[0:04] all right how is everyone you can hear me fine

[0:11] right because this little microphone is going into a recorder there because

[0:15] we've got our camera guy back there and he is recording this and to give you a

[0:20] background this was also 50% of this was funded by the Utah Office of Tourism so

[0:26] that's very important to distinguish and we've been lucky enough to do this work

[0:31] all over Utah and what we've been doing this week is what we call an assessment

[0:36] and by the way my wife Jane where she there she is right there has been with

[0:42] me all week and she doesn't get to do these too often but we love coming to

[0:49] southern Utah it's just fantastic and what we've been doing is secret shopping

[0:54] you it's a matter of fact this week we had two assignments usually do one a

[0:58] week but this assignment we were tasked with assessing penguia CH and Escalante

[1:04] and and I'm probably pronouncing around because we've asked 50 people how to

[1:09] pronounce Escalante and we've heard Escalante esculent

[1:12] Escalante and everybody agrees on one thing if you if you pronounce it

[1:16] Escalante you're a visitor so we've been saying Escalante all week and so

[1:23] hopefully that's right or close enough there was no interviews no heads-up

[1:28] nobody ever said when you go to Escalante here's what you need to do

[1:31] here's what you need to see we came and prepared just like any other visitor

[1:36] would do and so that that is why we're here and by the way we wore three hats

[1:42] when we do this we look at this is this a place I would live or would want to

[1:47] live to raise a family or move to to retire is this gut great quality of life

[1:52] number two is this a place that I would want to invest in so we wear the hat of

[1:57] somebody that's looking to invest once commercial wrist aide agent or a

[2:01] business or industry and then third as a place to visit for more than just a day

[2:07] trip is this a place we'd spend the night in and so we've been doing this

[2:12] for a long time as a matter of fact we have now seeker

[2:15] shot more than 1500 communities in 45 states all across Europe I mean all

[2:22] across Canada Western Europe Scandinavia and so it's up we do a lot of in Utah

[2:29] vicki Varela your state tourism director is a good friend of mine and since 2015

[2:34] we worked in these communities and I've been a keynote at the Governor's

[2:39] Conference on tourism which which was the last year year before last was I

[2:44] believe yeah year before last was in a Bryce Canyon and so we've assessed last

[2:51] year we assess all of Emory County that took 10 days Springdale and Zion the

[2:56] plan for Ogden I mean we've done all of this so we've been around and done a lot

[3:02] this year we are working in San Juan County we just did that a couple months

[3:07] ago Paiute County just north of you we just got done with now we're doing you

[3:11] next week I'll be up in Flaming Gorge and then in about a month we're doing

[3:16] you into County and so when we do this and by the way after doing this many

[3:22] when we're done we will have secret shop most of the cities and towns in Utah so

[3:29] by now we're starting to get a pretty good feel for why people come where they

[3:34] go where they stay you know as from that aspect when we did this we had four of

[3:40] us secret shopped you looking for marketing we looked at websites could

[3:46] you find information was it good enough to close the sale how did you stand up

[3:50] with the competition I'm telling you in southern Utah there is a lot of

[3:53] competition and then convenience was it easy to get information how long did it

[3:58] take to get and then this week we've been doing the unsighted and we're going

[4:04] to concentrate on this more than marketing will touch on marketing but

[4:07] really your signs are gateways could we find things in this kalantay you know

[4:12] your overall appeal critical mass I'll explain that places to eat places spend

[4:17] money your amenities you know was that easy to find parking are there public

[4:21] restrooms was it easy to get information I mean all these things what is there

[4:27] do and what's your customer service like so with that as a background we start

[4:34] planning our trip and you know what we said well you know what penguin is the

[4:40] biggest city in the county I'm sure there's gonna be a lot more going on

[4:43] there and so we went and rented a house in penguin and so that is where we

[4:53] stayed awake but after about two hours in Escalante we went rats we should have

[5:00] stayed here and so but we did do this it has smelled like smoke most of the week

[5:08] that was the view the other day from language and by the way if you want to

[5:12] see that assessment it is tomorrow morning at 8:00 at City Hall in language

[5:16] it is 100% different than yours because this is a hundred percent about you and

[5:24] so when we start doing the planning we just started looking at websites we

[5:31] started googling things like I did Jacob Hamblin arch because I'd seen photos of

[5:35] it I mean and we just go okay we got to do that and then we're going more stuff

