Posters Unveiled During Tourism Week Celebration

Sixteen posters featuring Wood County tourism sites unveiled during the recent National Tourism Week celebration are being displayed at the Williamstown Welcome Center, will be on display at the Judge Donald F. Black Courthouse Annex and will become part of a traveling tourism exhibit.

"We approved the creation of the movie posters as part of an effort to promote local tourism sites. We had been discussing the need for some artwork for the walls at the courthouse annex for some time, and this seemed the perfect fit. There were 16 created," said County Commissioner Rick Modesitt, county liaison to the Greater Parkersburg Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The poster campaign is being called "Feel the Spirit of Wood County."

"We hope the posters will spur interest in the county and various tourism spots we have to offer," Modesitt said.

The posters are of Henderson Hall, Smoot Theatre, Fenton Glass, Parkersburg Art Center, Fort Boreman Historical Park, Julia-Ann Square Historic District, Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park, Mountwood Park, Oil and Gas Museum, two of Fairs and Festivals, Veterans Museum of Mid-Ohio Valley, Actors Guild of Parkersburg, Blennerhassett Museum of Regional History, Henry Cooper Log House and Parkersburg City Park.

Stonewall Marketing donated the design services for the posters. The county commission contributed $1,200 to have the prints and copies made and have them framed, Modesitt said.

"We hope to make them available to various organizations and entities for use as a traveling tourism exhibit," he said.

"We have many great attractions in Wood County and we want to bring people here and also call attention to them for local people to visit as well. We had been talking for some time about putting artwork up at the annex. We decided to feature our own attractions. Some of the sites are funded partially through the hotel/motel tax from the county," Modesitt said.

"There is a poster size and a smaller size print. We selected to put the larger one at the visitors center in Williamstown for display in hopes someone coming through the area may see something that interests them and they will go explore. Hopefully, ideally, they would even decide to stay overnight in the area," Modesitt said. "Most of the prints are from photographs taken by Jim Osborn, who gave us permission to use them," he said.

May 14, 2008