“The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today.” –Elbert Hubbard
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October 21 - 22, 2020 • Vol. 2, Issue 22
INSIDE:
Statewide winter weather drill set today, tomorrow
Join the Fun:
King’s Chapel offers fun event for families. Page 2
From the Fairy Tree:
Encouragement for young letter writers Page 14
‘There’s a lemur!’
5-year-old spies missing animal Page 18
WEATHER...page 21 After the welcome rain, a little mid-week warm-up.
David Nehmer, President of Whysdom and Locke Hilderbrand, Chief Insights Officer, explain a new technology to help market Branson. (Photo by K.D. Michaels)
CVB shares new insight into Branson visitors By K.D. Michaels, Staff Writer With a goal of making 2021 better than ever in Branson, the Branson Lakes Area Convention and Visitors Bureau has teamed up with the technology company Whysdom to gain more insight into past Branson visitors and potential new visitors. In a marketing presentation last week, Whysdom team members
met with Branson professionals to offer a unique idea to help bring more people to the area. The company uses geofencing, which is the use of GPS, Wi-Fi or RFID technology to create a virtual geographic boundary that enables software to identify when a smartphone or other mobile device enters or leaves a particular area. Working in conjunction with
the Branson CVB, Whysdom has geofenced the entire Branson area for the past 18 months. Since Christmas season in 2018, the company has been researching why visitors came to the area, when they came, and what they did while they were here. There are over 400 million mobile devices, such as smartphones
SEE CVB, PAGE 8
Submitted to Branson Globe JEFFERSON CITY – In an attempt to get a jump on this year’s winter season, the Missouri Department of Transportation will hold its annual winter operations drill on Wednesday, October 21 and Thursday, October 22. The drill has been expanded to two days this year to accommodate social distancing requirements due to COVID-19. Motorists may notice increased numbers of MoDOT vehicles on state routes during the drill. In rural areas, crews will deploy after 8 a.m. In urban areas, the drill will not begin until after 9 a.m. The exercise should be completed by 3 p.m. “Winter weather seems to start earlier every year,” said Natalie Roark, state maintenance director. “We’ve scheduled this year’s drill a little earlier to make sure we all know our roles during a winter storm so we can do our jobs successfully.” More than 3,000 MoDOT employees are involved in clearing roads and bridges as quickly as possible when winter weather hits. During the drill, MoDOT employees will react to a simulated forecast of significant snow for the entire state. The department’s emergency operations centers will activate, and maintenance employees will be SEE WINTER WEATHER, PAGE 2
