SCENIC DRIVE EXAMINED; RCGA WILL HEAR HISTORY CENTER PLAN TONIGHT

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive at Peoria, Ill., attracts 40,000 visitors annually, and those visitors spend money that is recirculated in the area.

Plans are being made for an annual scenic drive through Southeast Missouri that will showcase the area and bring outside dollars into local economies.

"The idea has potential," said Frank Nickell, head of the Center for Regional History and Cultural Heritage at Southeast Missouri State University. The center is sponsoring and coordinating the project.

Nickell will discuss the project in detail during the Regional Commerce and Growth Association (RCGA) meeting to be held tonight at the Holiday Inn. The meeting will get under way with a social hour at 5:30 p.m., and will be followed by the regular meeting at 6:30.

Nickell will explain the operations of the center and the planned Mississippi River Valley Scenic Drive. RCGA membership recruitment will also be discussed.

Officials with the project predict the event will draw several thousand visitors the first year. They are promoting it nationally with emphasis in St. Louis and Memphis. Several tour busses are expected.

More economic benefits will be derived, with more than 500 artists and craftsmen expected to be exhibiting their works in conjunction with the drive. Provisions are being made for their displays along the route.

The drive is scheduled for April 27-28, 1991, to coincide with the dogwood and azalea tree bloomings.

"This will expose the area's beauty and history," Nickel said. "Education plays an important part. This is an attractive, historical area. This is the oldest inhabited section of the state by others than the Amerindians."

Historic sites along the way will be open and staffed with interpreters.

The guide map shows a 131-mile circuit through Cape Girardeau, Trail of Tears State Park, Fruitland, Pocahontas, the German-Saxon communities, Biehle, Sedgewickville, Patton, Marble Hill, Bollinger Mill Historic Site, and Jackson. Coordinators have been named in each community.

Special activities are being planned along the route to draw a variety of visitors. One is a Civil War encampment near Patton with at least 400 re-enactors, a centennial celebration and church dinner at the Pocahontas Lutheran Church, a black-powder shoot and rendezvous at Trail of Tears, and a re-enactment of Cape Girardeau's founding to be staged at the city's riverfront.

Two gathering points will be established to serve visitors. One will be at Biehle and the other at the Cape Girardeau riverfront.

Brochures, booklets and general information will be available at the two points. Signs will be erected along the route to guide drivers.

Several places not normally open to the public will be accessible during the drive, Nickell said. Among them are Carl Penzel's azalea farm west of Jackson, the Black Forest development north of Cape Girardeau and Tom Runnels' "Cat Ranch" near Marble Hill.

One of the topics of discussion has been having a photography contest connected with the drive.

The Center for Regional History and Cultural Heritage is behind the scenic drive development as part of a new direction it is taking. The center is focusing on more community involvement and outreach. It is working on several grant proposals, including a local, rural photo-documentary.

The scenic drive project's coordinating committee, which Nickell chairs, consists of Art Mattingly and Mike Shain of Cape Girardeau and Lacretia Drum and Estelee Wood of Jackson. Nickell credits Drum with originating the scenic-drive concept. The Jackson resident recently earned a masters degree in history at the university.

No one is being paid a salary in relation to the undertaking. The project cost, estimated to be about $7,000, will be recouped by advertising and crafts-booth rentals. A booklet with a map and detailed information about sites along the route will be available.

Nickell said the RCGA and the Convention and Visitors Bureau have endorsed the project.