Snowshoe Opening Ski Slopes in about a Week
Cara Rose, the Director of the Pocahontas County Convention and Visitors Bureau, updates us about what is happening in the County.
To start, Cara lets us know that Snowshoe Mountain Resort hopes to have the slopes open by Thanksgiving weekend, weather permitting.
“Ski season is just around the corner” said Cara. “We’re hoping the weather stays cold. They’ve been blowing a lot of snow on the trails.”
Rumor has it that snowshoe has won some sort of award from Trip Advisor.
“Yes they did” Cara answered. “Trip Advisor just announced the top 8 Honeymoon Gems in the United States and snowshoe Resort was on that list. So I think that is quite an accomplishment. They hosted over thirty weddings this summer. I believe that’s probably a record for snowshoe Mountain Resort. That’s a lot of weddings.”
It’s been a while since we got together. I understand there has been some ‘Hospitality Superstars.
“Yea, the Convention and Visitors Bureau is the sponsor of this program and we engage a secret shopper to travel around Pocahontas County” Said Cara. “that secret shopper’s job is to identify businesses that generally engage with the visitor and it that person exceeds their expectations as far as guest services is concerned – if they’re friendly, they’re smiling, they’re helpful –they will be awarded a twenty-five dollar gift certificate and named hospitality superstar. We did have two winners the past couple of months: Kristy and Stuart Horner of Jack Horner’s Corner in Seebert, and most recently, Anita Mallow at the Edray Quick Stop. So congratulations to those Hospitality Superstars.”
“Also, I have been working to develop an agro-tourism product for the County. Agriculture is certainly one of the stronger economic components to the County, and we also have a lot of individuals who have small farms and are growing products. So we felt like we had an opportunity to build tourism into that agricultural operation, so we will be introducing a modest agro-tourism program. It is a way to not only bring together the two stronger economic impacts to the County- being agriculture and tourism- but to also introduce our visitors to the cultural experience that farming is. It’s a great way also for farming operations to diversify their revenue stream.”
Is there anything going on up at Cass?
“Yes, the fall train season just ended and the next event will be the Elf Limited trains” said Cara. “and that begins the Friday following Thanksgiving through December 10th. The trains will be operating Fridays Saturdays and Sundays. It is an offshoot of the Polar Express in Elkins. It will be fun for all ages, especially young kids. We also have Christmas in Cass, December 8th, 9th and 10th, and there will be lots of activities going on during that weekend, including the bizarre and open house at the restaurant. The Pocahontas County Convention and Visitors Center will also hold their annual Christmas Open House on Friday, December first in conjunction with the Marlinton Christmas Parade. We will be open for Hot Cocoa, cookies and coffee- also punch, 6 to 8 that evening. The new 2018 Visitors Guide will be released in mid-January”
“Also there is a small group in Pocahontas County that have been working on a proposal to IMBA, which is the International Mountain Biking Association, and our hope is to designate Pocahontas County as one of the IMBA Ride Centers. It’s a prestigious designation- not many of them exist. We are very fortunate in Pocahontas County that we have a tremendous mountain biking product already. I feel very confident that we are going to be successful at becoming an IMBA Ride Center.”
“I want to wish all the listeners a very happy Thanksgiving from all of the Staff and Board Members of the Pocahontas County Convention and Visitors Bureau.”
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