[5:40] around you devil's garden in Utah we looked at what we got to do that too and

[5:44] you know this is how visitors they will just go to Google they will just type in

[5:49] the name of it and they'll just see the images and they get a pretty good feel

[5:52] without going to any web sites though we even typed in you know lower calf Creek

[5:57] Falls and there we said oh we got to do that and by the way does it run all year

[6:01] the Falls yeah okay and and so you know Picabo Canyon I mean we said we got we

[6:07] ended up with quite a bucket list and so you're spooky you know all of those in

[6:13] the area I mean look at what you have near you and Escalante and I was just we

[6:20] were just dumbfounded hurricane wash which I believe isn't jacob hamlin part

[6:25] of the hurricane wash we're trying to sort all that out because some things

[6:29] are called by different names I think Jacob Hamlin also has a different name

[6:33] and so some of it's a little bit confusing you know scenic highway 12 of

[6:38] course we'd heard about it and I've been waiting

[6:40] be able to get a chance to do 12 and we also looked at websites and a friend of

[6:46] mine is Samantha brown she's a Travel Channel host and if I go back to that

[6:52] she rated the most beautiful places in Utah scenic State Route 12 is number one

[6:57] and she's international yeah that's pretty cool and of course Grand

[7:03] Staircase look at that calf Creek Falls look at this honey Capitol Reef which is

[7:08] just up the road then she went up north but you know and then she went up to the

[7:12] Bonneville Salt Flats Moab but you know what you're at the top of the list and

[7:17] that is cool and so when we started looking at this we just were going oh my

[7:23] gosh how do we even start where do we even start so we did get a copy of Bryce

[7:29] Canyon country's visitor guide which is the counties and by the way we're so

[7:35] glad you don't market counties as anybody in this room ever gone anywhere

[7:41] because it was a County we don't and so if I caught Bryce Canyon Country now

[7:47] somebody say yeah but we're not Bryce Canyon we're we're the Grand Staircase

[7:51] it doesn't matter Bryce Canyon put you on the map and you

[7:54] have enough other stuff that who cares about Bryce Canyon after we've been in

[7:59] Escalante because the stuff that you have right here without the crowds and

[8:05] so you know so we did see that I'm hoping the show you know will get rid of

[8:09] the Garfield County right there but Kodachrome I mean this was a great

[8:13] guide now the challenge with this guide it is very beautiful and it absolutely

[8:19] closes the sale on why we should come to you and that goes that's penguin all the

[8:24] 12 you know in its you know Kodachrome and all of these and so this brochure is

[8:31] meant to say this is why you need to come to this part of Utah because there

[8:34] is the mighty five and Kanab and everybody is claiming you know everybody

[8:39] sells the Provo claims everything in southern Utah it's true and yeah I told

[8:46] can AB why are you sending people to price if we're gonna stay if we're gonna

[8:49] go to Bryce we're gonna stay in price or we'll stay here

[8:52] or will stay in Tropic or somewhere closer and so but this brochure does a

[8:58] really good job in saying yes we need to go there now it doesn't give you a whole

[9:04] ton of information because that's not its purpose that the website and all of

[9:10] those things are meant to take you the next take the next level and while

[9:14] that's growing going up you know and that is this guide as a matter of fact

[9:19] we have used it around the state is saying this is the model to use to

[9:24] follow because the photography is absolutely spectacular I mean just

[9:29] everybody who saw this of our for sinker chopper says we want to go there and not

[9:34] just because we're doing assessment we want to go there and so it does a

[9:39] fantastic job at closing the sale in that regard now you know and for you

[9:44] that have lived here grown up here and stuff for you you may say yeah yeah yeah

[9:48] we've seen all this stuff before but you know what we by the way we were from

[9:53] Seattle originally we live in Phoenix and yeah we got Sedona and stuff but you

[9:58] know and I've said this even at state tourism conferences here there is no

[10:01] state in the United States and no province in Canada that holds a candle

[10:07] to Utah in terms of geography I mean son but Bonneville Salt Flats to the

[10:12] mountains of Duck Creek village and Brian head the Scorch Martin's now sorry

[10:17] but you know and then the desert sides are here or st. George I mean you have

[10:21] such amazing landscapes that there's no place that can touch it and that's

[10:27] pretty amazing and so we look to this and everybody said yeah we love it we

[10:32] got to go there and now the next thing is now we got to start planning it so

[10:37] what do we do what can we do in june/july what can we do in

[10:40] september/october and and so and we're gonna get into that right now and so we

