CVB HEAD SUGGESTS RIVER CENTER

The Mississippi River meanders through 10 states, but nowhere along its banks is there an interpretive center that explains the river's importance in national history and development.

Mary Miller wants to see that changed, and she thinks Cape Girardeau is the place to do it.

"It's an ideal opportunity for us to look into and investigate," said Miller, director of the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The river already is the city's biggest tourism draw, Miller said, and an interpretive center would pull in even more people.

"Water is refreshing. Water revives people. Anytime you're at Riverfront Park you always see people there," she said.

There is no site for a center, and there is no money to build it.

Before a location or funding is sought, a cost package and design would have to be put together, she said.

Grants or corporate sponsorships might be available to fund the project.

Miller said she got the idea during a conversation with Dr. Frank Nickell, the director of the Regional History Center at Southeast Missouri State University and a recently appointed member of the Mississippi River Parkway Commission for Missouri.

She said when she learned there wasn't a single site explaining the river's big picture, "It was just like a light bulb went on in my head." Miller said Cape Girardeau has been looking for a niche, and this is it. "We would not be where we are if it was not for the Mississippi River."

Geographically, she said, Cape Girardeau is just about a perfect site. "We're about halfway from the head waters to New Orleans," she said.

The city's proximity to the confluence of the Ohio River and Mississippi at Cairo, Ill., is perfect, Miller said. "And we're not that far from where the Missouri River comes into the Mississippi River at St. Charles."

Three riverboats dock in Cape Girardeau on a regular basis, so the center would be a natural draw for those visiting passengers, she said. And starting this fall, the new Riverbarge, a 200-room floating hotel, will also begin docking at Cape Girardeau.

"We have a local audience, and we have the river audience as well as international people that could be interested in the concept," Miller said.

She even has an idea for the design of the center itself, with parking on the main level, a floor for the display area and an observation deck on the top floor. "You can't see the river from the main level, anyway," she said.

"They could watch the eagles. They could watch the barge traffic. They could watch the traffic on the bridge. It would just be a wonderful attraction for Cape Girardeau," Miller said.

The Mississippi River Parkway Commission is made up of the 10 states bordering the river -- Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Wisconsin -- and the Canadian province of Ontario.

The commission's charge is preserving, promoting and enhancing the river corridor to foster economic growth.

The commission promotes tourism of the river corridor nationally and internationally.