Innovators in Rural Community Economic Development
For the third time this year, I was back in Helena, Arkansas, this time with Samantha. Upon arriving at Memphis International Airport, we rented a sensible car this time, and were off on Highway 61, the Blues Highway, south toward Helena. Once again, we stayed at the beautiful, historic Edwardian Inn. The purpose of our trip was twofold. We were bringing together the Walton Foundation’s nature tourism partners along the Lower Mississippi River. And we were also presenting with David Brown, our colleague at Solimar International, a tourism consulting firm, a draft tourism development strategy for Helena, Arkansas.
The first part, bringing the nature tourism partners together, is always rewarding. These amazing people are passionate about nature based recreation and cultural activities in their regions. They feed off of each other’s work and ideas and are great mentors for each other. Most of our time together involved sharing what we’ve been up to for the past 6 months or more. We were also introduced to the world of birding, another nature-based recreation and tourism activity, by Maggie at the Delta Heritage Trail State Park, a beautiful rail to bike trail. Our folks were so excited to be together and learning from each other, it was challenging to hear birds… but it was wonderful to be together in a beautiful place.
We also had the opportunity to bring in some external folks, including the Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee and Arkansas Game and Fish, to discuss shared regional goals for the Lower Mississippi River region. We facilitated You Get What You Measure® with this group to determine the leverage points for these shared regional goals around making the region a destination for nature-based tourism opportunities.
In the middle of our work on shared regional goals, we were able to experience a Helena institution. The longest running blues radio show in the country, King Biscuit Time still broadcasts live from the studio at the Delta Cultural Center’s Visitor Center. The show has been running continuously for over 70 years and has been hosted for over 60 of those years by its current host, Blues Hall of Famer Sonny “Sunshine” Payne. Our group was able to walk over and listen to the broadcast, and a few even made it onto the show.
Samantha, David and I made a quick trip to Clarksdale, Mississippi to get a quick bite and see if we could find some blues. We made our way to Hambone, an art gallery/blues club, where we admired local art and heard some blues. This reminded me that often rural businesses, especially those in the tourism business, need to diversify their offerings sometimes to be successful.
The second part of our trip involved presenting a draft tourism development strategy for Helena to some key people involved in tourism in the area, including Southern Bancorp, the Edwardian Inn, the Delta Cultural Center, the Delta Heritage Trail State Park and the Mississippi River State Park. The document presented strategies around regional coordination, accommodations, dining, nature-based tourism packages, and tourism marketing.
Helena is gearing up for its King Biscuit Blues Festival right now…. Perhaps next time we’re in Helena, we’ll be able to catch even more blues.
