Editor:
An interesting fact about Sweet Home is that it lies on Highway 20, the only highway in the United States that runs from coast to coast, beginning in Newport and ending in Boston, Mass. We’re right on the main drag!
The booklet recently published advertising Sportsman’s Holiday and Sweet Home Rodeo was great. If a similar booklet were published with information about activities available in the “Sweet Home, the Gateway to the Cascades” area and circulated widely, it would be an effective tool toward encouraging tourists to visit Sweet Home.
Does not the Chamber of Commerce have a budget item for publicity?
A big sign, such as used to advertise the “Rock and Mineral Show” hung over Main Street proclaiming, “Welcome to Sweet Home, the Gateway to the Cascades,” would identify our town to the tourist.
As was pointed out in a recent editorial page, encouraging people to visit Sweet Home is not profitable at this time as there is little to see or do.
A person exploring a town likes to stroll through it, observing what the town is all about. Right now, with its empty storefronts, Sweet Home doesn’t offer much.
There are five cardinal rules that mark a tourist. By observing them, some of those empty storefronts could be filled.
Number one: Tourists like to munch on something as they stroll. Example: Saltwater taffy at the coast.
Number two: Tourists usually want to buy a souvenir of their trip. Example: Novelty stores selling objects reminiscent of the area, such as T-shirts with a logo or objects made of local materials.
Number three: Tourists want something to look at. Example: Art displays, museums and murals.
Number four: Tourists want something to do. Example: Go on a tour, swim or skate.
Number five: Tourists like to go into stores that offer merchandise appropriate to their vacation interests. Example: Sporting goods stores and clothing stores offering swim suits, shorts, etc.
Would it be too difficult to have fresh popcorn, candy, snow cone or cotton candy machines and soft drinks in an open shop front to satisfy the “munchie” crave?
I have seen fast food places offer “picnic lunches to go” that have been highly successful in a tourist situation. Thriftway has proved that hot dog and soft drink stands are very popular.
In the bazaars that erupt at Christmas time and at the Jamboree, there is a variety of original items, such as wood carvings, pottery, paintings and needlecraft offered for sale. If some of those enterprising persons would set up a concession for their wares it would be the answer to a tourist’s desire to take home a souvenir from Sweet Home.
The Chamber of Commerce could offer tours as our sister city of Sisters is doing. It needn’t be the horse-and-stagecoach type of tour as is promoted there. For example, a tour of the Old Santiam Wagon Road ending with a picnic at Cascadia State Park would be interesting to a tourist. At $10 per person, the tour would pay for itself, taking care of gas, insurance and a drive.
Another tour could be to Green Peter Dam or a tour of the Over the River and Through the Woods Scenic Byway. A walking tour of our murals, equipped with brochures would be another possibility. A unique tour would be the one offered by White’s Electronics, which manufactures and ships metal detectors worldwide, or the one offered by the Weyerhaeuser plant in Foster, with its view of one facet of the timber industry.
The swimming pool at Sweet Home High School would be a welcome diversion on a hot day. Many people would prefer swimming in a pool rather than the cold waters of the lake or river.
Sweet Home does have a sporting goods store. There is Rita’s shop with its gold-panning equipment, and Donna displays a nice variety of water toys at Foster Mall. Those are the only stores that answer need number five of the tourist: to view merchandise appropriate to their vacation.
The key to the whole thing is to advertise, advertise, advertise. Be bold about it, each store displaying “Welcome to Sweet Home, the Gateway to the Cascades,” making the name Sweet Home synonymous with the “Gateway to the Cascades.”
We don’t need a marina with its commercialism to pay off greedy speculators. We are rich with natural advantages. We just have to get with it.
Rachel Mealey Vogel
Sweet Home