Tourism
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With grant funding from the Northern Forest Destination Development Initiative, the Northern Forest Canoe Trail has developed six new paddling itineraries to attract paddlers to some of the less visited waterways in the region.
The Northern Forest Destination Development Initiative is managed by the Northern Forest Center in partnership with the Northeastern Vermont Development Association and NEK (Northeast Kingdom) Collaborative of Vermont. Funding comes from the Northern Border Regional Commission.
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The Northern Forest Center has awarded Turning Page Farm a second Tourism Innovation Program (TIP) grant to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions at its brewery and goat farm in Monson, Maine.
The new funding supports installation of a 13-kilowatt solar system to provide all the energy needed for Turning Page Farm’s brewery, cheese making room, tasting room, farm store, and goat milking area. In 2019 the Center awarded the farm a TIP grant that enabled the owners to expand brewing capacity, add a food cart offering, and extend their visitation season with a passive solar greenhouse tasting room. With those improvements completed, Turning Page Farm was ready to move ahead with phase two of its plan.
“As the business has grown quickly, and without the proper energy infrastructure, the costs of running refrigerators, heaters, and freezing was crippling,” said Joy Bueschen who owns Turning Page Farm with her husband Tim. “If we can't afford to keep the lights on, literally, we can't make the business model work.”
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In support of the recreation, food and creative businesses of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom (NEK), the Center supports and administers the getNEKedVT regional discovery campaign. The website and marketing campaign connects residents and visitors with the region’s amenities and supports businesses that are dependent on visitors.
Covid-19 has inspired the campaign to develop some creative new ways to connect with its audiences to keep the NEK in their minds as a destination for future adventures when it's safe for travel to resume.
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The Center has been offering customized technical assistance for digital marketing to help tourism businesses improve their bottom lines as a follow up to the Community Destination Academy. Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, the Center and marketing consultant Danielle Dorrie of DD+Co. in Bangor have retooled the program to offer virtual coaching for upcoming sessions with participants from the Bethel Community Destination Academy.
Danielle works with Randy from Kamp Kamp in Greenville, Maine.