[10:45] started looking at different web sites and the one of the challenges have this

[10:50] one here is Escalante Escalante in Boulder which by the way I thought was a

[10:55] good partnership because I think the best of highway 12 is between here and

[10:58] there I mean you are you know I always thought okay it's a good thing we're

[11:03] staying penguin cuz that's the beginning of highway 12 well

[11:06] when we drove from from penguin out to escalante we you know I thought it was

[11:12] kind of ho hum now when I say ho-hum yeah I'm thinking is at 1:28 that runs

[11:17] down by Moab you know along the river that's just incredibly spectacular and

[11:21] it is stunning but that section is just unbelievable and so I thought that was

[11:27] good and so there were some good information on the website and and and

[11:31] but once again with this website says a photographer's dream come true and it's

[11:35] very general we need specifics and so like a salute

[11:40] hiking trails are the best but I don't know which hiking trails and so once

[11:44] again it's it's a nice website but we're already sold and now we need details so

[11:51] that is the one challenge the itineraries where you say arrive in the

[11:55] early afternoon and secure accommodation arrangement after this go out to highway

[11:59] 12 that's I'm gonna show you how to do itineraries because this is not an

[12:04] itinerary it just says we'll go out on highway 12

[12:07] enjoy it find a place to stay find a place to eat that's not helpful that's

[12:11] not the way travel writers II now by the way I do not want you given a Chamber of

[12:15] Commerce bad time because I said this stuff because you have to understand

[12:21] that and this is chamber commerce right a chamber commerce it is so difficult to

[12:27] make everybody happy when you're trying to get your memberships when you're

[12:30] trying to promote your members and so I don't want you give them a bad time the

[12:34] reason we're here say how could we make it even better

[12:37] I think the visuals are great so all of this is meant to be constructive so I

[12:42] don't want anybody go and say well boy you're doing a good job because that's

[12:45] not the case by the way their website blows away about 99 percent of the

[12:49] websites out there in the country okay yeah they do a good job and then we did

[12:56] find the art festival that's unruly cool so now listen we knew that there are

[13:00] some arts or some cultural depth here it's not just recreation and then we did

[13:05] see this one this one here is oh yeah this is a skull auntie city's website

[13:11] now once again it'll it'll have little things like let's see in the back one

[13:16] yeah okay it's coming up for a city website we thought

[13:20] pretty fabulous because it's the visual first a widescreen beautiful grand

[13:25] staircase this is southern Utah which is Kanab one thing we told them in Kanab

[13:31] and it's something you're gonna hear I told Kanab look can AB you can mark it

[13:38] north room at Grand Canyon because guess what you're closer to it than Page

[13:42] Arizona you can mark it coral pink sands it's right there you could mark out best

[13:47] friends you could even mark at the east side

[13:49] design but why are you marketing Bryce why are you marketing to Grand Staircase

[13:54] why are you marketing arches from Kanab because here's the deal visitors

[13:59] four-day trips will typically go 45 miles one way 45 miles and then they'll

[14:06] come back otherwise we'll just go there and stay there now in the case of Kanab

[14:09] and this is something for you to think about I said so can you imagine people

[14:13] saying okay we're gonna hold up in Kanab and do all my t5 so what we're gonna do

[14:18] is get up early in the morning we're gonna drive out to wherever arches were

[14:21] and drive up to Bryce Canyon we're gonna spend all day there we're gonna come

[14:25] back at about 7 or 8 o'clock at night and you're closed might be a familiar

[14:33] tune to you I said so why would anybody do that they wouldn't so you need to

[14:39] market things close to you so so can AB so we did look at but we saw it because

[14:43] they claimed it um we even went to the state's website and I'm gonna give them

[14:47] kind of a bad time because I typed in Escalante and I got links here in Africa

[14:52] Russia down here in Florida over here and you know wherever this is China I

[14:59] mean I was going white and so you know so we kept looking around this is Utah

[15:04] calm which is a private website but they do a good job I've met the people there

[15:10] they have Picabo Gulch there and we're looking for a lot of details and then we

[15:16] end up on TripAdvisor because there's so much and it's so

[15:19] general so now we see Picabo spooky goats now we're asking your visitors and

[15:24] by the way you should sponsor your TripAdvisor page this is the most

[15:28] visited website on the planet so we saw on TripAdvisor

[15:33] what they are promoting and what their

[15:36] visitors say are the top ones peekaboo devil's garden spooky you know and so we

