In previous episodes of the Weldon Advocate, I have cast a vision and discussed some of the financial benefits of attracting tourists to Downtown Weldon.
Self Guided Walking Tour
To assist in getting the ball rolling, I have created a Self Guided Walking Tour connecting Weldon’s sites to see and things to do. It’s on the website www.WeldonNC.com.
The Walking Tour can be followed by using your smartphone. It will lead the user around downtown to Explore Weldon and learn why Weldon is the Rockfish Capital and an Early Transportation Hub. Users will be encouraged to “Take A Selfie” and post it on their social media accounts where it further promotes Weldon.
It’s doing projects like this that will begin to attract visitors to Weldon and we’ll begin to see success.
I know this can happen, this being, having tourists wandering our streets enjoying Weldon.
Once upon a time when we owned the bed and breakfast inn, I produced two issues of a 48-page magazine called Beyond The Exit. That publication highlighted the sites to see and things to do that were beyond the exit of hotels and restaurants. It was geared toward the I-95 travelers that were spending the night at the exit and was looking for something interesting to do before they hit the road again.
When that publication was in circulation we often saw people walking around town with that magazine in hand, looking at and exploring the sights to see and things to do.
In future podcasts we’ll discuss the new edition of Beyond The Exit.
“Let’s Go Treasures Hunting”
I also envision creating Weldon into a destination for treasure hunters seeking antiques and good old stuff. Businesses like Riverside Mill and The Downtown Weldon Flea Market will serve as anchors. They can be coupled with several other thrift stores in Downtown Weldon to create a place that people will seek out for a day of treasure hunting.
We have seen the type of success that an event like the Hwy 301 Endless Yard Sale can have on drawing people looking for a bargain. Next, we could create A Treasure Hunt type event that will have people looking for clues to a treasure. This is the type of event we can create that will draw people to Weldon and support these businesses.
15 Tourist A Day
Marketing for both the Self Guided Walking Tour and the “Let’s Go Treasures Hunting” can work hand in hand to get the ball rolling to attracting the 15 tourists a day mentioned in episode 3. In that podcast, I discussed the Financial Benefits of attracting tourists to Weldon.
In that discussion, we explained that attracting 15 tourist day, each spending about $30 each would have an economic impact of supporting one new business and creating $165,000 in annual retail sales for Downtown Weldon.
Other Tourism-Related Businesses
In addition to these new efforts that I have been putting together, there are others that are working on tourism-related businesses too.
The most recent of these is Weldon Mills Distillery. The Club at Weldon Mill is already open. On weekends, they have live entertainment that is drawing more than 100 people a night to Weldon. Work is ongoing to get all of the equipment installed for the distillery where they anticipate having their first batch of spirits ready this fall.
When in full operation, Weldon Mills Distillery will seek to attract tour buses and group tours. These tours will also have the opportunity to visit other businesses in Downtown Weldon too.
Riverside Mill Antique, Craft and Outlets just celebrated their 10th Anniversary. They market to I-95 travelers and their business is supported well by local customers too.
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