published: Friday, January 04, 2013

Small nature festival left big economic footprint

Small nature festival left big economic footprint

GREG JONES | Staff Writer

gregjones@dailycommercial.com

Lake County's inaugural Wings and Wildflowers Festival last September took off financially, laying the seeds for what's now growing to become an annual event.

Paid for mostly by sponsorship money, the event had an overall economic impact of $1 million in Lake County, officials say.

"We are really proud to support this," said Scott Blankenship, director for the county's Office of Economic Development and Tourism. "When our staff got together over a year ago and started talking about putting this inaugural event together, we ran the process through the same model as any applicant for tourism. This event qualified for over $20,000 in TDT (Tourism Department Tax) in sponsorship money."

Lake County Tourism Coordinator Kathy Pagan said the festival is an economic driver because it promotes tourism and economic development. She said the goals of the event were to create awareness of the county's bird, wildflowers wildlife and natural areas.

"We want to put heads on beds and create those tourism tax revenue, so we can support other ventures in Lake County, and we offered programs like kayaks, boats, horseback, horse and buggy," Pagan said. "There is something for everyone, and we want to establish Lake County as a premier birding and wildlife destination."

She said the event had more than 120 program and only one didn't meet its minimum number of participates required. The event also had 60 speakers.

Pagan said the programs were free and only "off-site programs" had a fee. While it's not clear how well more than 80 vendors and exhibitors did, the county sold more than $1,200 in merchandise during the event.

More than 3,000 people participated in some aspect of the festival, well exceeding expectations. Despite it being a first-time event, more than 21 sponsors -- including the National Wildlife Foundation, Mosquito Creek, Nikon and others -- jumped on board and contributed another $15,000 to help the event become a success.

"Many of our tourism stakeholders contributed with in-kind (contributions), like hotel rooms, transportation and other assistance," Pagan said. "In fact, the Lakeside Inn Hotel sold out every room for three days. They were quit happy with this event."

A number of environmental experts from around the country came to the festival, allowing the county to establish new partnerships. One example was Cornell University, which sent a representative from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a world leader in the study and conservation of birds.

Pagan said the festival put out more than 300 surveys, which received feedback.

"We had lots of activities for all age groups and abilities, and that is something we are proud of," Pagan said. "We are going to take what we learned and make it better the next time around."