[15:41] started looking at these kinds of things and outdoor activities in Escalante you

[15:46] know and so you can by the way you can sponsor your page and then you can

[15:50] control you can't control the listings but you can control what is being said

[15:55] with links trick or your website and so we did that when we went back to Utah

[16:02] comm we like for instance we thought okay we want to do jacob hamlin we have

[16:11] no idea how far you have to drive to get the parking lot we have no idea how long

[16:14] a hike it is we have no idea in the information then we said well let's do

[16:18] peekaboo that's a lot closer and so it says it combined with spooky Gulch it

[16:23] makes a loop hike and everything but still no details and that get into it

[16:28] then we found Red Canyon and that looked really good and it's got some good

[16:31] general information but we were really really struggling we even went to the

[16:37] highway 12 website and it adds some good some general information but what people

[16:44] want are specifics we're trying to plan like 10 days here even though we're here

[16:51] this just for this week we're trying to plan a trip to come back and spend like

[16:55] a week ere 10 days in the area and so we're trying to find these things and by

[17:01] the way did you know for any of you in business if you go to my Google my bit

[17:06] my Google business comm or my Google my business comm all of this is free you

[17:13] can fill it up with your website with everything so just want to let you know

[17:17] if you're in business you need to do that so somebody types in Gregg Canyon

[17:20] trailhead it comes up and there's no charge ok really important fun thing you

[17:27] can do and then so there's Red Canyon we're back in TripAdvisor again overlook

[17:34] Jim it's beautiful 5 you know 5 circles there and so we're just keep looking

[17:40] we're trying to find one of our things is unhype way 12 do we need to go all

[17:44] the way from penguin to tour can we do section of it which is the best if we

[17:48] could only do part of it which one would you recommend and we had a hard time

[17:52] finding that finally we came to the county's website and it finally had the

[18:01] information we were looking for the average visitor goes to 27 websites

[18:06] trying to plan a trip here's what it said at peekaboo it's a narrow twisted

[18:11] slot canyon about a quarter mile long hand and foot holes are carved into it

[18:15] with water but with skilled scramblers will manage to navigate without getting

[18:19] wet the highest of the hike the highlight of the hike is the last 100

[18:24] meters of the slot where interlocking swirls fans and arches are cut into the

[18:29] red Navajo Sandstone it continues up and out and it tells you that if you're if

[18:33] you have a little bit of girth some of this might not be for you I mean it goes

[18:38] into those kinds of details so somebody doesn't go there and say rats I drove

[18:42] all this way and it doesn't work for me so this we finally got detail spooky

[18:49] gulches and for the claustrophobic phobic and it goes on the real details

[18:54] you need but because we're doing so much we figured we cannot figure out

[19:00] esculenta we have all these different websites the county one is the closest

[19:06] one to having the right details what we figure we're just gonna get here we'll

[19:09] figure out when we're there okay so that was before we came so once we arrived on

[19:16] Monday on Tuesday we spent the day doing penguin and then yesterday morning we

[19:23] headed out your way so the first one he did of course we came to the the most

[19:28] photographed probably couple the most photographed things it's great when you

[19:31] come down 12 you're in it like you know just a few miles and yet read get going

[19:35] whoa I mean that's pretty spectacular we are counting the number of cars that are

[19:40] from you know from different almost everybody from California and you know

[19:44] what's interesting they rent their cars in California and drive to Utah they

[19:48] don't they don't fly to Salt Lake so you see a lot of California plates a lot of

[19:52] them are foreigners and they figure what we're gonna do la or San Francisco and

[19:57] we're gonna drive over we did see we did go to tropic it looked like a

[20:02] great town I mean it was it tends to probably own Red Canyon probably the

[20:06] closest one there we did manage to get into and I've been to price before and

[20:12] when we saw people hiking down in the canyon I didn't even realize you could

[20:16] do that so now we said man now we got to come back and do that there's a day

[20:20] right there and then better yet when we saw horseback riders down there and said

[20:25] that's even easier I'm going for that I mean the horseback down and I don't know

[20:29] how or where you do that so on our way out we also into Kodachrome we think

[20:35] Kodachrome was beautiful and it was cool this is one of the few state parks that

[20:39] has concessionaires is something we've been working with state parks on is

[20:42] getting concessionaires in places like goblin valley and stuff but you can go

[20:45] horseback riding right there which was great and it's a beautiful spot so we

