City of Sandwich Tourism Committee met November 29.
Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:
Meeting Called to Order at 7:03 pm
Attendees:
Mayor Rick Olson
Alderwoman Kara Killey
Alderman Kevin Kelleher
Economic Development Director Jim Teckenbrock
Visitor: Jim Wyman WSPY
Mayor Olson described the need for the tourism committee:
There is a noticeable need to organize and coordinate efforts for tourism in the Sandwich area. Currently the City participates with to certified CVB’s Aurora and DeKalb County. The “bed-tax” participation is currently with Aurora CVB and a “partnership” status with DeKalb County. (City has agreed to pay $2,000 to DeKalb County)
As a portion of the Bed-Tax, the City receives 10% of the funds collected for the City’s portion. The current total in the account is near $22,000. The requirement by statute for these funds is to encourage tourism in the participating community.
On need identified is to coordinate activities in Sandwich to provide maximum advertising and to not plan activities that compete with other organizations or efforts. There are a variety of organizations already promoting activities on a regular basis. Brining as many of these factions to the “table” at one time may assist in this cooperative effort.
Each attendee of this meeting shared ideas of activities that were held either in Sandwich or other communities, that seemed to be successful. Programs such as “Freedom Days”, Taste of Sandwich, Bologna Day, community Class Reunions, trolley tours, and a variety of others, were examples of community interests. There was also discussion of “downtown revitalization” and redevelopment of the aesthetic values of our downtown, trees, sidewalk upgrades and others.
Jim Teckenbrock shared a copy of a map that had been developed by the Chamber of Commerce through an organization in Yorkville. The map is very impressive and is an outstanding start to help promote the community.
This being a “steering committee”, it is felt that we should invite a host of community VIP’s to be a part of this effort. The committee agreed to make a list of local participants to invite to a meeting in mid-January as a kickoff to this effort.
Below is a list of invitees. This list may be added to, if additional names or organizations are suggested for inclusion: (in no order)
• Sandwich Fairgrounds (Brad Anderson)
• Sandwich Area Merchants (SAM)
• Sandwich Chamber of Commerce
• Sandwich School District
• Sandwich Library
• Kathy Kohler
• Dave Kurtz
• Timber Creek Inn and Suites
• Joe Fraser
• Roger Prindiville
• Northwestern Valley West Hospital
• Gjovik Ford, GMC, Chevrolet
• Sandwich Park District
• Fox Valley YMCA
• Sandwich Fire Department
• Sandwich Police Department
• Sandwich Lions Club
• Tri-county Kiwanis
• Sandwich Rotary Club
• Sandwich Masonic Lodge
• Sandwich VFW & American Legion
• Indian Valley Theater Group (IVVT)
• All local Banks
• Fox Valley Older Adults (FVOA)
• Art’s Grocery
• City of Plano
• City of Somonauk
• Sandwich Historical Society
• Barbara “Boots” Hoffman
As mentioned before, this is a list, however, there can certainly be names and organizations can be added.
The meeting was concluded with a meeting date of January 17th at 7pm in the Council Chambers.
Meeting Adjourned 8:16 pm
http://www.sandwich.il.us/minutes/tour112917.pdf
Alerts Sign-up