Bike Trail
Tourism Conference set for April 10
at Hotel Pattee in Perry, IA
Bike Trail Tourism – Getting More Out of Your Trail is a conference set for Thursday, April 10 at the
Hotel Pattee in Perry. How to capture more economic benefit from our trails is
the focus of this conference, said Jim Miller of Waukee, board member of the
Raccoon River Valley Trail (RRVT) and one of the conference organizers.
“We’re really fortunate to
have the RRVT and the High Trestle trail go through our communities here in
central Iowa, said Miller. This conference was developed to help towns on the
trail get more out of this valuable new community asset. Our primary audience
is local leaders of towns on the trail, trying to give them ideas and
strategies to get more economic benefit from bike trails.”
The conference begins at
9:00 am with an opening presentation from Michael Gould of the Iowa Economic
Development Authority, and avid biker, with thoughts on development in each
community on the trail and creating more opportunity for bikers to spend money
in your town.
Four panels of local and area
speakers with expertise in each area have been assembled and will make
presentations on the following topics;
- Best practices for
businesses on the trail, including food, beverage, bike shops, etc, and
starting and growing businesses that can capture sales to bike trail users.
- Local way-finding ;
improve local signage to help direct bike users off a trail into a town to
local restaurants, bars, bike shops, and other local destinations. Also, how to
create loops into your town from the main trail, along with signage, to get
more trail users into your town.
- Public art on the bike
trail, creating more reasons for trail users to visit your town and stop in
your town; consider your local assets and how to market them as a bundle of
assets.
- Best practices using
technology – social media, web sites, mobile devices and popular apps, code
readers, etc, to announce local events and market your town and the trail.
FULL SCHEDULE
“We’re really excited to
host this conference”, said Jay Hartz, owner and general manager of the Hotel
Pattee. “One of our strategies to grow our business is to focus on bike trail
users and do all we can to give them a great experience when they eat a meal
here or stay overnight with us.”
Conference sponsors are
the Center for Towncraft in Perry, a collaboration between Iowa State
University Extension & Outreach and the City of Perry, and Common Thread, a
consortium of towns on the Raccoon River Valley Trail and the High Trestle Trail.
Conference registration is
$20 per person which includes lunch and all conference materials.
Pre-registration is
required by April 7. Please make checks
payable to City of Perry
(After April 7th, call us!)
Send your pre-registration
to: City of Perry, Attn: Bike
Conf., PO Box 545, Perry, IA 50220.
For more information
contact, Alan Vandehaar, ISU
Extension 515-231-6513, alanv@iastate.edu or Butch Niebuhr, City of Perry 515-465-2481, butch.niebuhr@perryia.org