The Board of County Commissioners held a Lewis County Agritourism meeting on Thursday to discuss the county’s progress on designing a tourism-based website, while building their social media presence for the project.
Discover Lewis County is the campaign’s name, and it aims to bringing more tourists to the area.
The first phase of the website is expected to go live in late June. The site and the social media avenues are based on tourism in general but have a heavy emphasis on agritourism, Steve Wohld, IT services director said.
The purpose is to establish Lewis County as a “destination place,” highlighting local culture, history, events, road trips and lodging opportunities, among other things.
Commissioner Edna Fund said the driving factor is to put “heads in beds,” an important tourism method.
“We can use our natural resources to attract people here, have them spend their money here and go back home,” she said.
The website features large images depicting some of the picturesque areas in the county. Wohld said they were going with a whimsical, fun look that is easy to navigate.
Along with highlighting local businesses, it will highlight the seasons year round and offer people suggestions on what to wear, what to eat and where to sleep.
The Discover Lewis County Facebook page began last Friday and already has over 1,000 likes.
Chris Brewer, former Chronicle reporter and information technology services developer with the county, said a majority of the social media push has been primarily focused on Facebook, but Instagram and Twitter accounts are also in the works.
To help move the Discover Lewis County effort along, banners, fliers and stickers have been designed.
Wohld said they would have a strong presence at the Southwest Washington Fair to help spread the word.
