Holmen | La Crosse | Onalaska | Town of Campbell | West Salem
A.J. Frels Executive Director La Crosse County Convention and Visitors Bureau
The success of tourism relies on great partnerships. In La Crosse County, of course, I’m speaking of the County-wide collaboration that drives tourism as part of the creative and energetic public / private partnerships that take place every day. To give you an idea of the momentum that this kind of teamwork can generate, I would like to share some numbers from the WI Department of Tourism County by County Visitors Spending Report of 2017.
La Crosse County sits in the #9 position out of 72 counties statewide, enjoying an increase of 6.38% in visitor spending over 2016. That’s an increase of $15,800,000.00 to $263,900,000.00 in visitor spending in just one year! Due to an outstanding group effort, La Crosse County visitor spending achieved an all time high in 2017. To put things in perspective, out of the top ten counties in the state, only one County saw greater growth. Promoting the county as a whole allows our visitors the ability to find all tourism related information at one location. It supplies us with a massive inventory of attractions, events, festivals, and conference and meeting facilities -- not to mention the combined options of great history, the arts, restaurants, lodging and services provided by all our tourism partners. This makes Explore La Crosse a one stop shop for our visitors. So many times I am asked what is our greatest asset (and we have so many), and I have to respond that the truth is it’s the people who live here. I would like to thank the wonderful municipalities we get to work with everyday for their foresight in joining forces to create county-wide regional tourism. What a joy it is to promote the City of Onalaska, the Village of West Salem, the Town of Campbell, the Village of Holmen and the City of La Crosse, as well as the entire La Crosse County. We have an extremely dedicated Board of Directors who are committed to guiding and supporting our team. And, I am especially proud of the Explore La Crosse staff and all their hard work. Like so many of us who live here, they take great pride in the area and what we have to offer. We are also fortunate to have a vibrant private sector. We have some of the most committed business people in the state, if not in the entire Midwest. By partnering to tie their business drive with the drive everyone has to improve our county and take care of where we live, we truly have the best of both worlds.
We are very proud of the accomplishments we have achieved over the past couple years. I would like to share some of our highlights with you: • After a complete remodeling, we were thrilled to open the new I-90 State Welcome Center and our team of loyal volunteers was lined up and ready to help staff it once again. • We created 20 new videos from around the county. Those videos have been hard at work promoting our area online, at trade shows, conferences, and at the Welcome Centers.
Welcome
• A new digital map representing all members throughout La Crosse County has been created and is up and running at our Visitors Centers.
Economic Impact of Tourism
• We are now promoting events, festivals and our county to drive-by traffic year round with the new digital billboard campaign on I-90 near West Salem (55 events in 2017).
Our Communities
• We celebrated our 16th year of “Between the Bluffs Beer, Wine and Cheese Fest” while setting record attendance in 2018.
Festivals!
• We hit an all time high in our social media and website numbers this year, and they continue to climb. Much larger tourism destinations would be proud to report these numbers. • We continue to retain economically viable tourism events for the area, while attracting the return of groups we had not seen in a while and new events and groups who have never been here before. • On June 27th, we will enjoy our 21st Anniversary of La Crosse Area Day at Miller Park -- the longest running and largest community area day in the history of the Milwaukee Brewers. • In 2018, we reached a new high in total grant dollars being awarded to local festivals and events by putting $80,000.00 from our budget back in the hands of locals -- helping them promote area-wide events and increase visitor spending in our area. We are proud of the growth and success we have seen, and we look forward to welcoming even more visitors in the next year. La Crosse County has a unique combination of attractions, physical beauty, and talented people. This combination and our continued cooperative partnerships will ensure successful growth.
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What’s Inside
Get the
Guide 2018
Visitor Guide
Pick one up! Mail to a friend!
Request your Guide at explorelacrosse.com
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2017 Visitor Spending in La Crosse County
Economic impact of Tourism in La Crosse County
$214.4 Million
$223.8 Million
$236.1 Million
$248.1 Million
$263.9 Million
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Wisconsin has 72 counties La Crosse County Ranks
9
th
in visitor spending
Since the collaboration of La Crosse County tourism entities in January of 2016, to form the La Crosse County Convention and Visitors Bureau (Explore La Crosse), there has been an explosion of growth in tourism.
In the last two years: Website users on explorelacrosse.com grew 64% from 289,497 total users in 2015 to 475,648 in 2017. Email subscriptions grew 61% from 59,062 to 94,932 subscribers. Social media took off exponentially with a 99% growth in Facebook likes from 9,046 in 2015 to 18,006 in 2017. A new Promotional Grant Program, started in 2016, saw $92,450 put into local events and festivals to help organizers promote their events to grow overnight stays.
2018
2018
145 new businesses and organizations joined as members of Explore La Crosse in the last two years.
