Greater Parkersburg CVB celebrates successful year with new welcome center
Greater Parkersburg Convention and Visitors Bureau President and CEO Mark Lewis announced during the organization’s annual partners meeting Thursday at the Grand Pointe Conference Center, that over 7,000 people visited the new visitors center at 113 Ann St., Parkersburg. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)
Volunteers for the Greater Parkersburg Convention and Visitors Bureau were recognized during the organization’s annual partners meeting Thursday night at the Grand Pointe Conference Center. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)
The Greater Parkersburg Convention and Visitors Bureau’s head volunteer and lead tourism ambassador Donna Briggs puts her arm around volunteer Karen Waterman as the organization thanks those who give their time to work at the new welcome center during the organization’s annual partners meeting Thursday night at the Grand Pointe Conference Center. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)
Greater Parkersburg Convention and Visitors Bureau President and CEO Mark Lewis announced during the organization’s annual partners meeting Thursday at the Grand Pointe Conference Center, that over 7,000 people visited the new visitors center at 113 Ann St., Parkersburg. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)
Volunteers for the Greater Parkersburg Convention and Visitors Bureau were recognized during the organization’s annual partners meeting Thursday night at the Grand Pointe Conference Center. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)
The Greater Parkersburg Convention and Visitors Bureau’s head volunteer and lead tourism ambassador Donna Briggs puts her arm around volunteer Karen Waterman as the organization thanks those who give their time to work at the new welcome center during the organization’s annual partners meeting Thursday night at the Grand Pointe Conference Center. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)
Trending
VIENNA -- The Greater Parkersburg Convention and Visitors Bureau held its annual meeting Thursday to review the past year's activities and look ahead to future plans.
CVB President and CEO Mark Lewis provided an overview of the significant impact the new welcome center, which opened in April 2022 at 113 Ann St., has made on the organization.
"Over the winter into 2023, we worked to complete our most important permanent renovations," Lewis said. "We reopened on May 1 of 2023 in an amazing new space, and we were ready to rock. The result - 7,046 visitors."
Lewis said the last year the welcome center operated at its old location on the corner of Seventh and Avery streets they saw a total of 701 visitors.
"Ten times the number that we saw in the last year before COVID in our old location," Lewis said. "That's 10 times the number of opportunities to tell people about additional things they can do while they're here, and 10 times the number of opportunities to get them to come back for another visit."
Lewis said this surge in visitors has provided more opportunities to promote local attractions and businesses. Nearby destinations like Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park and the Oil & Gas Museum saw visitation increases of over 1,000 people last year.
The increase of numbers is great, Lewis said, but to fully realize the opportunity those numbers present requires a great staff and a great group of volunteers. The CVB has both, he said.
"People may not remember what you tell them, but they'll remember how you made them feel," Lewis said. "And our folks are not only good at sharing everything we have in Parkersburg, but they absolutely make people feel wonderful."
Volunteers now staff the welcome center on weekends, greeting over 300 visitors some days, Lewis said. Volunteers expressed their enjoyment in sharing their knowledge and experiences with visitors.
Lewis shared some of the improvements made to the welcome center, saying they have doubled the size of the restroom spaces and made them fully ADA compliant. They also renovated and expanded the interior open space, adding office/workspace areas including a boardroom. They installed a collaborative community garden with 48 raised beds, a sustainable rainwater collection system and exhibition beds of native wildflowers and conducted landscaping projects like a commemorative stone installation and adding flower beds.
"We have turned the place that was sitting empty into a showplace for Parkersburg, and we're very proud of that," Lewis said.
Plans for this year include installing solar panels on the roof of the welcome center to make it more sustainable, adding electric vehicle chargers and purchasing a large 30-by-80-foot tent to facilitate more community events in the back parking lot. They're also looking forward to the creation of additional mountain bike trails and a new campground at Mountwood Park using a $2.6 million abandoned mine land grant.
"Which is going to be great for our efforts to promote Mountwood as a major mountain biking destination," Lewis said. "Lots of good things happened this year. Lots of good things in the work for next year."
For more information about the Greater Parkersburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, individuals can visit their website at greaterparkersburg.com or visit the welcome center at 113 Ann St.
Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com