By V. Hugh Lewis, publisher
Watch the Live video of this meeting here.
The Jefferson Tourism Board met today and spent most of the meeting discussing the new Christmas commercial they are filming as well as the 30-minute TV show airing on a Shreveport station around Thanksgiving.
Last Tuesday a crew as in town filming “B” roll footage as well as updated Christmas scenes to include in a newly created commercial for the holidays. This week a crew from Shreveport will be in town on Wednesday evening to film a 30-minute television show focusing on Jefferson for the Christmas Holidays. Filming is scheduled to begin at 6:30p.m. at the corner of Walnut and Austin streets. The 16-foot City Christmas tree will be setup there this year.
“This is normally a live show,” said board member Pam Thomas. “But we can’t do this with our setup. They’ll be going to the Claiborne House to talk about the Candlelight Tours, and to the Excelsior House Hotel for their Candlelight dinner meals. And we’ll be talking about the other activities and events such as the Christmas Parade, the Enchanted Forest, Santa at the Front Porch, Angie Hudson is going to discuss the Wassle Walk, the Historic Jefferson Railway, My Father’s Garden and the General Store. I want it to look like Christmas Central in jefferson.”
Interim Board President Coleen Taylor said a new base has been built for the City tree that’s 4-feet tall, placing the tree at almost 20 feet tall overall. It will be going up on Tuesday, weather and personnel permitting. Thomas invited anyone to come down and watch the filming and help decorate the tree.
Tour Booking Platform
In other business, the Board heard from Tracey Engles, of Kennedy Manor, on the “Peek” platform (www.peek.com) – a new way to connect all venues for booking tours.
“We wanted something easy and user friendly,” Engles said. “They have a setup fee but no monthly fees and the customer pays a booking fee. They offer a portal product for cities so each tour operator can setup their own account and visitors have one spot to book all their tours from before they arrive in town.”
Taylor, board member Christi Gaither and B.W. Brooks will contact the company and find out more information and schedule a demo to present at the next meeting.
City Signage
City Signage was back on the agenda with Jefferson Mayor Bubba Haggard wanting to find out if anyone has thought more about it.
“We need something to draw more people into town off 59,” Haggard said.
Taylor indicated the board had allocated $10,000 for signage or billboards but had opted to give that money to the Anderson group and maybe their would propose signage.
“The city might come up with extra money for signs,” Haggard said. “Bear did the one on the south side but we need something more. We need to have something out there on both ends of the road. In fact, Erick Carter said we need something on Jefferson street as well for the CEFCO visitors to see and draw them into town.”
Taylor agreed to create a committee to discuss the issue and come up with some ideas. Board members Ana Bode, Brooks, Gaither all volunteered to serve. The Board will also contact the Chamber and 3-4 more people to serve on the committee and try and report some form of progress at the next meeting.
Promoting the Town
The Board has also created a giveaway they will being promoting in town this next week. The idea is to have visitors register so the board can gather information on how people found out about Jefferson. The grand prize is a weekend stay at a Jefferson B&B or Hotel. Registration boxes will be going out to local businesses this week and the drawing is set for sometime this spring.
FAM Tour
The Board recently completed a FAM tour with six bloggers and two photographers who wrote and photographed over 40 local businesses.
“They loved all the bnbs and wrote nice thingsa bout everything,” Thomas said. “They weren’t expecting everything we gave them, especially as it’s all done by volunteers so they were really blown away by our small town.”
The Board spent approximately $750 of HOT funds for the event and Taylor said “for our first one it was fabulous.”
The Board advertised in Bus Tour magazine, D Magazine, Texas Monthly, Houstonia, and Ride Texas in September and October according to Thomas.
“We also did the Red River Revel, and we hope the new commercial will start airing ASAP,” Thomas said.
Financial Reports and HOT Tax
In financial news, Taylor updated the Board on the status of the City HOT funds so far this year.
“Income was $11,800 in September, and compared to last year it was $3,000 above last September,” Taylor said. “The October income will be flat compared with last year but we’ve brought in $20,000 so far this year (Which started September 1, 2019). Expense wise, I went ahead and have paid all membership dues for THLA (Texas Hotel Lodging Association) instead of paying them quarterly. That with advertising, payroll, etc., we’ve spent $13,621 so far.”
The Tourism Board obtains their funding through Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT tax) paid by visitors who spend the night. Taylor indicated there were several establishments who were delinquent in paying so far this year and all but the Inn of Jefferson, which could not be reached, indicated they would take care of the situation quickly.
Other Business
A new contract is still pending for rental on the Jefferson Tourism Convention and Visitors Building and updates will be provided at the December meeting for approval so it can go into effect in January, according to Taylor.
Taylor said she, Thomas, and Brooks, will call The Anderson Group tomorrow and get an update on the timeframe for their proposal and planned visit. Anderson is an advertising/marketing group the board has contacted.
The minutes from the October meeting were approved with minor changes.
The next meeting is 5:30p.m. December 9, 2019, at the Visitors Center.