EAST PRAIRIE MEETING FOCUSES ON ATTRACTING VISITORS THROUGH TOURISM

EAST PRAIRIE -- The East Prairie Tourism Council has a dream that visitors will come to their town to see the sights and spend some money.

Richard Henson gave a motivational speech to about 40 people Tuesday at a tourism forum in East Prairie telling them that having the dream is the first step.

"Then you must be professional, be organized and follow your dream," said Henson, who speaks on personal tourism development.

Presented by the tourism council, the Quad-State Forum on Tourism Development offered an avenue in which East Prairie and Charleston business people could mix with state tourism personnel and private tourism developers to exchange ideas.

"This is a way for us to be more aware of what we can do," said Silvey Barker, tourism council chairperson.

Barker said the council hopes to use East Prairie's proximity to Big Oak Tree State Park and Ten Mile Pond and Number Seven Island conservation areas as an initial selling point for tourism.

"We really have the natural sites in place," Barker said. "We just need to promote what we have."

Tourism dropped more than $10 billion into Missouri's budget in 1995 and was ranked as the state's second-largest industry, according to the latest statistics from the division of tourism. Between $4 and $10 is generated for every dollar spent on tourism in the state.

The council developed a brochure that encourages people to "Look to the East; East Prairie, It's the Natural Thing to Do."

Tammy Carlyle, East Prairie administrative assistant, said the city's next step is to send these brochures out to tour groups and tourism centers. She said the council is also going to emphasize the area's bird life. "There's a lot of bird watching opportunities here in the county," she said.

If these measures begin to develop a tourist trade in East Prairie, Carlyle said other projects might be initiated that would center on the city's history. She said there are historic buildings in the city and an option would be to develop that into a historic district.

Mississippi County also has Towosahgy State Historic Site, Battle of Belmont State Historic Site and the Historic Museum of Mississippi County, which could help draw history buffs to the area, Carlyle said.

She said a tourism plan was developed in the city's enterprise community plan in 1994. The forum was the first step outside the planning phase for the council.

Carlyle said she believes many tourists who live in urban areas would come to rural towns like East Prairie to get away.

Since tourism became a focus of city planners, previously idle groups like the Garden Club have become more active in the community.

Henrietta Hubbard, Garden Club president, said the club started up about two years ago. Since then, Hubbard said she has seen a significant rise in participation among residents.

She said she thinks the town has taken to the tourism idea.

East Prairie Mayor Lonnie Thurmond said the forum and the council are good places to start. He said it wouldn't be a drastic step to change the city into a tourist area.

"It's not really going to be that big of a step to get people here. I think the step is getting them to know what we have here," Thurmond said.