Wood County Parks Director Jeremy Cross and Mark Lewis, president and CEO of the Parkersburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, spoke Thursday at the Wood County Board of Commissioners about tourism in the area and Mt. Wood Park. He gave a lecture on the events that were happening. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)
PARKERSBURG — With new projects around Wood County, creating opportunities to draw tourists to the area is a focus for local tourism officials.
Wood County Parks Director Jeremy Cross and Mark Lewis, president and CEO of the Parkersburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, spoke Thursday at the Wood County Board of Commissioners about tourism in the area and Mt. Wood Park. He gave a lecture on the events that were happening.
Lewis talked about attending a tourism day at the state capitol earlier this week, where he interacted with many local legislators and connected them with representatives of the Mountain Trails Network. Mountwood Park, near Parkersburg, will play a major role in discussions about possible funding options. Gives an opportunity to improve trails etc.
The paved Parkersburg-Ohio River Trail runs from Point Park to Vienna's Grand Central Mall. Lewis said plans are in the works to eventually have the trail reach the mall. He is currently more than 2,200 feet away from the parking lot at the back of the mall.
The biggest hurdle is the need to build an 80-foot-long bridge over Pondo Run, which some estimates say will cost about $500,000 and take years to complete and close the trail. It will be similar to another bridge built along the , Lewis added. .
“It would be great if we could collaborate with shopping malls.” He said. “At that point, it becomes not just a recreational trail, but a commuter trail where people can park at the mall and ride (their bikes) to work into downtown Parkersburg and vice versa.”
They are also looking at ways to bring the North Bend Rail Trail into downtown Parkersburg.
“Bridging that gap is always in our long-term view.” Lewis said.
There are still issues to resolve with CSX Railroad and others on both projects, officials said.
Mt. Wood Park has the potential to reconfigure ATV trails to accommodate Jeeps, full-size trucks, and vehicles for those seeking overland adventures where vehicles drive off-road on specific trails with obstacles. I am considering gender.
“There are two main points in the switch: making the trails one-way so full-size vehicles don’t merge, and making sure everything is wide enough to accommodate Jeeps.” Cross added that some vehicles have tires that stick out more than others, so they need to be taken into account.
He added that some people travel from region to region on such adventures, which could draw more people to the park.
Representatives from Overland, West Virginia, recently met with the Wood County Parks and Recreation Commission to discuss what they can do locally to develop this idea to increase tourism.
“They're a good group, but their influence is pretty low.” Cross said. “You would think a bigger vehicle and bigger tires would do more, but the average speed of these vehicles is 8 miles per hour.
“They don't like breaking down cars because they have to go home and drive to work on Monday.”
Cross said some of the park's trails already meet some of these vehicle requirements, as they were once road cleared, and will determine what work needs to be done. He added that he needed to work with someone to do so.
“There's nothing like that around here.” Lewis said.
Cross said Mountwood Park has 600 acres and 12 miles of trails that can be completed in less than a day by side-by-side or motorcycle.
“But when a Jeep is looking for an obstacle, it can spend half a day on just one obstacle.” He said. “They can go through the path to the rock garden, play on it for a day with the other Jeeps and watch it go, and then each can go over it or do a hill climb. ”
Many of those people will be interested in camping along the trail, officials said.
“It's always nice to have something new, something different.” Lewis said.
Cross said the park received a $2.6 million grant to build a new campground, two new cabins, an observation tower and more within the main park area.
“This will create 8 to 7 miles of professionally groomed mountain bike trails.” He added that they are working on an environmental assessment that is expected to take six months, after which the project can begin for engineering and design.
Commissioner Robert Tebay asked if more could be done at the Smoot Theater in Parkersburg to rival what is happening at the People's Bank Theater in Marietta. Mr Lewis said work was being done to see what would happen.
Mr. Lewis spoke about the new Discovery World Museum downtown, which is now in its second year. Marketing is underway to encourage young families with small children to spend the night in the area.
“They've worked really hard this past year.” Last year there were more than 47,000 visitors, he said.
Blennerhassett Island remains one of the region's major tourist attractions.
The new Greater Parkersburg Convention & Visitors Bureau Welcome Center at 113 Ann St. has been seeing more people since it moved into the former Point Park Marketplace building more than a year and a half ago. Lewis said the facility had more than 7,000 visitors last year, compared to 584 for all of last year at the old store at Seventh and Avery streets.
“(Blennerhassett) is on the way to and from the island, so I talk to a lot of people directly and recommend local restaurants, talk about local shops, tell them about attractions they don't know about. About “You can Mr. Lewis talked about things like Henderson Hall and the Oil and Gas Museum. “It was wonderful.”
The new Wood County Resilience Center will give the area additional capacity that has been lacking, Lewis said. Officials have said the space could be used to hold larger meetings, such as state association meetings or ad hoc sessions of the Legislature, using available small conference rooms.
“Due to limitations (of existing facilities), we were unable to accommodate some groups.” Lewis said.
Commissioner Jimmy Colombo said it will be another tool to attract people to the area, especially given its proximity to the Blennerhassett Hotel and downtown.
“This will help bring the 'C' back to the CVB (Convention and Visitors Bureau).” Commissioner Blair Couch said:
Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com.
