[Active] Lake City Tourism News

[Positively Campbell County]

This article is about Lake City looking at taking very bold steps in order to grow its economy through tourism.

Tapping tourist dollars
Anderson County officials see green buried in area's rich history

By CLAYTON HENSLEY, business at knews.com
June 5, 2007


Lake City Mayor V.E. "Buck" Wilson has a vision for his small town north of Knoxville - one that could have the city
changing its name while helping all of Anderson County benefit from a fast-growing segment of the travel industry called
cultural heritage tourism.
"It's not impossible. It can be done, and we're going to try," Wilson said.

Standing in a meeting room at City Hall, Wilson shows off the architect's new designs for what could be the cornerstone
of Lake City's future. It is a coal mining museum - a 24,000- to 40,000-square-foot building filled with exhibits, an
entertainment center, retail space and a restaurant.

The cost of fulfilling Wilson's dream is $20 million. In addition to the building, Wilson envisions a shuttle bus
traveling along abandoned rail lines to places like Briceville and Fraterville, communities forever tied to the area's
rich coal-mining history. Wilson believes the museum will give some of the more than 200,000 people traveling on
Interstate 75 each day a reason to come downtown.

He also wants to change Lake City's name back to Coal Creek, a name relegated to history after the creation of Norris
Lake.

The time may just be right for the coal mining museum. A 2003 Travel Industry Association study showed 81 percent of
adults in the United States who took at least one trip of 50 miles or more included cultural, arts, historic or heritage
activities in their travels. Those same travelers spend on average $623 per trip compared to $457 for all travelers
(excluding transportation).

Tourism is already big business in Anderson County. State tourism numbers showed tourists in Anderson County spent
$86.57 million in 2005 enough to rank it fourth in the East Tennessee region. Growth in tourism was 9 percent in 2005
placing Anderson County just behind Sevier and Blount counties.

Tourism generated $1.85 million in local tax receipts and $5.3 million in state tax receipts.

Stephanie Wells, director of the Anderson County Tourism Council, said Anderson County spends $150,000 a year on
promoting tourism, with Oak Ridge spending about $350,000 to $400,000.

"That's a lot of money coming back into the county when you are looking at the spending to make it happen," Wells said.

Anderson County has something to offer virtually every tourist, especially the cultural-heritage tourist.

"A lot of people are looking into their heritage and they want to know, especially with Oak Ridge, what were their
parents doing or grandparents doing?" Wells said.

High on a hill overlooking downtown Clinton is the Green McAdoo Cultural Center. Opened, in August 2006, the museum
tells the story of the "Clinton 12", the first black students to attend an all white public high school in the South.

In May, Gov. Phil Bredesen came to Clinton to dedicate life-sized statues of the young men and women who made history
and who may ultimately help shape the county's tourism future.

One of the most well known attractions in Anderson County is The Museum of Appalachia in Norris. It recently became
affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution.

The museum's founder, John Rice Irwin, sitting at a table draped in a checkered cloth, talked about how his museum
started. He sips a cup of coffee while pointing out some of the 35 buildings on the grounds of the 65-acre replica of a
mountain village.

The museum started as a way of preserving the memory of Irwin's family.

"Having an item that belonged to them was sort of an extension of their memory and showed an affinity for them," Irwin
said.

That affinity has grown to a collection of more than a quarter of a million artifacts and an experience that leaves
visitors wanting to come back again and again, Irwin said.

For five days in October, The Museum of Appalachia welcomes more than 50,000 people "home." The museum's Executive
Director Elaine Meyer said the Tennessee Fall Homecoming is a major source of repeat business for the museum.

"They come here and they enjoy it so much they want to come back, bring their grandchildren or their friends," Meyer
said.

New attractions could have a "synergistic" effect on tourism in the Anderson County area, Irwin said. However, he is
quick to tell the backers of such attractions that money isn't everything.

"The best way to achieve success is to put that to the side and say whatever we are doing we really want to do the best
we can," Irwin said.

Wilson has similar hopes for the mining museum.

"We kind of want to be the hub of Anderson County," he said.

Posted by Tim K.
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