Program Highlight - First Impressions

So she made up a story that she was considering moving to the Clinton County town that’s home to a few thousand residents and a draw for tourists.

The downside was that the shop had no fresh flowers, Lorson recalls of the October visit. But the upside was that the woman extended unusual hospitality by investing 20 minutes in trying to help her find a nice home to buy.

Lorson, director of the Cameron County Chamber of Commerce, was participating in Penn State Cooperative Extension’s First Impressions program.

First Impressions helps progressive towns, venues or corridors work together in pairs to assess each others’ assets, strengths and weaknesses. It’s all done under tight wraps as a way of getting a true take on how a community looks and reacts to strangers.

It has been tried out in a limited number of places so far and training for more facilitators is set for spring, says Bob Veilleux, a community and economic development educator based in McKean County. The program will be widely available by summer 2008.

Each evaluator is given a list of rules and survey questions at the outset of their journey, says Don Woodring, educator based in Clinton County. He analyzed impressions collected by groups that visited back and forth between county fairs in Clinton and Juniata counties.

Groups circulated throughout the fairs with the intention of offering constructive criticism, Woodring says. “It’s objective. It’s set up to be so.”

He made a presentation of findings to the Clinton County Fair board of directors and “They actually moved on some of the issues that were brought up,” he says. One of the issues was signage around the fair, particularly since evaluators drove right past the entrance without noticing its sign. “The fair is now looking at improving signage.”

Fair board members are also looking into a better overhead speakers and electric generators because evaluators reported that they couldn’t hear the sound system well enough and that there was no backup power during an electrical outage while they were visiting.

On the positive side, evaluators noted that parking areas were very well organized and the grounds and rest rooms were neat and clean. They also found fair staff to be friendly and helpful.

Juniata County Fair people who traveled to the Clinton County Fair noted that looking critically at another venue helped them to look more critically at their own event, Woodring says.

Veilleux says the visits between Renovo and Emporium went very well. Evaluators set out with their sleek and easily stowed book of survey questions and a small digital voice recorder for their thoughts.

“They were just coming up with so many ideas,” Veilleux says. One of the lofty ideas is to build a visitor center in Emporium and the search is on for funding sources. Another idea that’s already completed is a map of the community that provides a brief overview of what’s available there.

And that includes its proximity to the elk population, a huge tourist attraction, and the decades-old fall foliage festival.

Veilleux says Renovo and Emporium were chosen to kick off the First Impressions program because of their aggressive 12-county marketing effort known as Pennsylvania Wilds located within six hours of 50 million people. Eight tourism promotion agencies covering a dozen counties have joined with state departments of Community and Economic Development and Conservation and Natural Resources to promote the Allegheny National Forest region. The group studies infrastructure from both residential and visitor perspectives and looks for ways to encourage development without sacrificing longstanding community character.

Efforts are made to encourage people to use stone facades on buildings, wood interiors and locally made glass, Veilleux says. A design guide has been published to emphasize best practices for the region.

A companion to First Impressions, Veilleux says, is hospitality training that was designed on a model from University of Oklahoma. It includes skills that towns, through their residents, need to consider.

Communities that want to cater to tourists, he says, should develop a mission statement and what they have to offer. They should provide maps and guides to dining, outfitters and equipment, emergency services, auto services, key attractions and calendars of events.

Clerks and people who greet the public should be trained to “encourage the sales of their own community and region,” Veilleux says.

Lorson thinks that’s a great idea.

One of the places she visited in Renovo was the borough building “to see how a complete stranger would be treated.”

She said that was “an eye-opener.” But not because of any ill-will toward her, just because it made her think about how she would treat an out-of-towner in her own town. “You go back and look at your town with a little bit different glasses on.”

She also took a fresh look around her once she was back home and wondered, “Would I be lost if I came here for the first time?” The exchange visits also prompted the continuation of a previously held Clean up Emporium Day.

Program materials for First Impressions suggest arriving in the target community by 10 a.m., breaking team members up into groups for lunch and stops at Chambers of Commerce, businesses and walking tours and leaving by mid-afternoon.

Tips include taking lots of notes as you go, asking for directions and suggested stops while there, taking photographs, looking for positives as well as problems, knowing that it’s okay for two people to see one situation differently and above all having fun.

Lorson, who considers herself one of the guinea pigs for the statewide project, can’t wait to present the findings at a town meeting in May. And she’d love to do another road trip to another town.

“It was a wonderful way to spend a day,” Lorson says.

by Linda Hudkins