We are thrilled to announce that our grant application to the Colorado Tourism Office to boost our marketing efforts of our Foothill Adventures Map, and the area in general, has been awarded! We will be receiving $20,997 in a few short weeks with which to print 70,000, instead of 40,000, copies of our next edition of the Foothill Adventures Map, coming Spring 2015, as well as get it placed into paid racks at DIA and along the I-25 and I-70 corridors. We're also going to hire a local social media company, Top Hat Social Media
, to take care of our social media postings on our Facebook
and Twitter
accounts, have My Mountain Town create a promotional video of the area, continue to update and promote our 285 Tourism Mobile App
, buy swooper flags to announce events, and more!
Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen and who have supported our efforts over the years by purchasing ads on our maps, volunteering at events, and more. We couldn't have done it without you.
Cheers!
Sharon and Marcel, Co-Chairs 285 Tourism Committee
Great opportunity to strengthen our micro market, while protecting the natural beauty and life style of our area residents. Our committee is up to the task and always open for suggestions. Thanks to all involved.
Located at 60750 US Highway 285, Bailey, CO 80421
303-816-5504 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.aspenpeakcellars.com/
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Go ahead and call me selfish but I am disappointed that this money has been awarded to bring more attention to our little hideaway. I am not looking forward to more traffic or more people moving up because they like the area. Right now we enjoy an area that is still somewhat wild with a remote feeling to it with one of the shortest commutes around.
gmule, your concern is shared by us. There are over 20,000 cars that travel Hwy 285 every day - we don't need to increase the number of people coming here to better support our local economy, we just need those who are already coming here, and especially those who live here, to Shop Local. That's why our Foothill Adventures Map has always been stocked in businesses along the Corridor - for residents to use as well as visitors - to help them learn what services and products exist locally. We're always surprised to discover how many people don't know that they don't have to go down the hill because a service they need already exists up here, it's an education process in many ways.
The mobile app that was developed was also done with a very specific goal in mind: to let those who visit AND those who live here to find it extremely useful by making it easy to find local businesses and benefit from coupons and event notifications.
Our goal is to support our local businesses - many of them severely struggle from Christmas until tourism season starts in late spring. The challenge is finding the balance between supporting them and not causing a negative impact to the community, which is why we will be keeping a close eye on metrics. Yes, the maps will be placed in paid racks further outside of our area for 6 months of our 2 year map period which will mean more people learning about our area, but we won't know what kind of impact that will have until we measure the results, which we plan to do in a few ways. Then we will evaluate whether it seems to be working or not, or is working too well and causing issues. To reiterate what Cellar Master said, "while protecting the natural beauty and life style of our area residents. Our committee is up to the task and always open for suggestions".
We appreciate any and all feedback, and invite everyone to participate on our committee! We meet on the 3rd Wednesdays of the month at the Conifer Chamber Office, 25997 Conifer Rd at 5:35pm. Come join us!
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
gmule, thank you for your input. 18 years ago, we move up here to the Foothills for the exact same reasons. Close to the city, but really away from it. However if you think that anything is a secret along one of the two major mountain escape routes I-70 and Hwy 285, that is wishful thinking. As long as the Front Range is growing with people like you and us, naturally there will be more traffic to the mountains year after year. There will not be another highway to the hills, so the only logical option is to improve the existing ones. CDOT has focused on I-70, while slowly widening 285 in the past decades, getting rid of traffic lights and increasing lanes for better flow. Funding was always the reason for the slow process along our corridor, but hopefully the jam-ups during the past few years will give them a sense of urgency to address the remaining intersections with lights, at least on this side of Kenosha Pass.
Another point I like to make is that no matter where you live, it is vital to any community to have a healthy portion of commerce. As you know, our corridor was hit really hard during the recent economic downturn, leaving many commercial buildings empty, causing a rather big unemployment number and many families had to move out of town in order to find work or shorten the commute. All of that also left the area with many foreclosure homes driving down the real estate market, reducing home values.
Facing this tough situation, our local small businesses rely on support from our Chambers of Commerce to help search for solutions and improve the market with urgency. About three years ago, the two Conifer and Platte Canyon Chambers have agreed to work together and hope to improve the situation faster with a collaborated effort, forming a 285 Tourism committee. The campaigns with our small budgets during the past couple of years have shown some signs of improvement, businesses see an increase of highway travelers in their stores, empty spaces are being occupied, unemployment is going down in to the 5% range, real estate market is getting healthy, with home prices on the rise.
With all that said, those are some signs that we are on the right path of recovery and the faster we can restore our healthy balance of commerce to our community, the better for all area residents. Lets make this clear, none of us are planning on turning our area in to a crazy ski resort, but our existing commercial centers and buildings along the corridor need to be occupied, supported and thriving to improve our overall small mountain town lifestyle. This grant will help us get there sooner, while we still have long way to go.
Located at 60750 US Highway 285, Bailey, CO 80421
303-816-5504 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.aspenpeakcellars.com/
Facebook
Instagram
