outdoor – eat local foods, get healthy 4-season outdoor activities A pristine unpolluted environment Minimal change to the environment Timber harvesters are conscientious of the visual impacts on visitors
5. REGION UTILIZES KEY EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR TO OFFSET SEASONAL TRAVEL SWINGS (received 8 points) Several seasonal events that appeal to tourists – get people off of I-5 and include free transportation from any of the many amenities – attractions and locations A common “river” event is crucial to uniting the communities. What can it be?
6. COMMUNITY USES TOURISM REVENUES TO REINVEST IN THE COMMUNITY (received 3 points)
McKenzie River Valley RTS Notes, Community Planning, Feb 22-23, 2011 13 Stewardship – we’re all in this together Re-invest visitor $$ back into community services Opportunities for new business – economic opportunity Infrastructure development – reinvest $ in sidewalks Jobs ÆKidsÆ increased population
7. THE HISTORY OF THE REGION IS BROUGHT TO THE FOREFRONT OF THE VISITOR EXPERIENCE (received 2 points) Utilize the “mining” aspect of the community Showcasing the history of: drift boat, guiding, logging
McKenzie River Valley RTS Notes, Community Planning, Feb 22-23, 2011 14 CREATING A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR TOURISM EXERCISE VISIONÆGOALSÆSTRATEGIESÆACTIONS
TEAM 1: CONNECTIVITY & RELATIONSHIPS AMONGST LOCAL BUSINESSES & STAKEHOLDERS IS IMPROVED
GOAL: To have community stakeholders work together to promote tourism in the McKenzie River Valley through connectivity and networking
GROUP STRATEGY BRAINSTORM Same as below
RECOMMENDED CRITICAL NEXT STEPS:
1. Promote Holiday Farm/March 15 flyer for business 2. Personal visit to visits for tour 3. How to bring common affinity groups together (COC, arts forum, Ford Foundation, Sarah LEDC) 4. Quick reference sheet on all businesses with all contact info 5. A regular meeting with lodging businesses, restaurants, recreation, etc. 6. Increase volunteers to diminish work load (be a promoter to help out) 7. Promote kiosk at major events in Eugene or other surrounding events
McKenzie River Valley RTS Notes, Community Planning, Feb 22-23, 2011 15 CREATING A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR TOURISM EXERCISE VISIONÆGOALSÆSTRATEGIESÆACTIONS
TEAM 2: COMMUNITIES HAVE IDENTIFIED THEIR UNIQUE THEMES AND ARE LINKED UP AND DOWN THE VALLEY
GOAL: Define the community hubs and identify the qualities that make them unique and how they are still connected
GROUP STRATEGY BRAINSTORM Have each community (hub) gather 2-4 people who can identify the qualities that each hub is known for.
RECOMMENDED CRITICAL NEXT STEPS:
1. Identify hub characteristics 2. Measure distances between hubs using I-5 (use the existing MP markers) 3. Connect with ‘hub spokespersons(s)” to have them identify hub characteristics 4. Newspaper will ask for more input after initial identifying
McKenzie River Valley RTS Notes, Community Planning, Feb 22-23, 2011 16 CREATING A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR TOURISM EXERCISE VISIONÆGOALSÆSTRATEGIESÆACTIONS
TEAM 3: RECREATION AMENITIES ARE ROBUST AND INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORTS THEM
GOAL: To stimulate community vitality by developing recreational amenities and supporting infrastructure
GROUP STRATEGY BRAINSTORM • Develop transportation system • Expand guide/company vehicles use to other activities • All community members on board to implement plans • Creating events to get folks here • Communicate info to locals and visitors…web, paper, McKenzie Valley specific • Lands purchased for parking areas…repurposing • Create off-peak packages and promote ahead…look early to book later • $ from tax to valley specific • Chamber take lead in marketing
RECOMMENDED CRITICAL NEXT STEPS: Same as above
McKenzie River Valley RTS Notes, Community Planning, Feb 22-23, 2011 17