Huntersville venues unite to encourage

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The town’s mayor, Jill Swain, initiated the Huntersvills Destination Roundtablelast year. Membership is free, and expenses are Marketing budgets have been slashed durintgthe recession. The roundtable offers bartering, support and partnership opportunities, says Matt marketing director atthe . “The creative ideas that fall out when this grouo meetsare phenomenal,” he says. “Wew gained a lot of momentun when gas was so high and the staycationxs concept began toget going,” says Valeriee Patterson, ’s spokeswoman at McGuire Nuclear Station, site of the . The groupp organized “Fall into Huntersville” last fall to publicizw local options.
At a recent meeting, the large tabled in the HuntersvilleTown Hall’s main chamber was filled to capacity, with attendeesx also taking seats in the building’s audience area. Along with Swain and Patterson, the grou included representativesfrom hotels, stores, the Carolina Renaissance Festival, the North County Regional Library, Huntersville Family Fitness and Aquatics, Rural Hill Farm and variousz nonprofit groups. As ideas were brainstormee at one end of the Michelle Bacogeorge, director of , a nonprofit that exposese troubled children to horses, bartered with Michaeo Carlson, general manager of .The farm exchanged excess mulc h for rooms at the hotel.
who regularly distributes fliers on behal ofgroup members, and Swain then tosseed around the idea of a package deal to coincide with the Loch Normahn Games at Rural Hill Ed McLean of Rural Hill Farm immediately arrangedc a meeting with Carlson to pursue the “The roundtable is continuing because of the and we are planning another campaign,” Pattersohn says. “We will collaborate on events with otherd local businesses and not make them competd fortime slots,” she Members help one another with events and attractionzs throughout Huntersville, exchanging fliers and distributing othee materials.
Showing up to support each other’s effortd and volunteering to help during events isthe norm, Swai n says. The Fall into Huntersville campaign wasthe group’s firsft joint-marketing effort. Most members made contributions to cove printing costs and worked together to distributsethe materials. Smaller displays of cooperatiohn include the appearance of players from the Carolina Renaissance Festival at the regionakl library in November to entertaih long lines ofearly voters. The High Lord Mayor and his retinuwe were a hit for the library and a walkintg advertisement forthe festival.
“When we talk about the epitome of that was when the renaissancwe festival characters entertained early voters at the and that was the result of a roundtable Swain says. Patterson says the group expectd more families to seek local entertainmentthis “A lot of the community’s offerings are reasonably she says. “Even if people have the mone yto splurge, a lot are saving and wantint to get more for theird dollar.” Roundtable members are working togetherd this month on a cultural festival sponsored by the . Memberds also will work with organizers of the UANA Pan Americanm Synchronized Swimming Junior Championships at thein August.