MORGANTOWN — The Appalachian Regional Commission wrapped up a Tuesday virtual conference on promoting regional culture and tourism with an announcement from federal co-chair Gayle Manchin on a six-state tourism initiative that will be based in the New River Gorge.
ARC awarded $250,000 to the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority, Manchin said, for the Outdoor Rivers Project. The six states will formulate a plan to make best use of their assets to ensure the maximum economic impact from their tourism and outdoor industries.
Along with West Virginia the other project states are Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia. They will develop a model plan that other multi-state collaborations can replicate and adapt, Manchin said.
“Now more than ever is the time for us to collaborate,” Manchin said.
The assets they will leverage include skilled workforce, industry heritage, natural and cultural resources. More than 350 partners across the six states will be involved in the creation of this planning grant.
The travel and tourism industry in Appalachia is among the region’s fastest-growing employment sectors, she said, generating more than $4.5 billion in local tax revenue and employing more than 577,000 people. In 2021, ARC invested $12.3 million in 23 tourism and culture projects.
Boosting this industry, she said, can accelerate overall economic development — in manufacturing, site development, downtown revitalization, broadband and agriculture. “Big transformational opportunities can happen in our communities when we work together toward a shared goal.”
Manchin was asked why the New River Gorge was chosen as the base for the project. She said as the states worked together to formulate this, they decided together that the core would be at the Gorge.
All states are participating equally, she said; they’re not competing. “How do we put them to together to form a great vacation for a family?”
Manchin stressed that the project will be a model for subsequent efforts. Everything the states do can be evaluated; some things will work, some won’t. This will save reinventing the wheel.
A portion of the conference focused on revitalizing depressed small towns and communities.
Randy Heady, mayor of Jackson County, Tenn., said that when when communities get bogged down, they think, “We can never change. We can never be what we used to be.”
Rebuilding his county sprung from its music culture, with music events nearly every weekend. They also focused on drawing great restaurants to downtown Gainesboro. “People want to come to a rural downtown and eat five-star food.” The hills and hollers are covered with B&Bs. “You can see that in our sales tax revenue.”
Downtown also features a distillery than makes moonshine the old-fashioned way. “Culture is still important. People are hungry to participate in that culture.”
Amanda Pitzer, executive director of Friends of the Cheat, said while they’re a watershed group, revitalization means they embrace more than that. The Cheat River Festival, for example, involves arts and music and food and people from all sectors. It reminds people that everything is connected. “That’s what makes a community beautiful, but also strong.”
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