NORTHERN COLORADO CULTURAL TOURISM ALLIANCE NOCOcultural tourism strategic plan 2 0 1 1 Prepared By: Belt Collins 4909 Pearl East Circle, Suite 300, Boulder, CO Prepared For: Northern Colorado Cultural Tourism Alliance This project has been funded in part by a grant from the Bill and Carol Gossard Preservation Services Fund for Colorado of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Additional funding generously provided by: Colorado State University Weld County Poudre Heritage Alliance Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area Rural Land Use Center City of Fort Collins City of Loveland Larimer County Workforce Center Larimer County Economic Development Fort Collins Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Fort Collins Downtown Development Authority March 2011 CONTENTS Introduction ....................................................02 Executive Summary Introduction Mission Goals Objectives Background/Overview Definition of Terms Used Visitor Analysis ..............................................12 Tourism in Colorado Cultural Heritage Tourists Agritourism Fort Collins Tourism Greeley Tourism Summary and Recommendations Interpretive Framework...................................19 NOCO Interpretive Themes NOCO Featured Sites NOCO Characters NOCO Events NOCO Heritage Establishments Implementation and Marketing Strategies .......45 Approach Building Partnerships Promotions & Marketing Interpretive Media/Promotions Branding Visitor Experience Programming Heritage Site Handbook ..................................56 Site Criteria Recommendations Suggestions for Developing Agritourism Sites Appendix .........................................................60 N O INTRODUCTION C O Summertime in the Rocky Mountains Executive Summary The Northern Colorado Cultural Tourism Alliance tourism in Larimer and Weld Counties. The NCCTA (NCCTA) is a consortium of businesses, academic recognizes that the region is home to an abundance partners, museums, chambers of commerce, of natural and historic resources as well as a unique governments, tourism agencies, and others interested culture and they endeavored to organize and in promoting cultural tourism in Northern Colorado. promote these assets in order to draw visitors from For the sake of this planning effort, Northern Colorado’s Front Range and beyond. Colorado is defined as Larimer and Weld Counties and is referred to as “NOCO.” The NCCTA initiated The Northern Colorado Cultural Tourism Strategic the development of a Strategic Cultural Tourism Plan articulates a vision for more robust cultural Plan for Northern Colorado in order to lay the tourism opportunities, establishes a set of goals groundwork for building and promoting cultural to guide the process of building more tourism CULTURAL TOURISM STRATEGIC PLAN 2 infrastructure and experiences and proposes implementation strategies. A Vision for Cultural The goals of the planning effort are represented by the following three categories: preservation, Tourism in Northern interpretation, and economic development. The Colorado plan identifies the unique resources that Northern Colorado harbors and endeavors to inspire support for their long-term preservation and enjoyment. The celebration and promotion By establishing an interpretive framework and of the creative, agricultural and highlighting the region’s key story lines and characters, the plan also establishes a foundation for recreational aspects of Northern sharing the history and cultural traditions of Northern Colorado’s culture will give rise to Colorado with both visitors and locals. Given the cultural tourism opportunities in the long-standing and enduring agricultural traditions in the region, the plan does place an emphasis on towns and rural areas of Larimer promoting agritourism and the interpretation of the and Weld Counties and attract region’s working landscapes, irrigation systems and the curious traveler in search of farmers and ranchers. Finally, the plan serves as a blueprint for initiating the promotion and growth of new experiences. In Northern tourism driven economic development. Colorado, the cultural tourist encounters local arts, innovations, One of the challenges of recruiting tourists to an area is to know the tourism market and to cuisines and agricultural traditions understand travel motivators. Today’s economy as well as occasions for retreat is prompting an increase in the “staycation,” a and recreation among the region’s holiday taken at or near one’s home. Larimer and Weld Counties are well positioned to entice the abundant natural areas. Front Range resident who may be looking to plan a vacation closer to home. According to the Y Partnership’s 2010 Portrait of the American Traveler, 3 N O C O CULTURAL TOURISM STRATEGIC PLAN 4 one out