Tag Archive for: #vancecountytourism

Vance County Tourism

Vance County Tourism Director Nancy Wilson Retiring End of March

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By: Kelly Bondurant, Freelance Writer/Editor for Hire

After 20 years of service, Nancy Wilson, the long-serving director of the Vance County Department of Tourism, is looking forward to retiring at the end of the month.

“I’ve been working all of my life,” said Wilson. I’m ready to retire.”

Wilson’s career in tourism began in 1998 when she was hired as a contractor by the Henderson-Vance Economic Development Commission (EDC). According to Wilson, the first assignment given to her was to increase the number of fishing tournaments held at Kerr Lake. “At that time, we were not competitive with South Hill or Clarksville, VA,” Wilson said. “I had to beg the tournament directors to give us a chance; please just let us host a tournament and see how it goes.”

Wilson’s efforts paid off by way of an increase in fishing tournaments, including high dollar $100k tournaments such as the Fishing League Worldwide (FLW). “When it showed up on the front page of USA TODAY that Vance County hosted a tournament, it was great publicity for us and was worth all of the time and effort,” said Wilson.

In addition to fishing tournaments, Wilson has also been instrumental in increasing tourism at Kerr Lake thanks to the addition of a Fourth of July fireworks display. “We never had a firework display around the lake area and I thought we needed to entertain our visitors while they were there,” said Wilson. “That’s one of the biggest holidays for the parks.”

Wilson knows from experience how special the fireworks are for many visitors. “People start calling the tourism office as soon as the fireworks are over wanting to know the date for next year’s show so they can book their campsite.”

A success since its inception 20 years ago, the patriotic fireworks are held on the Saturday closest to the 4th of July to better accommodate visitors’ schedules.

Wilson is also proud of creating the Parade of Lights on Water, a floating parade featuring Kerr Lake’s best-decorated boats. A staple for several years, a decline in participation led to the cancellation of the event.

Another one of Wilson’s successful endeavors is the annual Show, Shine, Shag & Dine and East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame event held each fall. What started as a small gathering of friends grew into the economic boom that it is for Vance County today.

“It started as a group of people meeting at my house. Then we had to move it to the community building at Satterwhite Point because it kept growing and people were coming from everywhere,” Wilson said. “I thought about it for a long time and thought I could make a tourism event out of it.”

Wilson presented her idea of combining a car show and a drag car hall of fame to the Henderson-Vance EDC Board and they implemented the first event in 2001.

The exact economic impact of events such as fishing tournaments, Fourth of July events and Show, Shine, Shag & Dine is hard to calculate, but the increased spending on gas, hotel rooms, restaurants and entertainment are a huge boost to the local economy.

According to Wilson, visitors come from all over the country to attend these events, thanks in part to a strong, nationwide advertising campaign that includes multiple publications. “We advertise in recreation magazines, recreation guides, motorsports magazines, car show magazines, at welcome centers, in airports, online, on the radio and in print,” said Wilson.

When asked what advice she has for the next tourism director, Wilson said they’ll have their own ideas that will bring value to the area.  She said, “I’m sure they’ll put their own twist on it and do what they think is best. If I can help in any way, I’ll be glad to.”

Wilson plans to remain active in the Roanoke River Basin Association, an organization that she feels is vital to the lake area. “I will continue to serve on the association and try to keep the County informed on issues,” Wilson said. “It is so important. That water is like liquid gold.”

As for life after retirement, Wilson says it will be a continuation of traveling all over the country, playing with cars and attending car shows.

“I don’t have a bucket list,” Wilson said. “People say when they retire they will do this or that, well, I’ve already done all of that.”

Kerr Lake Readies For T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Piedmont Division Opener Presented by Navionics

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WHAT: The 2017 T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament season will open Saturday, March 25, for Piedmont Division anglers with a tournament on Kerr Lake presented by Navionics. Up to 400 boaters and co-anglers will be competing for top awards of up to $8,000 and $3,000 respectively in the one-day tournament.

WHEN: Saturday, March 25, 2017

Piedmont Division

Kerr Lake

Nutbush North

115 Jack Wade Farm Road

Henderson, N.C.

