The Town of Farmville has received a $5,000 grant from the Virginia Tourism Corporation’s Marketing Leveraging Grant Fund Program.
According to the VTC Marketing Leverage Program Website, the Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC) Marketing Leverage Program is made to help tourism marketing programs and to further spread the word that “Virginia is for Lovers.”
The Farmville Area Chamber of Commerce, Tourism & Visitor Center Coordinator, Downtown Farmville and Town of Farmville are all partners in the Tourism project called “Heart of Your Adventure.”
Tourism & Visitor Coordinator for the County of Prince Edward, Virginia Magi Van Eps said, “Our Tourism program gets a lot of exposure. Our brochures are in 61 certified visitor stations.
It’s such a wonderful feeling when someone walks into our visitor center and is holding our brochure or says, ‘I picked this up when I was in Williamsburg or somewhere,’ and, ‘I saw this.’”
Town Planner and Deputy Zone Administrator for the Town of Farmville, Cindy Morris said, “This brochure coming out for the project is the third edition and we are creating a new idea, a new thought along with this new brochure, which is called, ‘The Heart of Your Adventure,’ because you can do anything you want to in this area.”
Morris added, “The brochure is just a little piece of the project. The project also includes some fulfillment bags, a table top display that we can take to different venues and the final part is the LOVEworks artwork.”
Van Eps said, “One of our challenges is, most people come to Virginia for a few basic reasons, such as the beaches, mountains and Civil War. We don’t have beaches or mountains.”
Van Eps added, “We have the Civil War, but families don’t particularly want to walk battle fields, so our brochures are marketed to say we have Civil War stuff, but you can also go shopping, dining, antiquing, zip lining, or even canoeing or kayaking.”
Director of Farmville Downtown Partnership, Helen Person said, “Whatever your bag is, we can fill it” Morris stated, “You can find history, culture, education, shopping, hiking, biking, fishing, boating and camping, you name it.”
Executive Director of the Farmville Area Chamber of Commerce Lisa Tharpe mentioned, “That is why the heart on our logo is left open here because we could have a little fisherman on here, a canoer or even a shopper in the center of the heart. This is a malleable logo that we can work with. “
Tharpe, pointing to the heart in their logo, stated, “One side of our heart in our logo is blue and one side is green, because it’s water and land, it’s your outdoor adventure.”
Moreover, Van Eps talked about certain ways their tourism program draws people in to the Town of Farmville.
“When people go on vacation now, they are looking at where they want to spend their retirement years and we are a retirement destination, which is a good thing,” Van Eps said.
The final part of the project deals with the LOVEworks artwork display. Speaking on this, Van Eps said, “LOVEworks has been out for two years now, and the artwork is very large.
The displays spell out the word love in giant letters and are done with whatever you have or want to promote in your community.”
Van Eps added, “One of the most iconic LOVEwork displays is with big Adirondack chairs. One chair has L, one has O, one has V and one has E, and they are sitting out on the beach. People go around the state and take pictures of themselves interacting with the LOVEworks displays.”
Morris stated, “We are going to have a contest where all the local artisans can submit their creative idea for the LOVEworks display.”
Van Eps said, “The artists bring back their designs, and we will have a committee that will choose the design.
The artist will not be paid for their work, but will get their name on display and forever will be known as the one who created the LOVEworks display.”
Van Eps added, “People travel from all over to collect their picture and while they are here, we get to capture them for everything else we have to offer.”
“This whole project, what we’re doing right now is phase one and then we are going to start hammering out our marketing plan and what else is going to be in phase two,” Van Eps said.
For more information about the“HeartofYourAdventure” tourism project, contact Helen Person at (434) 392-3060 or Magi Van Eps at (434) 392-1482.
Moreover, you can contact the executive Director of the Farmville Area Chamber of Commerce, Lisa Tharpe at (434) 392-3818 or Cindy Morris at (434) 392-8465.