The Convention and Group Sales team together added over 385 new accounts to the Explore La Crosse sales pipeline in the last two years.
The Mississippi River is La Crosse’s finest natural resource and the last two years have brought in a myriad of national and regional fishing tournaments accounting for over 10,000 fans and anglers, and an economic impact of over $2 million.
2017
2016
#3 for 10 Best Oktoberfest Celebrations In The USA
Livability
Expedia
Business Inside
2018 Best Affordable Places to Live
17 of the most beautiful winter wonderlands
#19 for The 20 best college towns in America
explorelacrosse.com
CITI IO
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Halfway Creek Park in Holmen, WI
La Crosse Community Theatre Photography by Theresa Smerud
On the Water Dining in Town of Campbell, WI
OUR COMMUNiTieS Letters Aloud at Marie W. Heider Center for the Arts
Coulee Golf Bowl in Onalaska, WI
Collaboration in
La Crosse County
All locals have one reason or another to love La Crosse County. Promoting the County as a whole allows us to tell our story to a wider national audience. From June Dairy Days to Holmen Kornfest, Celebrate Onalaska to the biggest one of all, Oktoberfest! We as a community, LOVE to share the area with friends, family and visitors!
Everyone knows La Crosse has one of the nation’s premier Oktoberfest celebrations. Well, on top of that we also have Irishfest, Riverfest, Artspire, the Beer, Wine, & Cheese Festival... the list goes on. You’d be hard-pressed to find a time of year when there’s not some kind of fest in the works. www.cityof lacrosse.org
Our local collaboration means support for our attractions, festivals, accommodation and conference space, not to mention a avenue to promote our shared legacy of history, culture, and the arts at explorelacrosse.com!
Share your county! Just snap a photo and use #explorelacrosse when posting to social media.
Enjoy the sights, sounds, music & food of Riverfest
Campbell TOWN OF
WISCONSIN
West Salem, WI
Holmen, WI
Onalaska, WI
Celebrate the Dairy State - Taking place the first weekend each June, you can find crowds of people gathered along Main Street in West Salem for the annual June Dairy Days Parade. Live music, carnival rides, food, and fireworks, June Dairy Days is a small town family tradition.
Historic Hike? Locally known as McGilvray “Seven Bridges” Road, this hiking trail goes to some of the country’s rarest bowstring truss bridges built from 1905-1908. The road is listed on both the National and Wisconsin Registers of Historic Places, and is within the Van Loon Wildlife Area.
Bring the bikes! Take a pedal down the Mississippi River on the Great River State Trail. Enjoy 24 miles of the most beautiful scenery in the Midwest. The trail traverses along 18 different waterways, crosses over the Black River on a 287-foot former railroad trestle, and follows Lake Onalaska and the BNSF railway.
Made up of an island lying between the Mississippi and Black Rivers. French Island’s natural geographical features allow for an abundance of pleasure boating, beaches for camping and daytime recreation, and plenty of fishing in the backwaters.
www.WestSalemWi.com
www.HolmenWi.com
www.CityOfOnalaska.com
www.TownOfCampbell.org
Pick your own strawberries at Jolivette
@fitnesslyingdown
explorelacrosse.com
Whispering Pines Campground
Take a ride on the Great River State Trail
@samiweaver_
@snotrocketscience
Town of Campbell (French Island), WI
Enjoy the show
@_chloebreitung_
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Pump House Regional Arts Center PRESENTS
Friday, June 8
Saturday, June 9
Ho-Chunk Singing & Dancing
Art Fair and Sale Interactive Arts Performing Arts Literary Arts & Storytelling Performance by The People Brothers Band
10:00AM-10:00PM
5:00PM-10:00PM
Performance by Cloud Cult
Free Admission Food Vendors
June 8 & 9
Beer Garden
La Crosse, WI
608.785.1434
artspire.thepumphouse.org
Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Celebrating the Dedication of the Church of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe July 31, 2018 5250 Justin Road - La Crosse, Wisconsin - (877) 799-4059 www.guadalupeshrine.org/10
Annual juried art fair featuring many returning and new talented artists!
July 28
29
UW-L CAMPUS $5 Admission
FREE for children under 12, students (w/ ID)
Scholarship Fundraiser
A
MISSISSIPPI RIVER • LA CROSSE, WIS. Presented by
June 21-24
S
Y
EST OKTR AOCBEEWREFE K E N D L
Weigh-ins Expo Family Friendly
O S S C R E
49th Annual
P E W E D
A
OCT. 4-7 2018
• CAMPING • FUN • FESTIVITIES • LIVE MUSIC • • 500+ RACE CARS • 4 DAYS OF RACING • N4985 CTY RD M • WEST SALEM, WI 608-786-1525
LACROSSESPEEDWAY.COM
Valley View Mall ALL EVENTS ARE FREE! Rotary Rock N’ Ribs Visit Bassmaster.com for more details
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