Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation

Visitor Center opens

Nov 30, 2007
By SHAWN HOPKINS - Bulletin Staff Writer. Nearly 100 people were on hand Thursday for the dedication of a center officials hope will become a destination for tourists visiting the area.

The Martinsville-Henry County Visitor Center inside the Southern Virginia Artisan Center in uptown Martinsville has been operating and gathering its collection of materials since July.

But on Thursday, officials celebrated the official opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and speeches about the importance of promoting the area.

The center is staffed by cross-trained staff from Patrick Henry Community College and the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp. and is open seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The staff is trained to help answer questions and point people to dozens of maps, brochures and other materials about Henry County and Martinsville attractions and businesses.

David Rotenizer, EDC tourism director, said that because the center is applying to be part of the state visitors center system, it also carries tourism guidebooks and brochures from other areas. That arrangement will be reciprocal, Rotenizer said, as other state visitors centers will carry Martinsville and Henry County materials. Henry County and Martinsville materials also will be posted on Virginia.org, the state tourism Web site.

Officials who spoke at the ribbon cutting said the opening of the center was an important milestone in the area’s tourism efforts.

EDC President and CEO Mark Heath said the EDC’s partnership in the center with PHCC fits well with the EDC’s “holistic” approach to economic development, which includes promoting tourism and other economic opportunities in addition to seeking industrial investment.

PHCC’s School of Craft and Design also is in the same building as the visitor center and the artisan center.

Martinsville Vice Mayor James Clark said this is a great area, and people should know what it offers.

“We need to tell people this is a great place to live, a great place to visit, a great place to raise up kids and a great place to work,” he said.

State Sen. Roscoe Reynolds, D-Ridgeway, called the project a “step forward” for the area. He agreed with supervisors Chairman H.G. Vaughn, who called the complex a “hidden gem” he hopes does not stay hidden.

Rotenizer said the tourism center is a milestone for the EDC tourism office, which has the goal of bringing more visitors to the area and getting them to stay longer and spend more money.

Steve Galyean, director of tourism development for the Virginia Tourism Corp., said the center displays some of the elements needed for a successful tourism effort. These include partnerships such as the one between PHCC and the EDC and a “critical mass” of sites and attractions to offer the public.

Alisa Bailey, president/CEO of the Virginia Tourism Corp., who also was on hand for the event, said those who put together the center “should be proud.”

Having the visitor center in the artisan center provides things tourists want, she said. They want to investigate an area’s history and culture, and they want to see artists at work.