It has been so busy during the past month! Getting the Buffalo Jump and Clack Museum ready for the summer season, putting the house museum together, creating a new History Among the Headstones tour, working on a presentation for the Clack Museum’s Summer Lecture Series, plus household duties and helping out other with their historical questions-it was crazy! Now things are slowing down and beginning tomorrow I will be back to blogging regularly.
I will probably be even more active in the future, but that’s OK, it is what I have been planning on for quite some time. Havre has recently been re-instated as a Convention and Visitors Bureau, and a special shout out goes to Jody Olson, Executive Director of the Havre Chamber of Commerce, and Julea Robbins, Office Manager of the Havre Chamber, for their hard work in getting the proposal through the Tourism Advisory Council. I am very excited for this to be re-formed and to start work making Havre a visitor destination, thus helping small Main Street businesses and the local economy thrive, and to make tourism an economic industry to be reckoned with. Some in Havre mistakenly believe that tourism doesn’t mean anything, but tourism is Montana’s second largest industry and employs thousands of people, offers many an opportunity to become entrepreneurs, and affords communities the chance to showcase their history, culture, events, recreational options and more. In Havre alone according to the ITRR, about $35 million was brought into our community over a two-year period; that is $35 million we didn’t have to come up with plus it offers employment for people to pay their bills. Tourism IS an industry, and the smart ones will get on board.
I have great hope in this endeavor and that my efforts over the past thirteen years will benefit. That the new CVB will not be run like the former one is a comfort, and that I will be very much a player brings great satisfaction to me, and I look forward to working with Jody, Julea, and the other members to make this CVB the best one ever.
I have worked hard over the years with a great number of setbacks. Not everyone around me supports what I do, and some really crummy things have been done in the past, all to no avail. I truly love what I do, and I won’t stop doing it, and I will go forward with great earnest, continue to do my good works, and thrive-and I hope you will join me!