Above: The Cook County Visitors Bureau (CCVB) staff looks jovial at the 1st annual Cook County Tourism Celebration Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at Papa Charlie’s in Lutsen. (L-R) Sally Nankivell, Suzanne Weber, Diane Lesman, Maggie Barnard, Jim Vick, Lori Schaefer, Jenny Kartes, and Dana Johnson. Top right: (L-R) State Senator Tom Bakk, Explore Minnesota Tourism Director John Edman, and CCVB board chair Charles Skinner pose for a photo. All three addressed the crowd and talked about issues regarding tourism and the economy. Right: Grand Marais mayor Sue Hakes with Grand Marais Recreation Area Manager Dave Tersteeg.
On Wednesday evening, October 20, 2010, more than 200 business people and public officials gathered for the first annual Cook County Tourism Celebration at Papa Charlie’s in Lutsen. The event marked the first six months of the Cook County Visitors Bureau (CCVB), a united effort to build Cook County tourism, and included a smorgasbord, free drinks, live entertainment, and speeches from two state leaders.
CCVB Executive Director Sally Nankivell and board member Charles Skinner welcomed the crowd. Tourism constitutes at least 80% of Cook County’s economy, Skinner said, an economy that has fared better than more diverse economies in other areas during the nation’s current economic downturn. Lodging units are only at 40% capacity, however. Think what it would be like, he said, if that percentage were much higher.
Thirteen days before election day, Skinner entreated people to vote for candidates who support public funding for tourism. “Like all industries,” he said, “tourism is going to need some public support at some point.”
After introduction of the CCVB board of directors, staff, and team of marketing consultants, Skinner welcomed Explore Minnesota Tourism Director John Edman and State Senator Tom Bakk.
Head of Explore Minnesota
Tourism speaks
“This is a community that should really stand apart from all other communities,” Edman said of the way so many different business entities have come together to build Cook County tourism. Minnesota’s recreation and leisure industry generates 16% of the state’s sales tax and 10% of its private sector jobs, he said.
Right now, Edman said, people are traveling but not necessarily wanting to take a plane to get to their destinations, putting Cook County in a great position for generating tourism. With a $6 billion state deficit, we have to think of new and creative ways to build the industry, he said. “We’re going to have to deal with the changes that are this ‘new normal’ economy. …We need to be thinking outside the box.”
Edman closed his comments by quoting two Buffets: “Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing” (Warren Buffett), and “It’s 5:00 somewhere” (Jimmy Buffett).
Senator Tom Bakk
outlines challenges
Senator Tom Bakk, head of the state’s legislative tax committee, thanked people for their support in his run for governor, an effort that will make him an even better senator, he said.
“This is an incredible part of the state to represent,” Bakk said. Every week, someone comes up to him and says they were just in his district, he said. “People in Minnesota love Minnesota’s North Shore, and they love the Boundary Waters.”
Bakk described feeling compelled to come to Cook County when the 2007 Ham Lake fire broke out and attending an informational meeting at the school. “Every legislator should feel the emotion in a room like that,” he said. Every single day that week, the Twin Cities papers had a photo of the fire on the front page, above the fold. “Everybody in the state was fighting that fire,” he said.
Bakk outlined some of Minnesota’s current financial challenges. The state will have to borrow over $200,000,000 in December just to pay its bills, he said. “We have a structural problem. There are going to be no easy answers to it. We’re all going to have to hunker down and tighten our belts on the spending side. …Everybody thinks their thing is the most important thing.” We can’t just tax somebody else, he said.
The state is changing demographically, Bakk said, and retiring Baby Boomers are not going to be spending as much as they once did. Their investments tanked, their health care expenses are going to be significant, and they’re worried about their kids, he said.
Bakk described some of the younger generation’s challenges, saying that the cost of Minnesota’s community colleges is the first- or second-highest in the nation. An economy in which students graduate from college with school loans equaling the cost of a house is not sustainable, he said.
Every dollar the state spends on tourism, Bakk said, brings $5 in revenue. He believes the state has room to generate more income through property and food and beverage taxes. Sixtyfive percent of Cook County’s property taxes, the lowest in the state, come from people who are not full-time residents, he said.
Bakk would like to help Cook County become a place where young people can afford to stay. “We’ll grow the wealth by investing in ourselves,” he said, adding that Cook County will need to figure out how to bring in its own marketing dollars.
United effort to
promote county identity
Following the speeches, local band The Splinters
beckoned partygoers to the dance floor.
“This event was a chance to celebrate our recent successes as a county as well as the central role tourism plays in Cook County’s economy,” said CCVB Executive Director Sally Nankivell. “It was a great opportunity for the community to come together, get reacquainted and celebrate the ongoing optimism and dedication that brought us together and will carry us through many more successful years of tourism in Minnesota’s favorite county.”
CCVB was formed in May as a marketing entity representing the Grand Marais Tourism Association, the Gunflint Trail Association, the Lutsen-Tofte Tourism Association, Grand Portage Tourism, and Lutsen Mountains.
According to a CCVB press release, the organization was created to increase efficiencies, create specialized staff roles and cooperative advertising opportunities, and coordinate the efforts of five distinct and diverse tourism areas while further strengthening the area’s identity.
Nankivell said, “We’re looking forward to many more celebrations together as a unified tourism entity.”
The cost of the tourism celebration was covered by the following businesses: Lutsen Mountains (facility and staffing), Bernick’s Beverages, Rohlfing Beverages, and Sysco Foods.
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