Oswego Tourism Board To Promote Port City at Harborfest

Ellen Clark, chair of the city of Oswego Promotion and Tourism Advisory Board, displays some of the information regarding Oswego and its events that will be disseminated during Harborfest.

Ellen Clark, chair of the city of Oswego Promotion and Tourism Advisory Board, displays some of the information regarding Oswego and its events that will be disseminated during Harborfest.

OSWEGO, NY – The chair of the city of Oswego Promotion & Tourism Advisory Board presented a plan that is designed to entice visitors who come to Oswego for an event to come back for others.

Ellen Clark, chair of the city of Oswego Promotion and Tourism Advisory Board, displays some of the information regarding Oswego and its events that will be disseminated during Harborfest.
Ellen Clark, chair of the city of Oswego Promotion and Tourism Advisory Board, displays some of the information regarding Oswego and its events that will be disseminated during Harborfest.

“I am very excited to be here to present a marketing proposal to begin promoting the city of Oswego as a year-round destination for fun!” Ellen B. Clark, chair of the board, told the councilors Tuesday night. “It’s about time we took ownership of promoting our community. We want people who come here to come back again.”

Clark is a charter member of the board and was appointed chair last August by Mayor Tom Gillen.

The board’s mission is: to develop a strategic and tactical platform to promote the city of Oswego’s rich cultural, historic and recreational attractions and to promote the quality of life that the community deserves.

It has been looking at the city’s challenges and asking, “How do we as a community grow and prosper?” Clark said.

Some of the challenges the board has taken on include how to utilize the waterways more effectively, ways to coordinate and collaborate on local events and seeking information for technological advancement for City Hall.

The board is proposing to initially start promoting the Port City during the upcoming Harborfest, Clark said.

By exposing the thousands of visitors to Harborfest to what else the city has to offer in the way of other events and festivals, Clark said will draw many back to Oswego.

They will use things like “table tents” that can be placed on tables at area restaurants, and literature announcing upcoming events in Oswego to start their awareness campaign.

Board members will have a presence in Breitbeck Park during Harborfest to disseminate information about Oswego, Clark said.

“We will get a lot of bang for the buck with this,” she said.

Clark, a native of Oswego, is owner of Concierge with Experience Oswego NY and is co-founder of Lighthouse Co-works.

Some audience members asked whether this was a conflict of interest.

“This has nothing to do with Experience Oswego,” Clark explained. “It is all the Oswego Promotion & Tourism Advisory Board. We have come up with this proposal; we have some funds set aside for it.”

She was also questioned about what the board was doing to assist downtown businesses.

If the program is successful and attracts more people to Oswego, it would mean increased traffic at local stores and restaurants, Clark pointed out.

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3 Comments

  1. How about promoting Oswego outside Oswego. Like leaving brochures along I 81 in rest areas…. Taking out advertising on Canadian TV along with TV adds in neighboring states. Now that’s promoting…..

  2. Stuff like that is under consideration for the future. For right now they want to start with the thousands of people that will be coming here in a few weeks.

  3. An easy way for the brochures would be to have them at the New York State Fair. They have everything else that one can do with in the state. Oswego should have information there as well.

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