Agriculture Fairs and Tourism

By: Dennis Grumbine, CFE

Our Lebanon Valley Expo Center and Fairgrounds started 36 years ago with the purchase of 77 acres by a group of dedicated and visionary farmers who wanted to have a permanent location for our county fair. In the beginning there were no buildings; however, over the years we have constructed numerous buildings. To offset operating costs, the buildings were rented throughout the year. The rental of these buildings by show promoters of all kinds of events has grown to over 75 events annually. We are also the home of the Rising Star Youth Soccer Club and the Lebanon Crankers BMX Club.

To help promote tourism in Pennsylvania, a room tax is collected by the county from all hotels and motels. How that money is dispensed is overseen by the county commissioners. Until last year, the county commissioners had dedicated the room tax money to a regional effort; however, many business leaders within the county were not pleased with the results of the regional effort and encouraged the commissioners to revisit this relationship and explore other options to better promote tourism in our county.

In response to these concerns, the county commissioners then interviewed several organizations who had ideas on how to best promote tourism to our county. As a result, the commissioners designated the Lebanon Valley Expo Corporation (LVEC) as the official Tourist Promotion Agency (TPA) of Lebanon County. They took the position that since our facility was already the prime source of bringing several hundreds of thousands of visitors to the county for non-fair events and shows, we would be the ideal organization to expand the tourism marketing efforts to a broader audience and enhance the economic impact to our county. Everyone in our county recognizes the importance of a new show being booked at our facility and the dollars it brings to our hotels, motels, restaurants, and shopping areas.

Although it is less than a year since we began this journey, the following is a list of highlights we have accomplished.

• Facility Sponsors — It made sense to incorporate a facility sponsorship program in our new marketing efforts. We have three new facility sponsors and continue to search for and solicit additional ones.
• Lebanon Valley Guidebook — This highlights our attractions and businesses, with 100,000 copies produced annually and distributed throughout the county and state.
• www.visitlebanoncounty.com — Our newly created web site has had tremendous success, 60,000 hits in the first week and now averaging over 10,000 hits a month.
• Visitors Center — Located in the lobby of the Expo Center, this provides a location to distribute information on Lebanon County attractions and businesses to over 250,000 visitors.
• TV Monitors — We installed a closed circuit system that continuously highlights area attractions and businesses to over 250,000 visitors.
• Lebanon County Ambassadors — We recruited a large group of individuals that have volunteered to be county ambassadors interacting with visitors and promoting our area.
• Taste of Lebanon County — Numerous county food processors and restaurants will be distributing samples of their products during major events at the expo center.
• Bus Tours of Lebanon County — During Horse Progress Days, July 1-2, we will be hosting bus trips to various points of interest throughout the county. The anticipated attendance for Horse Progress Days is 10,000.

We are extremely pleased with the results of our efforts and the overwhelming support of our county residents and businesses.

There have been numerous positive news articles relating to our efforts. The following are statements from press releases by our facility sponsors:

• Gary Nalbandian, president/CEO of Commerce, says, “This is a great opportunity for our bank to partner with the Expo Center and Fairgrounds to promote tourism.”
• Vinu Patel, owner of the Quality Inn, says, “This is a huge step forward for Lebanon County.”
• Dave Smith, publisher of the Lebanon Daily News, says, “I was smitten by the opportunity to promote tourism and support the Lebanon Valley Expo Center and Fairgrounds.”

I encourage you to visit our web sites, www. lebexpo.com and www.visitlebanoncounty.com.

These efforts have generated considerable revenue to market and grow our facility and county. Please remember that tourism dollars are one of the best sources of economic development. In the event that others within the industry believe they have the same opportunity we had and would like to discuss our program in greater detail, please give me a call at 717-273-3670 ext. 300.

Dennis Grumbine is CEO of the Lebanon Valley Exposition Corporation, Lebanon, Pa.

Back to July/August 2005 Menu

Continue to "IAFE, the Network"

Fairs & Expos Magazine

Agriculture Fairs and Tourism