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Daily DigestSchool Closing
Conte Middle School in North Adams will be closed Thursday, December 4, as the investigation into a mercury spill continues.
The North Adams School Committee this evening at 7 will be held in the City Council chambers. |
Light'em Up!
 (2).jpg) North Adams kicks off the holiday season with its annual treelighting on Thursday, Dec. 4, at 5:30 p.m.
Pittsfield lights its tree on Friday, Dec. 5, at 6 at Park Square. |
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Mohawk Trail Association Gets Ad FundingBy Jen Thomas - September 17, 2007
NORTH ADAMS - As part of $8.4 million allocated to the 13 regional tourism councils in the state, the Mohawk Trail Association will use $182,621 for out-of-region advertising.
"We’re really concentrating on marketing outside the region," said Peter Tomyl, president of the Mohawk Trail Association. "We specifically advertise more than 50 miles away from the Mohawk Trail."
With 132 members, the Mohawk Trail Association is dedicated to making the 63-mile scenic byway a destination for travelers across New England. Once a hotspot for motorists, the roadway - Route 2 - is beginning to draw more tourists, from "leaf peepers" to winter sports enthusiasts.
"The Mohawk Trail and Peter Tomyl have developed creative ways to market this beautiful region in our state and to capitalize on the number of travelers who pass through it without realizing how much there is to see and do there," said Betsy Wall, the executive director of the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, which is administering the grants.
The funding is based on a data-driven formula that calculates how the region is impacted by travel and tourism. According to Beth White, director of communications for MOTT, organizations are evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively. The criteria include both private revenue and the amount gained from lodging tax revenue and a review of a detailed marketing plan submitted by each tourism agency.
According to Tomyl, the association receives the grant every year and will use it much as in past years - for advertising in publications like Yankee Magazine and Boston Magazine and to create the trail’s annual guide.
"It really helps our small businesses who may not be able to afford an ad in those magazines," Tomyl said.
Designated a scenic byway in 1953, the Mohawk Trail has undergone a corridor management plan for the section that runs from Greenfield to Williamstown, which will help the association develop ways to preserve the beauty of the region.
"The collaboration on the scenic byways is exactly the kind of partnership that makes good sense for the travel and tourism industry in Massachusetts," said Wall.
Gov. Deval Patrick and key legislators expressed support for the grants in a statement released Monday.
"Tourism is key driver of the Massachusetts economy – providing good jobs and critical revenue from Boston to the Berkshires, Cape Ann to Cape Cod and in between," said House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, D-Boston. "The House of Representatives has made investing in regional tourism programs a priority and these grants will provide significant support for important programs throughout the commonwealth."
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