CLEARFIELD – The COVID-19 virus is not stopping Visit Clearfield County from scheduling events for the spring.
“We are trying to be pro-active,” said Josiah Jones, executive director of the organization.
Right now, most area events are being cancelled or rescheduled until May leading to a mega-event scheduled for May 22 and 23 at the Clearfield County Fairgrounds.
The VCC is holding a Chainsaw Carving show, which will feature 20 different carvers.
In 2020, Jones said they held VCC’s first Chainsaw Carving event to have something people could do outside. This included a few food trucks that provided fair-type food.
“We put it together in about a month’s time,” Jones said. Because it was successful, they decided to do a bigger one this year.
After he spoke with Greg Hallstrom, Clearfield County Fair manager, Hallstrom decided to hold a spring craft fair and food court at the same time.
This endeavor continued to grow when Ken Starr of Starr Hill Winery agreed to move the Groundhog Wine Trail to that same weekend.
The Chainsaw Carving will be Saturday, May 22, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday, May 23, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Each carver will get two eight-foot logs to “create whatever” they want with the items being auctioned off at 3 p.m. that day.
Jones is hopeful this will encourage people to stay in the area for the entire weekend. “We expect we will get hotel rooms out of this.”
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2021 is continuing to challenge the tourist agency, which is funded by a county hotel tax.
Last year’s proceeds from the hotel tax were 40 percent below normal and that was with a normal January and February. So, Jones doesn’t expect this year to be much better.
During the summer and fall, the local hotels suffered while the campgrounds, bed and breakfasts and cabins thrived because people wanted to be outside.
Our fresh air, rural location and recreational activities were a big attraction, and “I think that will continue (this year).”
Creating new travel activities led to the “Lumberjack Tasting Trail,” which involves people visiting area bars and distilleries to sample the various types of alcohol and later a “Lumberjack Burger Trail,” which consists of 13 area locations. Both offer free T-shirts after you fill in your passport.
These events are “ongoing with no end date,” he explained. Anyone can pick up a passport and start at any time of the year.
Completing the tasting trail can be done in a weekend, but it will take much longer to complete the burger trail.
Other visitor bureaus have similar programs for only a short time and as a “pay to play”.
Having no fee to participate gives people “the best bang for their buck.”
These programs have been “very successful” but not everyone turns their passports in for the T-shirts so Jones is unsure how many have completed it. But they are now working on giving out their second order of 2,500 passports.
The trails are bringing new people in, but “our organization is not benefiting from this at all,” he noted.
But the economic impact on the area is important.
They have pride that they are bringing people to the area to spend money here, he said.
Because Autumn was an active time with many tourists coming to the area to see the Elk, the VCC has put together an Elk View Guide for spots in Clearfield County that are less congested than the popular areas in Elk County.
These are available from the Visit Clearfield County office at 208 Plaza Dr., in Clearfield (near Save-A-Lot) or you can call 814-765-5734.
Eventually this information will also be available online.
One of the other potential events he has on his list for this year is a “Tasting Trail Festival” in either mid-summer or fall.
During a normal year, the agency hosts several travel writers. But in 2020, only three of the five scheduled to visit the area actually made it here.
One of them, from Maryland, made her fifth trip here and on each trip, they show her something different.
After she went home and wrote about her experience, Jones saw “lots of Maryland plates” in local parking lots.
Another writer from New Jersey had so much fun she said she was coming back on her own.
“Once they get a taste of what we offer, they want to come back again.”
A popular reason to return is the hospitality.
“They often comment how they can’t believe how hospitable everyone is here,” he said, adding, “we couldn’t ask for better ambassadors.”
Overall, Jones said despite the problems with the pandemic, “we had hope we could make it through 2020”, he said, even with the hotel taxes being down. He has hopes for this year as well.
“If we get to May and through that event, it could be the start of a great year.”
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