They are doing some restructuring and we had some discussion. I think they are heading in the right direction. Diane Lesman
Learning that changes had been made and that Diane Brostrom- Lesman had left the Cook County Visitor’s Bureau (CCVB) in mid-February led some community members to ask why. Just under a year ago the CCVB happily announced that it was opening its doors at the corner of 5th Avenue and Highway 61 and introduced its “team,” of which Lesman was a member. Why the change? The answer, according to the parties involved, is that a mutual agreement had been reached that the CCVB marketing coordinator position was not “a good fit” for Lesman.
“We all know that the organization is evolving and changing,” said Lesman, reached by phone on February 23. “They are doing some restructuring and we had some discussion. I think they are heading in the right direction.”
Amber Pratt, a Grand Marais Area Tourism Association board member who worked with Lesman not only as part of the CCVB but when Lesman served as executive director of the Grand Marais Area Tourism Association (GMATA), said that the decision for Lesman to leave was a “mutual agreement.”
Asked if the restructuring eliminated the tourism entities that collaborated to form the CCVB, Pratt said no. The boards of the three groups—GMATA, the Gunflint Trail Association, and the Lutsen- Tofte Tourism Association—all still exist. However, each entity no longer has its own executive director. All three are now overseen by CCVB Executive Director Sally Nankivell.
Nankivell also said there was a mutual agreement regarding Lesman leaving CCVB. She added, “Diane’s energy and enthusiasm for marketing Grand Marais and Cook County over the years has been greatly appreciated, and we wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
Some community members noted that Lesman’s departure closely followed the February Winter Tracks Festival. Was there some sort of connection? Was the Winter Tracks Festival less successful than expected?
Nankivell said absolutely not, explaining that Lesman’s position was marketing coordinator and she was not involved in Winter Tracks
Festival planning or implementation.
She also emphatically stated, “We consider the Winter Tracks Festival to be a success. It was the first year of pushing it to a countywide event, beyond the Gunflint Trail, and we believe it worked very well.”
Asked how the success of such an event is gauged, Nankivell said both “subjective and objective” methods are used. She said CCVB developed a “passport” system. Visitors were given a passport in which to collect stamps or stickers for taking part in the various Winter Tracks events. At the end of the festival, the passports were collected and the bearers were entered in a drawing for another stay in Cook County—in the summer.
The data from the passports— how many were turned in, what events were attended, etc.—is still being tallied to provide concrete information on participation in Winter Tracks.
Nankivell said the CCVB also obtained “anecdotal” information, talking to lodging establishments and other businesses to see if they felt the event brought more people to the county.
She said the Winter Tracks Festival was also a success as a marketing tool. She said all of the tourism entities working together to promote the festival leveraged tourism dollars. The festival promoted Cook County as a winter destination.
CCVB plans to meet with the three tourism entities, as well as Lutsen Mountains and Grand Portage, which also contribute to the CCVB, to review the information gathered. “We will sit down in the spring,” said Nankivell. “We want the entities to let us know—what worked? What was successful? What needs to be changed?”
Asked if CCVB will continue the Moose Madness Festival, instituted by GMATA under Lesman’s direction, Nankivell said that is something that will be reviewed this spring, but added that it is quite likely that the festival, established in 2003, will continue. “Just because we don’t have individual directors for each tourism entity does not mean that we won’t focus on the things that have been successful,” she said.
“The focus will be on what the community wants,” said Nankivell.
CCVB will also be focusing on its staffing structure. In February Anna Klobuchar was hired as an administrative assistant. Nankivell said, “We’ve been thoughtful of our needs, but we’ve reached the point at which we need help with the daily administrative tasks that arise in an organization of this size.”
Nankivell said Jim Vick is still serving as the interim marketing director and Laurie Schaffer has joined him as comarketing director. They will continue in that shared role until the end of the fiscal year. However she said the CCVB has made an offer to a candidate for the position. If the person accepts, a permanent marketing director will be on board May 1.
Also still on staff is Visitors Bureau Events Director Maggie Barnard, and Sue Weber is providing contract services for special projects, website programming, and grant writing. Each tourism information center—in city hall in downtown Grand Marais and at the Commercial Fishing Museum in Tofte—has several staff members.
CCVB is funded in part by the 1% lodging tax implemented in December 2008 and by the 3% lodging tax in place prior to that. Tourism partners such as Lutsen Mountains and Grand Portage also make voluntary contributions.
The CCVB board of directors is Andrew Warren, Mark Sandbo, and Amber Pratt with GMATA; Mike Prom and Bob McCloughan of GTA; Frank Vecchio of Grand Portage; Dennis Rysdahl, Nancy Burns, Mike Larson, Bob Ryan and Bill Hansen of LTTA; and Jim Vick and Charles Skinner of Lutsen Mountains.
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