LT-2023-012-HISTORICAL SOCIETY - Laserfiche WebLink

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9129122, 11:12 AM Response 2.1* LTAC Clerk Review Why would tourists travel to Kittitas County to attend your event/activity/facility? The Kittitas County Historical Museum holds the history of our county, from Snoqualmie Pass to Vantage; from Blewett Pass to Roza. lt reflects history since time immemorial to present day, of the people, places, events, activities, and more. The Museum's mission is to collect, preserve, and share that history -- with anyone interested in local history. Visitors come to the museum to learn more about the local area, about the buildings, events and activities, and the family members that may have once lived (or still live) here. They want to know anything and everything, and with having over 50 exhibits, we certainly have something for everyone. By advertising in the Seattle/Tacoma, Portland, Oregon, and Eastern Washington areas, we will draw travelers to and through Ellensburg and Kittitas County. We know at present many of our guests are from outside of the Kittitas County area, especially more than 50 miles away, as all major cities in the Pacific Coast region are more than 50 miles away. ln 2021, 56% of all visitors were from outside of 50 miles, compared to 60% so far in 2022. Our Facebook page reflects primary visitation by individuals from 50+ miles, including Portland, Oregon and the major Washington cities of Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, Portland, Kennewick, Vancouver, Everett, Moses Lake, and Port Orchard allwithin the top 10 cities following our page. We anticipate based on current numbers that visitation and overnight stays will increase due to advertising in 2022 and our partner events and activities. We have already had several individuals from out of the area stay overnight as part of an evening lecture, or they came with the Museum intended as their destination for research purposes and stayed overnight as a result. We expect that as our activities increase, visitation and overnight stays will increase as well. We have already partnered with Hotel Windrow for our lecture stays and encourage visitors to make this their hotel choice; but we are working with the new Marriott as they have chosen the Ellensburg Blue agate as their theme and design - using items in our collection as the inspiration. We plan to work with both for upcoming events to encourage more visitors to stay overnight, as visitors have indicated that multiple events and venues on certain weekends justify them staying overnight. Many of these events will add to existing events or create an opportunity to extend their stay in the Ellensburg and Kittitas County area. 2500 character limit tf-app- t 6-03.co.kittitas.wa.us/Forms/form/submission/history/7766 1/85650?hideHeader=true 6/18