For Immediate Release:
February 9, 2007
2007 Fox Cities Tourism Award Winners Named
[Fox Cities] – The Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau named recipients of the Fox Cities Tourism Awards this morning during its annual Tourism Breakfast at the Best Western Bridgewood Resort Hotel and Conference Center in Neenah. Bureau Board members Al Schaefer and Char Berg presented the awards.
“The award recipients made a huge impact on tourism in the Fox Cities this year,” said Schaefer, a Bureau Board member and chair of the awards committee. “These local individuals worked very hard to bring new events and visitors to our area. Thanks to them, thousands of people discovered the Fox Cities this year.”
The Bureau’s Pinnacle Award recognizes an individual who has created a major new event or attraction, or significantly improved an existing event or attraction. The recipient must live in the Fox Cities and work with the Bureau to promote the attraction or event. It is awarded only when a there is a deserving candidate. Carl Micke is such a deserving candidate. Micke has been instrumental in the development of the USA Youth Sports Complex. For a number of years, he has spent weekends and evenings working out issues with the irrigation system or planning for the future maintenance of the facility.
“While many people have helped make the USA Youth Sports Complex a success, Carl has been the backbone of the USA Youth Sports Complex. His work has made it possible for hundreds, if not thousands of Fox Cities children to play soccer,” commented Schaefer.
Micke’s dedication has helped the complex become “Wisconsin’s premier soccer facility,” making it a desirable soccer tournament location. He also played a huge role in the US Youth Soccer Regional Championships.
Past winners of the Pinnacle Award include the founders of the Fox Cities Children’s Museum, Fox Cities Stadium and Fox Cities Performing Arts Center.
Micke along with Peter Mariahazy and the US Youth Soccer Midwest Regional Championships Organizing Committee were presented with a Sports Award for hosting the largest soccer tournament ever held in Wisconsin, the US Youth Soccer Regional Championships. The event brought 12,000 visitors to the Fox Cities and generated an astounding economic impact of $2.5 million.
Another Sports Award was presented to Chad Mix and members of the North American Fastpitch World Series organizing committee. The Fox Cities hosted this event for the first time in August of 2006 and it attracted a record-breaking 145 teams. Roughly 4,000 visitors, including athletes and fans, attended and the Bureau was able to track more than 1,300 hotel room nights as the result of this event. The North American Fastpitch organization was so impressed with the tournament results that they have already indicated a desire to return in 2009.
Marv Haberland and members of the Outagamie County Snowmobile Alliance received the Convention Award for the Association of Wisconsin Snowmobile Clubs annual convention. Haberland and members of the Outagamie County Snowmobile Alliance have hosted the event on many occasions, most recently in 2006. The convention draws more than 800 people and generates 500 hotel roomnights.
Terry Bergman received the Jim Jensen Volunteer Award for his leadership of the Bureau’s signage and wayfinding task force. Bergman is also member of the Bureau’s Board of Directors.
“Under Terry’s leadership, the Signage Task Force not only accomplished its task of preliminary information gathering, every member of the group signed on for the next phase of the project, hiring a consultant to help us develop a signage plan,” commented Lynn Peters, executive director of the Bureau. “In addition to chairing fast-paced task force meetings, Terry helped the Bureau secure funding for the project from the Community Foundation and the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce. The wayfinding signage project is big and complex, but with Terry’s leadership we’re well on our way,” said Peters.
The Post-Crescent received a media award for its excellent coverage of tourism topics, including extensive coverage of the large summer events, the Bureau’s signage and wayfinding initiative, a quarterly tourism column written by Bureau staff, and features on young professionals in the tourism industry in its “Inc Innovators” column.
Following the presentation of awards, Maxine Clark, founder and chief-executive bear of Build-A-Bear, spoke to the group of 180+ tourism industry professionals about her unique take on retailing and focusing on the “experience” of the visitor. It was a theme that many believe is the future of tourism, as travelers are seeking out more unique, active travel activities.
Tourism created 6,046 jobs and $102.01 million in income for residents of the Fox Cities in 2005. Total tourism expenditures in 2005 were $355.35 million.
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About the Fox Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau
The Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau is a private, not-for-profit corporation working to develop an economically viable convention and visitor business in the Fox Cities. This is accomplished by attracting meetings, conventions and tournaments to the community and promoting area attractions and special events to tourists and other visitors.
For More Information Contact:
Pam Seidl, Director of Marketing Communications
(920) 734-3358
pseidl@foxcities.org
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