Published Sunday, June 11, 2000
MERCER COUNTY
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Book barely mentions this county
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AREA’S IMAGE NEEDS FACELIFT, TOURISM PROS SAY
Herald Business Editor
Shenango River Lake isn’t mentioned, nor is Goddard State Park. Ditto for the Canal Museum and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame and Museum.
Those and other Mercer County tourist spots were overlooked in Fodor’s Travel Publication Inc.’s travel guide to Pennsylvania. Sulking business owners who generate much of their trade from tourism dollars believe the county was shortchanged by the publication.
The first edition of the 333-page “Compass American guide: Pennsylvania’’ gives an overview of the culture and history of the state. Devoting a number of pages to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, the state’s largest cities, the guide highlights spots and events throughout Pennsylvania for tourists to see.
Lawrence County got a couple of pages on, among other sites, “the peaceful borough of New Wilmington,” Westminster College and McConnell’s Mill State Park, plus a photo of a covered bridge at the state park and a nearby Amish hat shop.
Mercer County received a few sentences on the town of Mercer and its Victorian Days with a notation that Prime Outlets at Grove City is 7 miles away. Tara, A Country Inn, in Clark along with its Ashley’s and Stonewall Tavern restaurants were mentioned in the food and lodging section at the back of the book.
Other retailers such as Reyers Shoe Store, Daffin’s Candies and The Winner clothing store, all in Sharon, weren’t mentioned, even though they tout themselves as the “world’s largest” in their respective endeavors.
Getting snubbed by a travel guide is all too familiar, said Penny McCoy, president of the Mercer County Convention and Visitors Bureau. For years the bureau had to plead with the state to promote the county more in its travel packets.
“I’m not surprised at all,’’ Ms. McCoy said of Fodor’s publication. “That’s the typical way we’ve been perceived. It’s an image we’ve been fighting at the tourist agency.’’
At the heart of the issue, say local tourist representatives, is the county’s bland, dull, lifeless image. Too often Mercer County is thought of as a backwater locale where the most exciting activities are whittling and chewing tobacco around the pickle barrel while sharing a jug of hootch with the kinfolk.
Another obstacle for the county is that tourist books and brochures typically lump Mercer County in with the Lake Erie region and Erie, Crawford and Venango counties.
“In my opinion ... we have more to offer than the other three counties in the region combined,’’ Ms. McCoy said. “I don’t care if you’re after shopping or eating; the only thing we’re lacking is dinner-theater type things.’’
With a total budget of about $360,000, bureau representatives attend a slew of trade shows and advertise heavily, she added.
“We do a lot to get Mercer County’s name out there,’’ Ms. McCoy said. “Maybe we’re not targeting the right people.’’
At times the bureau finds itself educating even local residents. “One of the saddest things is, and I think this is true in any area, if you line up 10 residents of Mercer County they can’t tell you all the things there are to see in the county,’’ Ms. McCoy said. “There’s so many things that people don’t know about.’’
Fodor’s has a large following in the travel community and is a premier tourist publishing house. “We buy them all the time,’’ said international businessman James E. Winner Jr. “We use Fodor’s when we travel to Europe. I think Mercer County has gotten overlooked here.’’
The chairman of Winner International in Sharon also owns Tara and Ashley’s restaurant along with the Vocal Group Hall of Fame and Museum and the Radisson Hotel of Sharon.
Grace Anna Boggs, who heads GA Boggs & Associates of Stoneboro, has been promoting the area for more than a decade. The marketing and advertising company has touted such events Victorian Days and Penns Woods West arts festival in Mercer. She also owns the historic Mercer Mercantile and Soda Shoppe in Mercer.
“The fact that we’re at the crossroads of America on I-79 and I-80 — it surprises me that Mercer County has such little recognition by a piece that should have done their research,’’ Ms. Boggs said of Fodor’s. “They’re so well known, you think of them as such a credible source.’’
The county has seasonal attractions from lakes to the flavor of rural America, she noted. But the county should work on getting publications like Fodor’s to take a second look at the area. “This is a first edition and it’s a start,’’ Ms. Boggs said of the book.
Beyond getting a re-evaluation from Fodor’s, the county and outlying area should take a long look in the mirror, Winner said.
“This is a classic example of why we should have a regionalism approach to things — especially with tourism,’’ he said.