Contact
Brooke Rouse
Director, St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce
315-386-4000
brouse(a)stlawrencecountychamber.org
*WINNERS ANNOUNCED FOR FIRST ANNUAL ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY TOURISM AWARDS*
*Clarkson Inn and Hammond Barn Quilt Trail to be recognized for their
excellence at May 11th Awards Dinner*
The 1st Annual St. Lawrence County Tourism Awards Dinner will be held on
Wednesday, May 11 at Bella Brooke Vineyard in Hammond. The event, which is
presented by the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce, is designed to
celebrate the growing tourism industry in the County, recognize and reward
excellence, encourage the highest standard in visitor experience and
emphasize the value of the tourism sector.
The Clarkson Inn in Potsdam has been named as the recipient for the
‘Best to the Guest’ Tourism Excellence Award. This award is presented to
the individual, business or organization that has been recognized for
providing an excellent guest experience. Customer service, unique
offerings, and attention to detail make this awardee stand out in the
industry. Restaurants, guides, lodging, and attractions are recognized
based on referral reputation in the community and online reviews from
guests. The forty-room boutique hotel, located on the banks of the
Raquette River in downtown Potsdam was nominated by several community
members, and has tremendous guest reviews across popular sites such as
TripAdvisor and Expedia.
The second award will recognize the Hammond Barn Quilt Trail, for Best
Destination Marketing Initiative. This award is presented to the
individual, business or organization that has devised and implemented the
most outstanding tourism marketing campaign or initiative to raise
awareness and attract visitors to St. Lawrence County. New programs,
bundling of experiences and multi-media communication delivered with
creativity, innovation, production quality and effectiveness will be
recognized. The Hammond Barn Quilt Trail is a community-organized effort to
increase visitation to a rural part of the County stretching from the St.
Lawrence River to Black Lake. Organizers energized community members, with
enthusiastic support from the Town and Village boards, to create and place
over 30 barn quilts in their first year, created a brochure and map using a
professional designer, hosted a grand opening event with bus tours, created
short videos, launched a website and have engaged partners across the
region to highlight this unique trail, which they hope will connect to Barn
Quilt Trails across the Country.
In addition to awardees, the theme of the Tourism Awards Dinner is ‘Trails
to Tourism’ and will give a snapshot of various trail initiatives in the
county, such as the Raquette River Blueway, County Multi-Use Trails and the
new St. Lawrence Wine Trail. Updates on tourism initiatives and impacts
will be shared with attendees.
All are welcome to the celebration at Bella Brooke Vineyard, 2989 County
Road 6 in Hammond, NY. Happy hour in the tasting room is at 5pm, followed
by a buffet dinner and program in the new barn venue at 6pm. The cost is
$35 per person or $260 for an eight-person table. Reservations are required
by Friday, May 6th by calling 315-386-4000 or visiting the calendar on
www.northcountryguide.com or directly at http://tinyurl.com/SLCTourism16.
Payment by credit card, check or cash. Tourism businesses and visitors
centers are encouraged to come at 4pm with boxes of marketing materials to
swap at the Brochure Exchange, which will be held in the parking lot next
to the Vineyard.
The St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce is a 500 member organization,
contracted by St. Lawrence County to serve as the tourism promotion agent,
in partnership with Empire State Development’s I LOVE NY tourism program.
--
Brooke E. Rouse
Executive Director
www.NorthCountryGuide.com
315-386-4000