Local tourism boosters hope Springfield attractions will bring more visitors to Logan County's Lincoln sites

BY NANCY ROLLINGS SAUL
THE COURIER

Will Tuesday's opening of the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield create a tourism boom for all of central Illinois?

Local promoters are working hard to make that opportunity come true.

Logan County Railsplitting Association gave railsplitting demonstrations and held a barn raising on the street near the new museum using vintage tools and techniques during Springfield's weekend block party. Lincoln's Logan County Arts and Crafts Guild members demonstrated period crafts on the lawn of the Old State Capitol.

Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County director Celeste Rogers joined volunteers under a tent on the lawn to hand out brochures and chat with tourists about Logan County's Abraham Lincoln sites. The Lincoln College Museum also set up an information booth.

Rogers has also kicked off an advertising campaign to bring visitors to Logan County.

She's promoting the new "Information Station" at 1555 Fifth St. as "Where the Adventure Begins." The Route 66 promotion theme is "Where the Road Begins," and the Abraham Lincoln sites are billed as "Where the Enlightenment Begins."

Rogers said the response rate for advertising has increased 1,200 percent since the campaign began.

The bureau advertises in magazines such as Midwest Living, in newspapers, on television and radio and on web sites and links and answers requests for brochures generated by the advertising.

"Our hope is to get people off the interstate and Route 66," Rogers said, "and get them to come to the Information Station and then direct them (to Logan County sites).

"We're also customizing tours for people off the web site. They tell us what they like and we can map out a tour."

Rogers said the tourism bureau is pursuing funding for signage.

"We're also connected with places along Route 66 (such as Pontiac and Litchfield)," she said. "We do swap tours and promote each other. It's called extended-stay marketing. The ultimate goal is to get somebody to stay in hotels."

Rogers also attends trade shows to promote the county. She has worked out an agreement with Amtrak for discounts for people who plan to attend such events as the Lincoln Art and Balloon Festival. Her target audience is people who live within a three-hour driving radius of Lincoln.

"Mostly because of 9/11 and gas prices, people do not travel as far as they used to," she said. "That's an opportunity for us.

"They're predicting that 500,000 people will visit the new (presidential) museum annually. Just think what 10 percent of those people would do for Logan County."

Paul Beaver, head of Logan County's Looking for Lincoln program, called the new presidential museum "the most incredible addition to the historic story of Lincoln in Illinois that I've ever seen.

"The Old State Capitol - everything - pales with the impact of this," he said. "It's the greatest event in my lifetime to tell Lincoln's story to the world."

Beaver said Logan County also has a great story to tell, "if we just keep pushing."

The Looking for Lincoln committee is making an effort to erect signage so visitors can find the local Abraham Lincoln sites when they arrive.

Beaver said the signs will be adorned with artist Lloyd Ostendorf's prints, featuring Lincoln in such roles as surveyor, speaker and country lawyer.

"The new (Abraham Lincoln) museum is all illustration," Beaver said, "and we've got to feed off along those lines. The first thing is to identify the historic sites (for visitors). We've got to keep going."

Beaver said local promoters also must find a way to tie into bus tours scheduled for the Springfield museum. Rogers said she is working with bus companies to arrange stops in Lincoln.

Beaver called both strategies "practical, doable approaches."

"This is not 'pie in the sky,'" he said, "but practical ways to help ourselves."

Beaver said promoters need to revisit the question of how to distribute the tourism video, "Abe Lincoln: From Surveyor to President," produced by Main Street Lincoln.

Both signage and video distribution have been on the drawing board at least since 2003. The projects were shelved during planning for Lincoln's 2003 sesquicentennial celebration.

Since then, Cindy McGill, Main Street Lincoln coordinator, left the post to accept a different job. Wanda Rohlfs was recently hired to replace McGill, but Rohlfs will not be in the office on a full-time basis until her retirement from Lincoln Community High School in May.

Main Street Lincoln administers the Looking for Lincoln project in Logan County.

Ron Keller, curator of the Lincoln College Museum, said the local museum was open until 9 p.m. Sunday and will continue to be open until 9 p.m. through Tuesday for people traveling to opening ceremonies at the presidential museum.

Lincoln College Museum and Postville and Mount Pulaski courthouses are among the sites promoted in sketches in the entryway of the new Springfield museum.

Lincoln College Museum advertised in the special edition on the presidential museum published by the State Journal-Register and placed about 1,000 brochures at Springfield historic sites and motels prior to weekend festivities.

"Most of the time, I think we have more success with brochure racks," Keller said. "If they're looking at brochure racks, they're there because they have an interest. Perhaps they already have an itinerary in mind. Having a brochure for another site helps."

He said local sites such as Postville Courthouse State Historic Site regularly share brochures about other sites with their visitors and are able to provide information along with the brochures.

Postville volunteer coordinator Shirley Bartelmay said she believes cooperation between local entities and mutual promotion is the best way to draw visitors to Logan County.

"Of course, everything goes through the local tourism bureau," Bartelmay said.

She said visits to Postville Courthouse have increased in past weeks and almost all of the visitors were on their way to Springfield.

Part of Postville's success is undoubtedly due to Bartelmay's dedication to public service. For example, she's hosting a tour group at 8:30 p.m. today, a time that the courthouse is usually closed.

Beaver believes that local restaurants and promoters of events such as the Logan County Fair will also have to climb onboard to make promotion of Logan County a success.