By V. Hugh Lewis, II, Jefferson Jimplecute
Jefferson Convention and Visitors Bureau returned to regular meetings this week after a two month hiatus.
Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) collections for the month of November were $16,059.96, while projected December totals of $14,452 will be up by $3,000 from 2019 figures. HOT is due by the 20th of the month following the date of collection. The City uses Avenue Insight to collet the tax and they pay the city in the month following collection. Thus, November HOT is collected in December and paid in January and reported to the board in February. Income for the year to date is $57,387.59 or 42% of their budgeted income and is five months into the fiscal year.
Expenses so far for the board are only at 26.119% of their budget, spending a total of $35,783.
The board elected officers after welcoming new member Chris Bollinger. Colleen Taylor was re-elected as board president, Pam Thomas selected as Vice President and Anna Bode as secretary of the board.
A presentation by Preston Taylor offered radio advertising opportunities with 92.3FM “The Depot” out of Marshall to the board. However, Thomas indicated the advertising budget had already been set and there was no room to add any advertising at this time. Colleen Taylor indicated they would, however, watch the budget and if they stayed ahead on revenue, there might be an opportunity at a future time. Preston Taylor indicated if other businesses were interested in advertising on the radio, to contact him directly.
Taylor will be returning next month to present to the board about the Texas Sounds’ 2021 event.
The next issue of Discover Jefferson & Marion County is in its final development stages according to Marion County Media Publisher Hugh Lewis. The Jimplecute publishes the quarterly visitors guide.
“There is still time to add advertisers,” Lewis said. “The next edition should be out the first week of March and it will cover events in April, May and June. The deadline for advertising is Feb. 18.”
Tourism and Marion County Media, partner to publish and distribute the guide. Lewis said he will take over mailing out the guide for the Tourism Board and supply them with an invoice for postage to speed up distribution.
Thomas presented a series of reports from Anderson Group, which is overseeing the board’s online advertising. The reports were for October, November, and December and showed the reach, click-throughs and insights into what audiences were being reached.
Streaming services Philo, SlingTV, PlutoTV, and Samsung TV were the top producers of impressions and complete views of the boards commercial on Jefferson. Anderson Group reported that over 275,000 households had viewed ads about Jefferson in the DFW market alone.
The board decided to spend the majority of this year’s advertising budget with Anderson for online campaigns instead of traditional print advertising.
Francene Rainey presented the 2021 Calendar of Events for the Diamond Don Empire, which includes the Historic Jefferson Railway, Diamond Don RV Park and Event Center, and Diamond Don Racing.
The spring schedule for the train will begin March 18, with St. Patrick’s and Spring Break Specials and continue each week through Labor Day weekend.
This year the Event Center is hosting an NRB Civil War Artillery School event to provide safety training and certification in musket and cannon fire for Civil War re-enactors. It is, however, a private event.
“This year we’ve also worked with the City to help our neighbors with noise concerns,” Rainey said. “All of our music, fireworks, and cannon fire events will end by 10 p.m. instead of 11p.m.”
Other changes noted this year is the Pilgrimage Weekend activities will not include the Great Locomotive Chase, but will have narration commemorating the Jesse Allen Wise Garden Club’s 74th Jefferson Pilgrimage. The Great Locomotive Chase has been rescheduled to May 28-30. The “Day of Learning” or “Civil War Living History” has also been re-scheduled to May 28.
A “*-Trak Throwback” party will be happening along with the Cypress Bayou Corvette Show June 4-7, offering specials rates for camping and musical entertainment Friday and Saturday nights.
The Vintage Motocross will again be in September along with the 3rd Annual Jefferson Antique Tractor Show.
“Following last year’s success with Halloween Express, we’ve decided to expand into Christmas,” said Rainey. Halloween offered narrated tours with vignettes along the route. Rainey said Christmas would be similar with scenes along the track to correspond with narration providing the Christmas story. Both events are family friendly, but “there won’t be three miles of lights to see,” said Rainey.
Colleen Taylor reported on meetings between the Marion County Chamber of Commerce and the Tourism Board. She indicated discussions were going well and there was “no animosity” between the two groups and they were working together well. They are discussing how they can work together and not duplicate advertising or other things to better help bring visitors to Jefferson.
The Chamber requested the ability to use the old Police Building behind City Hall as new offices, offering to create a deck and additional porch coverings on it to give visitors space to sit and enjoy downtown. The City will decide to accept or reject the request during this months City Council meeting.