Hosted by the Vance County Department of Tourism

NOTES: Piedmont Division anglers can expect Kerr Lake to produce some sizeable bass for this BFL opener. Fans following the action will likely see competitors flipping and pitching to flooded bushes with jigs and Texas-rigged soft-plastics. A variety of moving baits including crankbaits, spinnerbaits and umbrella rigs may also play a role near wood. A five-bass limit nearing 18 pounds should be enough to take top honors at this late-March BFL event.

The 2017 BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.

For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the BFL on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.

About FLW

FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2017 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 274 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show, broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.

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15th Annual Show, Shine, Shag, Dine

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Show, Shine, Shag and Dine and East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame

October 14th, 15th and 16th, the Vance County Tourism Development Authority presents the 15th Annual Show, Shine, Shag and Dine and The East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame and Reunion.

Tourism Director Nancy Wilson said the reunion and drag racing hall of fame inductions is what it’s all about.  She said, “It all leads up to this.  It’s a way to honor these guys for their contributions.  They’ve learned so much and have shared it with the racing world.”

Wilson said she started the show here to honor these drag racing legends, folks like Roy Johnson, Levi Holmes, John Livingston and his “Tennessee Thunder,” and nostalgia fuel dragsters.  She said, “They come to reunite and are just as happy as a lark to be here.”

You can join in too and see the inductions.  Admission is free on Sunday, October 16th.  Starting at 10 a.m., meet race icons of the 50s, 60s and 70s at the Vance Granville Community College Civic Center.  Everyone is invited to attend.

Saturday, October 15th is the big show day in downtown Henderson.  1976 and older antique, classic cars and nostalgia drag cars line the streets.  Admission is free on Saturday, and there will be vendors, food and live entertainment.

About 30,000 people are expected, at least that’s how many appeared last year.  In a wrap up article posted on WIZS.com last year, Wilson was asked to compare the show here to shows done elsewhere in towns the size of Henderson.  She said, “I don’t think there’s anyone who can compare.  We’re not a festival.  That’s not what we do.  It’s an event, a production.  The State Fair is about as close as I can get to the number of people at one location at one time.”

The economic impact here, for spending done while the show is here, will be between 2.5 and 3.0 million dollars.  If you ask around, the community, the people here and the leadership here are grateful for the show and especially for all the cars and drivers and legends that come in from out of town.

On Friday, October 14th at Satterwhite Point on Kerr Lake, guests will enjoy a southern style barbecue from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. for a $10 cover charge.

See more below and online at kerrlake-nc.com.

show-shine-shag-dine-2016

Visitor Spending In Vance Up 4.7 Percent

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The director of The Vance County Department of Tourism attributes increased visitor spending to a combination of marketing, a supportive board and successful events.

When specifically asked to what she attributed the 4.7 percent increase, Tourism Director Nancy Wilson said, “A very strong marketing campaign, a good board that stands behind the tourism department and our success in the events that we host and organize.  It’s a combination of all of those I think.”

One of the signature events of The Vance County Department of Tourism is the annual Show, Shine, Shag and Dine.  The 15th annual Show, Shine, Shag and Dine is coming up October 14th, 15th and 16th in downtown Henderson.  If the past few years are any indication, some 30,000 people will attend the event to see vintage and drag cars with a total economic impact of between 2.5 and 3.0 million dollars, this data according to previous WIZS news articles quoting Wilson.

Governor Pat McCrory’s office today issued a press release (click here for full version) indicating visiting spending was up in 91 of North Carolina’s 100 counties.  Of those, Vance County is in the top 10 of largest percentage increases at 4.7 percent behind Polk with 11.8 percent and Cherokee with 7.8 percent.

In terms of ranking counties by actual domestic travelers’ expenditures, some counties that you might expect topped the list with Mecklenburg first, Wake second, Guilford third, Dare fourth and Buncombe fifth.

Wilson said about Vance, “We knew it was up.  We can tell from collections each month.  The motels have had an extremely good year.  We are just tickled to death.  I mean we’ve got the least number of rooms we’ve ever had, and we’ve got the largest collections, so that tells you something.  They are staying full.”

Wilson reiterated the impact on retail sales tax in Vance County too, of which retail sales tax figures are up for Vance County.  She said visitors are coming here and boosting the retail sales tax figures.

She said, “We’ll keep on doing what we’re doing because it must be working, and we’ll just work a little harder.”