Luscious looking red vases

The new Arts Trail/Taste Trail flipbook came out a few days ago, with the cover a knockout photograph of some luscious-looking red vases blown by Wellington’s own Mark Armstrong. Good for you, Mark. And Wellington is well— but not exhaustively—represented by the inclusion in the flipbook of the studios or galleries of Margaret McFetridge, Pamela Carter, Paulette Greer and Carol Gander.

The Arts Trail and the Taste Trail are a key part of the “destination marketing” efforts of Taste the County, a non-profit corporation supported by the County municipal corporation. The thrust is to lure people to the County with a (not incorrect) sense that they will discover a fine arts, wining and dining mecca. But you have to pay for the privilege of being included on one of the Trails and thus in the flipbook. And you are not going to be listed in the flipbook if you run an everyday restaurant, or bed and breakfast, or gas pump.

But if I don’t have the budget to be on the Taste Trail, or if I am that restaurant, place to stay or service, where do I put my County tourism advertising dollars? The options begin to multiply quickly. I may choose to be listed in the Prince Edward County 2013 Insider’s Guide, published by Taste the County in partnership with the County. Or I might consider that unsubsidized bastion of free enterprise, the Break Away guide, published by my co-columnist Steve Campbell’s County Magazine Printshop Ltd., 40,000 copies of which find their way around the County each year. Or I might prefer to be included in the highly reliable claret-coloured County Map, published each year by the Prince Edward County Chamber of Tourism and Commerce. Or I could stick closer to home and join the Wellington and District Business Association, and be listed in its colourful rack brochure as well as on its website.

Being in one doesn’t mean I get to be in the others. And I have to pay for each of them. This seems bone crushingly obvious, but it was years before I realized that to get the big picture, I was going to have to bring home an armload of material and take a self-directed course in comparative literature.

For the potential tourist searching the web, it can be a litte bewildering as well. The County government’s website contains no readily obvious links to tourism (although it is under redevelopment). Taste the County directs people interested in visiting the County to one website (visitpec.ca), which in turn flips you over to another website (prince-edward-county.com). This website is owned by a private company, but is endorsed by the Prince Edward County Tourism Development Alliance as the County’s official tourism website. At the same time, the Chamber of Tourism and Commerce maintains a website (pechamber.com), that is similar but not identical to the official site.

Then you’ve got different organizations to consider. You’ve got your Accommodation Association of Prince Edward County, the Cottages and Campgrounds of PEC and the Prince Edward County Winegrowers Association (which publishes a map featuring most wineries and some dining and accommodations establishments). And there are events, mostly complementary, that originate in different quarters. The Winegrowers sponsor Wassail and Terroir. Taste the County puts on Maple in the County, Countylicious, Artrageous and TASTE community grown. The Prince Edward Arts Council takes care of Art in the County, the Jazz Festival, the Eastern Ontario Photo Show, the Music Festival, the Studio Tour and the Maker’s Hand. The County itself, through its museums and community development department, is organizing the April 27 Doors Open festival.

For a small business owner such as Danielle Guslits of the Tall Poppy Café, “it’s all a bit overwhelming.” She is inundated with advertising requests and is therefore guessing at the effectiveness of the choices she has made to supplement basic word of mouth. And, to be frank, I would be a more effective ambassador for County tourism to my friends and relations if I were smarter, or could reduce it all to one simpleton’s flow chart: this is who does what and here is where you’ll find all you need to know about x, y or z.

I am aware that the members of the County Tourism Development Alliance are working to harmonize their efforts, and that our new department of community development will add some impetus to that effort. If Danielle Guslits and I are indicators of any sort, there is a lot of work to be done. So it’s important that they don’t just blow smoke. Mind you, they shouldn’t be blowing glass either: let’s leave that to Mark Armstrong.

David Simmonds’s writing is also available at www.grubstreet.ca.