Pandemic relief funds could pay for electronic signs to promote tourism. The LaSalle County Board Tourism Committee is thinking about getting one or two signs. The plan is to put one by the Heritage Corridor Convention and Visitors Bureau building on U.S. 6 in Utica.
Its president and CEO, Bob Navarro, says he wouldn’t ordinarily want the committee to reach out that way to people who are already in the area. The committee oversees hotel-motel tax money collected from people who stay at area hotels to promote the kind of tourism that leads to more hotel stays. But he doesn’t object to using American Rescue Plan money for a sign.
Starved Rock Lodge Marketing Director Kathy Casstevens is concerned about a marketing sign in Utica being futile. Visitors are already in the area for local events on the weekends. If the sign’s next best use is to get people to stay until Monday, those visitors will find closed shops in Utica on that day of the week.
Tourism Committee Chair Jill Bernal is concerned about putting a sign in Utica and making other communities wonder why they don’t get one. The other sign would go on Etna Rd. in Ottawa by the courthouse. The committee talked about it last week but didn’t decide.