With seasonal temperatures and cooperative skies, the Treasure Mountain Festival brought in thousands to enjoy Pendleton County heritage, shopping, food, live music, contests, and more. For the Pendleton County Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau, however, TMF represented a job well done, but much to do as the festival prepares for the future.
Jared VanMeter, executive director of the chamber of commerce, and Annie Humes, executive director of the CVB, both emphasized forging more connections between the festival and local businesses. Stronger relationships and collaboration, they reason, can lead to even more maximization of the economic impact from TMF and the thousands who celebrate.
VanMeter stated that the festival presented a “mixed bag” as a whole to the county business community, adding that some businesses close their doors “in observance of the festival” and due to heavy foot traffic in some areas. Restaurants “see a bit of a boost,” although the festival welcomes a number of food truck options from outside the area. Some of those specialize in foods not normally available in Franklin as well.
“Lodging is impacted greatly by the festival,” added VanMeter. He shared that area lodging, including hotels and bed and breakfast establishments, were booking guests as late as the week of the festival.
Humes related the “unique joy of most of our lodging being vacation rental homes.” She went on to explain that having a decentralized base of lodging means that a convention and visitors bureau must work to forge “personal relationships all around the county” with lodging entrepreneurs of all kinds. “It’s a little bit more of an effort” than urban oriented CVBs have to undertake with most of their lodging in the form of hotels and motels, often chains. Humes stated that “we grew those relationships over the past year.”
“We had a lot of folks totally booked out,” prior to TMF, said Humes. She went on to explain that TMF organizers had a goal of engaging lodging businesses to ensure a maximum number of options for festival goers. “New relationships built by TMF” helped considerably, Humes said.
From the chamber’s point of view, forging more relationships between local business and TMF is also a goal. VanMeter explained that some businesses may be missing “opportunities to capitalize” on TMF and the thousands of visitors coming in from near and far away. “Treasure Mountain Festival should be approaching the businesses” not currently as engaged, he noted, also adding, “get them involved and expand the win.”
VanMeter furthermore noted that “the festival is outsized for the population,” meaning that the small population of Pendleton County does an incredible job in organizing, promoting, and executing a large-scale event annually. “Tons of volunteers, tons of businesses working with the festival. It’s a countywide event. Everyone bands together,” he added.
He also stated that the festival is well-organized with “as low a level of incidents as you can expect.”
Organization of TMF was assisted by a number of first-time and younger individuals taking part in organization and administration. As Humes described, “They were stepping into roles that older folks who had been doing for years were ready to retire from.” Other regional festivals and events have contended with the struggle of recruiting help to continue into the future.
She went on to share that “I cannot explain the astonishment I have for the people showing up in so many different capacities for the festival. There’s not one single person who makes it all happen but it depends on all who show up.”
“For such a small community, that’s so impressive,” she concluded.
