Texas Plains Trail Region to the Plains and Panhandle, 2018 Instructions and FAQs for partners Barbara Brannon, 3/1/2018

Thank you for participating in our region-wide tourism promotion to honor the 50th anniversary of the Texas Heritage Trails Program — and to draw more visitors to your destination and community!

PLEASE KEEP YOUR PASSPORT KIT in an easy-to-find location, and train all your staff to use it, and to be familiar with the following information.

How the program works: five easy steps

1 PRINT OUT AND POST A FLYER AT YOUR DESTINATION indicating your participation. We’re emailing this to you.

2 INVITE VISITORS TO YOUR DESTINATION. More than 300 museums, parks, roadside icons, and cultural sites in our 52 counties are listed in the passport, and more than 125 are participating as passport stamp locations (denoted by a blue star ★ in the Passport Booklet). We’re emailing you a press release for your local media, explaining the program.

3 VISITORS CHECK IN. They may bring a passport with them, or you may offer one. physically, by having their passport stamped by you with the enclosed Texas Plains Trail Region stamp, or digitally, by using our social media links to check in and/or upload a photo. #TxPlainsPassport

4 REMEMBER TO ASK VISITORS to sign your own guest register, as usual.

5 VISITORS WIN PRIZES by accumulating a number of verified visits from March 1 to December 31, 2018.

Frequently asked questions

What if visitors stop by when my destination is closed? Don’t worry — that’s why we have the digital check-in option. The poster will provide the social media links and hashtag, so make sure it’s posted in an accessible place.

My destination is listed on the passport, but it’s not denoted by a blue star. Does that count? Yes — while we do realize that many of our region’s most interesting heritage destinations are not regularly staffed, or might have other difficulties in stamping physical , we want visitors to know about them and visit them! Visitors are encouraged to check in digitally as evidence of their visits to such destinations.

Wouldn’t my community’s or Chamber of Commerce be a better place to have passports stamped? We want visitors to actually see your heritage destinations, not just pick up a brochure — so only these actual destinations qualify. But we do want visitors to know where to find further information in your community, so we’ve provided phone numbers for regularly staffed Visitor Centers or Chambers in your county.

How do visitors claim prizes? Visitors may redeem Passport Booklets and claim prizes as soon as they reach a qualifying tier. In fact, thanks to our online redemption system, they can upload a photo of their stamped booklet and keep your Passport to claim higher-tier prizes. Or, they may tear off the redemption form and mail it in; they’ll get to keep the rest of the booklet, with their stamped destinations and the handy road map, for ongoing use.

What kinds of prizes may visitors win? These prizes are available from March 1 to December 31, 2018: Tier A — Visit and check in at any 3 destinations in the Passport, and win discount tickets or a handy trinket PLUS one entry in our Texas Plains Trail Passport Grand Prize Drawing Tier B — Visit and check in at any 10 destinations in the Passport, and win a history book or T-shirt PLUS 3 entries in our Texas Plains Trail Passport Grand Prize Drawing Tier C — Visit and check in at any 52 destinations in the Passport, and win an overnight within the Texas Plains Trail Region PLUS 5 entries in our Texas Plains Trail Passport Grand Prize Drawing GRAND PRIZE — One lucky winner will enjoy a FREE vacation package to a destination in our Region, with a guided tour of local history sites

What does the blue line on the region map mean? The ten original 1968 Texas Travel Trails, laid out as loop driving routes in conjunction with HemisFair ’68 in San Antonio, were the predecessor to today’s Texas Heritage Trail Regions. Since 1998, the Texas Heritage Trail Regions serve every heritage destination and every community in our counties, whether represented along the original Trail or not. But we keep the legacy driving routes — and the blue- and-white highway signs that have marked the route for 50 years — to boost our program’s overall visibility, to celebrate our own heritage, and to aid travelers who do want to drive the original routes.

How do I find a particular county on the map? The 52 county listings are arranged alphabetically; grid coordinates correspond roughly to the map.

My county has many more fascinating destinations than just the ones listed! We recognize this, but with 52 counties, we were limited for space. Whenever visitors arrive at your destination, please let them know of other places they might want to see, events they might want to attend, and stories they might want to know. Our website, www.TexasPlainsTrail.com, is searchable by county, to make it easy to come up with ideas and information.

Oh, dear, we’ve lost our special Texas Plains Trail stamp. Can I get another one? Lucky you — we had a few extras made. Email us at [email protected] and we’ll hook you up.

Where do I get those wonderful Texas Heritage Travel Guides? Order them in bulk directly from the Texas Historical Commission at http://www.thc.texas.gov/forms/order-travel-guides. They’re free.

Where do I get those cool Texas 52-Step Playing Cards? Order those, and other Texas Plains Trail products, at [email protected]. Rack cards and other are free; there is a cost for card decks and other logo merchandise.

Our destination would like to provide some of our logo items as prizes. Great! Email us at [email protected] and we’ll let you know what items are most useful, for your purposes and ours.

Thank you — to all our partners, and to Ramon Johnston of West Texas TravelHost, and our TPTR board of directors, for making this promotion FREE to you during our 50th Anniversary year. It’s our pleasure to work with you — to encourage travelers to stay longer and spend more in your communities, and to preserve the real places and real stories of Texas.

Barbara A. Brannon PhD • Executive Director, Texas Plains Trail Region P. O. Box 88 | Lubbock TX 79408-0088 • [email protected] | TexasPlainsTrail.com