Upcoming Tourism Happenings in Pocahontas County

We recently talked with Cara Rose, Director of the Pocahontas County Convention and Visitors Bureau, who shares with us some exciting tourism related things happening in the County.

“Well, good morning Tim and AMR listeners, I thought I’d share a few tourism notes with the listeners today” said Cara. “First of all, we do have a tourism scholarship available to Pocahontas County High School Seniors. I’m extending the deadline for applications to April 21^st. Students who are interested in the Tourism Scholarship can call me and get more information if they like. They can also apply on-line through the Greenbrier Foundation Process, which is a new application process for most scholarships at the High School this year. The award would be matched by the Snowshoe Foundation this year, so it’s a total of $2000.00 annually for up to four years. Students do need to be going into a field associated with Hospitality, but that could be a lot of different things. It certainly could be Restaurant Management, Resort Management, but it could be accounting with an emphasis on resort operations. It could be hotel lodging management –it could be recreation as well. Individuals, who are seeking a degree in Culinary, certainly qualify for the scholarship. So there are a variety of different fields that students could be going into that the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau would consider hospitality related. So, if students have any questions, they are welcome to give me a call here at the office.

We also have the Tourism Person of the Year Award that will be announced at the annual Tourism Partner Luncheon on May 3^rd. Applications for this award will be due on April 14^th –that’s this Friday, so if anyone knows of a deserving individual in Pocahontas County who’s contributed to the tourism industry in a significant way and would like to nominate that person, they can give me a call and I will be happy to email or send out an application to them. They can also stop in here at the office and pick up an application and nominate someone for that award.

I also want to let listeners know that the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau will be hosting an agro-tourism symposium on Friday, April 21^st at the Pocahontas Wellness Center. This is in partnership with the West Virginia Department of Agriculture and West Virginia University Extension Services. The purpose of this symposium is to introduce our agricultural community to agro-tourism, and how it can benefit their farming operation – taking an agricultural product and turning it into a tourism component. Corn mazes, hay mazes, pick your own pumpkins, your own blue berries, pick your own strawberries –anything that engages the visitor. So this is really for someone who is already in the agricultural business, maybe someone who has already thought about adding a tourism component to their operation. The symposium is free, we are including lunch, but pre-registration is absolutely necessary. You do need to be pre-registered by the 17^th (April) and you can do that be calling my office.

The telephone number here for all those things I just mentioned is (304)799-4636, so feel free to give me a call and ask any questions you might have.

Also, I just wanted to mention too that the Black Mountain Bluegrass Boys will be performing on mountain Stage in Charleston on Sunday, May 14^th. And I think that’s wonderful news. They were looking for a band representing the Mountain Music Trail, so I’m very happy that the Black mountain Boys will be performing on the clay Center Stage that Sunday night. I’m sure there’s still some tickets left. They can check out “Mountain Stage” on the Internet and get more information about tickets.