Hwy. 29 and Yellowstone Trail
are Great Tools for Promoting Area

The Thorp Courier (Thorp, WI)
July 25, 2007
Transcribed by Dolores Mohr Kenyon

The Highway 29 Community Partnership, a partnership of the seven communities of Cadott, Boyd, Stanley, Thorp, Withee, Owen and Curtiss, Wisconsin, is a group devoted to enhancement of regional economic development and housing through joint marketing and resource utilization of participating communities along Highway 29.  Using the Yellowstone Trail, a transcontinental “highway” that tourists follow from “Puget Sound to Plymouth Rock” and back again, not to mention through all seven above listed communities, the Highway 29 Community Partnership effectively promotes the area and its businesses.
 
In May 2007, the Partnership promoted a self-guided tour of the area’s greenhouses, nurseries and flower shops with the theme, “Food, flowers and Fun.”  This campaign, called “Springtime on the Yellowstone Trail,” brought attention to the area’s “greenery” businesses and secondly to the other businesses of the Partnership communities.  Advertising for this event mostly took place on 61,000 placemat maps distributed to area restaurants and even some other types of businesses, which were paid for through 40 advertisers on the placemats with no profit going to the Partnership. 
 
“Alberta May’s diners talked about and enjoyed the placemats very much,” says Kim Tallman of Alberta May’s restaurant in Stanley.  “We had 1500 placemats and ordered more.”  “The placemats are really nice, high quality,” says Judy Molitor, co-owner of the Silver Spur restaurant in Curtiss.  Sally Smith, owner of Cozy Corner Café in Owen, says, “People really liked that the placemats had maps to all of the greenhouses in the area.”
 
Springtime on the Yellowstone Trail was also promoted in press releases sent to 23 newspapers within a 50-mile radius, the Partnership’s website that is linked to the Yellowstone Trail website and the “ticket” at the bottom of Charter Communications’ channel.  The Yellowstone Trail is also advertised daily, appearing on signs for communities (i.e. Withee’s “On the Yellowstone Trail” sign) or on signs throughout the communities of Clark and Chippewa Counties.

The importance of the Yellowstone Trail has been highlighted in recent years, which has lead to communities putting up Trail signs.  In 2006, the Highway 29 Community Partnership did a re-dedication of the Trail, which leads to parks being renamed to include the Yellowstone Trail name, Trail marker rocks being repainted, and signs calling attention to the Trail being distributed.  But, more work needs to be done in promoting the Trail and Highway 29, which could be a major tool for promoting the area.  “Those familiar with the Yellowstone Trail responded to the Springtime on the Yellowstone Trail placemats,” says Betty Dallas, General Manager of AmericInn hotel in Thorp. “But, word about the Trail needs to get out there.  It’s really the best thing we’ve got to promote the area right now.”  “And people are beginning to catch on,” says Kris Koplitz, co-owner of West Ridge Farms in Stanley and owner of the Flower Farm in Owen.  “I saw five or six groups of people with the placemat maps.  There was a group from Marshfield that came to the area just to take the tour.  The placemats were a good way to get the business names out there, and a good idea because it brought people into the area.”
 
The Highway 29 community Partnership and the Yellowstone Trail Association encourage area businesses to use their logos and their vicinity to Highway 29 and the Yellowstone Trail. These logos attached to taglines like “Just off highway 29” or “On the Yellowstone Trail” can be a powerful tool for promotion of a business, especially as popularity and knowledge of the four-lane Highway 29 and the Yellowstone Trail grows.  To request copies of the logos to be e-mailed to you, please e-mail Nathan LePage at owenterprise@charter.net or call (715) 229-2103.
 The Highway 29 Community Partnership and the Yellowstone Trail Association want to aid the economic development of the area through the promotion of area attractions and the businesses. And, Highway 29, and the Yellowstone Trail provide the perfect opportunities to do so.