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Parkersburg, News and Sentinel
May 31, 2002
Travel Web site features local attractions
By JESSE MANCINI
Tourist attractions in the region are being featured on a popular Web site dedicated to entertainment, the arts and celebrities.
Coverage in thecelebritycafe.com came from an excursion by travel writers in West Virginia during National Tourism Week in May.
The article was written by Janet Pope under the byline Janet Pope while her husband, Donald, was the photographer. The couple is from the Bronx in New York City.
Among the local attractions featured in the article were the Blennerhassett Hotel, the Smoot Theatre, North Bend State Park and the North Bend Rail-Trial and the R.C. Marshall Hardware Store and the Country Trails Bike Shop in Cairo.
The Popes were hosted by the Parkersburg-Wood County Convention and Visitors Bureau and assistant marketing chief Kari Thompson. The trip was organized and coordinated by the bureau and the West Virginia Division of Tourism.
''You just can't buy this kind of publicity,'' said Steve Nicely, executive director of the bureau.
To find the three-part series, go to the Web site and click travel stories. Parkersburg is at the top of the list.
Travel writers frequently come to West Virginia, Nicely said. However, authors who enjoy a credibility with their readers and have a dedicated following have the greatest impact, he said.
Thecelebritycafe.com is one of the oldest entertainment sites on the Web, Nicely said. It was created in 1996 and receives about 950,000 hits a month.
''People trust what they say,'' Nicely said.
The Internet has changed some of the marketing ways of the bureau, Nicely said.
For example, while phone calls for information coming into the office are down, hits on the bureau's Web site have greatly increased, he said. The bureau has to be ever vigilant to have up-to-date information on the site, Nicely said.
''People are getting their information from the Internet,'' Nicely said.
An advantage to having a piece on thecelebritycafe.com is it will remain there as long as the site remains, Nicely said. Anyone doing a search for Parkersburg will find the site, he said.
''That story will be there for a long, long time,'' he said.
Most of the features on the site are about celebrities. The travel section is new and has articles about Florida, Washington, Boston and Nashville.
The entry about Parkersburg is the most recent.
The story starts with the Popes' lunch at the Blennerhassett, then with the Smoot Theatre where they spoke with director Felice Jorgeson. The Smoot, on Fifth Street, was a vaudeville theater in the 1920s.
The theater is a popular stop for writers, Jorgeson said. About six years ago the Smoot was included in ''One Day Trips in West Virginia'' and was the largest feature in the travel book, he said.
''They come often,'' she said. ''Two or three times a summer.''
''We were enchanted by Felice Jorgeson, the volunteer artistic director. She enchanted us with the history of this building as well as her effervescent love of the theater,'' the article said.
Another stop at the Blennerhassett Museum resulted in a friendship between Ray Swick, historian for the island, and the Popes.
''There we met Dr. Ray Swick, the museum director. He is a gentleman filled with a wealth of local history, a character with passion and an abundance of stories,'' the article said. ''Dr. Swick proved to be a great match for Donald in storytelling, historical knowledge and humor. They immediately became fast friends, swapping tales back and forth.''
The Popes were impressed with North Bend at Cairo and rode the rail trail for five miles. They rented their bikes at the Country Trails Bike Shop.
They browsed through R.C. Marshall Hardware then had a scoop of ice cream from the Scoop.
They Popes also visited Fenton Art Glass, Holl's Chocolates, DaVinci's, the Oil and Gas and the Blennerhassett museums, Middleton Dolls, Blennerhassett Island, the Little Kanawha Craft House and the Avery-Savage bed and breakfast on 13th Street.
While locals say there's not to much to do around here, out-of-towners generally say the opposite, Nicely said. There's always something to go see or do, he said.
''These are the things we see everyday and take for granted,'' Nicely said.
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