Visitors association’s tie-dyed eagle for ’08

Tourism business people applaud image

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — Two icons of the Sullivan County tourism industry were joined together to promote the county. One is the hallowed field where the original Woodstock Festival was held; the other is the American bald eagle, which graces the county sky in ever increasing numbers. With the eagle being taken off the United States endangered species list in June, and with the new museum devoted to all things Woodstock at the Bethel Woods Center scheduled to open this spring, the Sullivan County Visitors Association (SCVA) decided to merge the two ideas into a single tie-dyed eagle that will grace the cover of the next Sullivan County Travel Guide, which should be ready to ship in January 2008.

SCVA President and CEO Roberta Byron-Lockwood presented the cover to a full house of local tourism business people at the organization’s annual dinner, held at Mr. Willy’s restaurant on Route 42 just outside of Monticello on December 6. Most on hand were members of the SCVA, and they responded to the cover with enthusiastic applause.

Byron-Lockwood also addressed the agency’s other initiatives, including the introduction of a booklet in 2008 to promote agrotourism. She said the pamphlet will provide a link between the county’s second largest industry, tourism, with its largest industry, agriculture. That publication will join the array of other pieces the SCVA publishes, such as those promoting antique shops, pottery makers and golf courses, among others.

Also at the dinner, two awards were handed out. Herb Clark, vice president of SCVA, presented the agency’s first Ambassador Award to Carol and Larry Steiger of Last Licks in Ferndale. Clark said, “This award was started to give tribute to a business that places high values on service, hospitality and networking while operating a successful business.”

Twenty-one-year-old Ann Van Nostrand won the agency’s fifth annual Tribute to Outstanding Associate Serving Tourism (TOAST) award. Van Nostrand, a native of Grahamsville, began her career at the Forestburgh Playhouse in 2002 at age 15 as an usher. She later went on to become Box Office Manager, and according to Norman Duttweiler, the producing director of the playhouse, she has served as one of the playhouse’s most important public faces. She graduated from Tri-Valley High School and is currently attending Ithaca College as a theatre arts management major. She will graduate in May 2008.

Visit www.scva.net for more information.