Contact

Brooke Rouse

Director, St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce

315-386-4000

brouse@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.