County Employees Work on Tourism Website, Meet With Farmers, Producers for Ideas

Posted

Cheese, organic vegetables, cafes, bed and breakfasts, trees, tours and emus all in one place — virtually, anyway.

That’s one project Lewis County officials are working to accomplish, bringing agritourism and tourism activities, events and attractions available in the county to one website.

The county held its first meeting on the matter at the Lewis County Law and Justice Center Wednesday night. 

“We want this to be a one-stop shop as far as a central hub and then be able to utilize what’s … already out there and link to those who’ve already done such a great job,” Steve Wohld, Information Technologies Services manager, said.

With a $55,000 grant, county employees and commissioners hope to have the site ready for a soft launch in June. 

“We’re going to be rather aggressive with it,” Wohld said about deadline, but added that they aren’t committed to finishing the project by then.



Christopher Brewer, an information technology employee who recently left his job as a reporter at The Chronicle to work on the site, said they plan to make it interactive and utilize social media websites such as Instagram, and Lewis County visitors could hashtag photos that could be posted on the tourism site.

Currently, they’re working on gathering and writing content that will include photos and videos.

“One of the things we’re going to try to do is give people a taste of the adventure that’s here in Lewis County … and provide a lot of visual content,” Wohld said.  “We want people to … just kind of salivate over what’s waiting for them in Lewis County.”

But Wohld wants to make sure they have enough drool-worthy content ready before launching the site, which is part of the reason for the fluid deadline.

Some of their content gathering process involves talking with local farmers and producers about the site and agritourism promotion in Lewis County, which county officials did at the Wednesday night meeting.