of four travelers opts to vacation closer In summary, this strategic plan is full of ideas introduction to home as opposed to vacationing in an area generated through an inclusive and collaborative requiring more extensive travel and planning. This planning process. It is intended to serve as a guide same study also revealed that family travel (travel for expanding cultural tourism in Larimer and Weld including children) is prolific today due to the aging Counties. The plan will hopefully catalyze future population and the growing popularity of multi- tourism development by providing a collection of generational travel. The percentage of travelers tools and recommendations for improving tourism taking family vacations today (44%) is higher than destinations, enriching the interpretive experience of the percent of those households containing children the region and inviting exploration and discovery of (about 33%). This strategic plan offers a set of Northern Colorado’s culture and heritage. implementation strategies based on tourism trends such as these and the preferences and profiles of heritage travelers. The implementation strategies outlined in the final section of the plan focus on tools and techniques for building cultural tourism infrastructure and tourism experiences in Northern Colorado. The strategies lay out suggestions for leveraging the partnerships established during the planning process and recommend new avenues to explore in order to attract tourists and create more cultural tourism experiences and programs. The implementation strategies are prioritized and feature immediate “next step” recommendations as well as strategies that could be implemented in the short-term (next 1-3 years) and long-term (3-5 years). The strategies address three components of tourism including: 1. Programming the tourism experience, 2. Marketing and the developing interpretive media, and 3. Building partnerships that the NCCTA can leverage to promote and facilitate more cultural tourism experiences. 5 WYOMING ALBANY COUNTY ALBANY COUNTY WYOMING KIMBALL COUNTY WELD COUNTY COLORADO LARIMER COUNTY LARIMER COUNTY INTERSTATE WELD COUNTY COLORADO N 25 287¤£287 RED FEATHER LAKES JACKSON COUNTY 85 N or PAWNEE NATIONAL th P awn WELD COUNTY e e Cr GRASSLANDS PAWNEE NATIONAL eek GRASSLANDS NUNN 14UV14 WELLINGTON ek LOGAN COUNTY Cre ee wn INTERSTATE Pa South ¨¦§2525 O LAPORTE LARIMER COUNTY CROW VALLEY PARK PIERCE AULT ¨¦§25 SEVERANCE ek FORT COLLINS re C w EATON ro C MORGAN COUNTY UV392 392 er WINDSOR Cache la Poudre Riv ¤£34 34 ROCKY MOUNTAIN 34¤£34 NATIONAL PARK GREELEY LOVELAND South C ¤£34 P 34 lat te Rive ESTES PARK r V125 U125 CAMPION BERTHOUD MILIKEN INTERSTATE 76 BOULDER COUNTY MEAD 85 O BARBOUR STATE PARK Northern Colorado (NOCO) - INTERSTATE FIRESTONE 76 Larimer and Weld Counties FORT LUPTON INTERSTATE 25 ADAMS COUNTY BROOMFIELD Introduction State of Colorado The Northern Colorado Cultural Tourism Alliance local communities with the culture and heritage of (NCCTA) developed the Northern Colorado Larimer and Weld Counties. Cultural Tourism Strategic Plan to guide the sharing of Northern Colorado’s heritage with visitors to The greatest challenge of this planning effort is Larimer and Weld Counties. The plan builds on the determining how to bring together the many stories momentum of existing partnerships and provides a and destinations of the expansive NOCO region master plan for crafting a cohesive and memorable (at 6,593 square miles it’s far larger than the state tourism experience in Northern Colorado. The plan of Connecticut!) and package these connections includes broad themes, goals and objectives to with both the past and present culture into enticing tie into regional planning, as well as site-specific tourism opportunities. To meet this challenge, the plan storylines, media and messaging strategies for the identifies interpretive themes that bridge time and entire Northern Colorado (NOCO) region. The intent geography and offers prioritized recommendations of the plan and the interpretive content it highlights is for the implementation of interpretive media and to pique the interest of visitors while also connecting tourism products. CULTURAL TOURISM STRATEGIC PLAN 6 Planning Foundation introduction The NCCTA was formed to build and enhance the grass-root ideas of the NCCTA’s partners and the NOCO’s cultural tourism market and to forge spirited Northern Colorado residents, and promoting partnerships among entities interested in tourism. the preservation and stewardship of community and The NCCTA is made up of non-profits, business regional resources. owners, government officials, interested individuals and tourism professionals and is open to anyone Goals interesting in promoting cultural tourism in Larimer and Weld counties. The