[20:51] came out and we didn't spend much time in these places because our focus is you

[20:54] and we did come out and we saw the Gateway sign we said okay here we are in

[20:58] Escalante and while we're here and while we're coming in we did go to the

[21:03] petrified of the State Park so we did see that we loved the big tree and

[21:08] everything choy saw that it was a really neat little State Park we had no idea

[21:12] that you had a lake or or you know reservoir whatever it is right here

[21:16] that's something we didn't even know you had we thought this was all desert so we

[21:20] went wow that's a cool there's something new that we didn't know is right there

[21:24] and so look like a great place if you want to be on the water and in the

[21:27] desert it's fantastic and so I thought was a great little part and then we did

[21:32] see this and we thought well better check it out now what happens is when

[21:38] people drive by they will come they will to look down here and they will see a

[21:42] house most visitors will not go to a house and knock on the door but we

[21:48] thought well we're visitors so well but with that well we're you know well let's

[21:53] write down there maybe it's not the house and sure enough when you drive

[21:55] down there you can turn around the corner and then you see the gallery

[21:59] entrance and there we met the artisan and and he's the stuff he builds his

[22:05] fantastical love we sat in one chair we went oh my gosh it was one of the most

[22:09] comfortable chairs we ever sat in and his wife does all this and you guys

[22:12] probably all know everybody he's not here is he no okay

[22:15] and anyway it was great it was really funny because we walked into the shop

[22:20] and there was nobody in there and then and then we're in there with the door

[22:25] closed and all sudden there's this guy outside and the door had locked behind

[22:28] us and it was the it was him and so he had to go walk around but we

[22:34] didn't realize we accidentally locked it behind us but it's great to meet ours

[22:38] and so we thought that's really cool I wish he would have had more to choose

[22:43] from we might have bought some art but there was like three or four pieces you

[22:46] know what I mean and most of it you order it and then then he'll ship it to

[22:50] you or you come and get it later and then we saw of course then we went on to

[22:55] the grand staircase and seeing that and by the way we went past you first and we

[23:00] did drive up to Boulder and this little des hogsback oh my gosh that all by

[23:06] itself is worth the drift Escalante I mean that is so cool I mean you're

[23:10] driving that thing you're gonna walk lifts down both sides that is cool and

[23:14] so when we went to Boulder we did see the Anasazi Museum there and we didn't

[23:22] get a chance to go in because remember our focus is s : t but it looked like it

[23:26] was great now I'm gonna take a little side street lights side strip I want you

[23:31] to create a new brochure the very best of esculenta Utah and this brochure will

[23:39] be and by the way you're gonna see a lot of these these are all suggestions there

[23:44] are no recommendations in here because I think it'd be a little presumptuous for

[23:48] us to come as Outsiders in here and tell you what you should do so these are just

[23:52] suggestions you say oh we like that one we're going to turn into recommendation

[23:57] or we're not going to do that one so this is suggestion number one and let me

[24:01] just show you we believe it is so important to promote your anchor tenants

[24:07] your top restaurants your top retail shops and your top activities

[24:11] if you ever subscribe to Condon s travel or travel leisure Mason they always do

[24:16] the top ten to this top five this the top seven of this and this is one in

[24:20] Alpena Michigan so this little brochure I'm holding in my hand

[24:24] and let me to tell you how this works number one I'm gonna tell you how to get

[24:28] past the politics of doing this this is not my Chamber of Commerce can't do

[24:31] because they said what we have to promote our members reports a man is not

[24:35] a member then why would they join but but you can do this as a town or tourism

[24:39] in this case each person was invited and I'm going to give you even the criteria

[24:45] as they used this is the brochure you're seeing up there the most asked question

[24:50] of any visitors on earth is where's a good place to eat and please don't hand

[24:55] me a list that's what we are no that's the most asked question where's a good

[25:01] place to eat and we don't want just well here's a list of our restaurants and so

[25:05] you know what we do if you don't give it to us we go right to TripAdvisor and

[25:08] Yelp and that's not perfect and so in this case they did this and by the way

[25:15] each one of these was invited there's no lodging in here the reason

[25:20] there's no lodging here is because we want the lodging places to hand these

[25:23] out without fear of the promoting their competitors which is too bad and in each

[25:29] case they were invited to do this and they were they paid $400 for their panel

[25:34] okay now there was a the Besser museum right here did not have $400 they were

[25:41] really struggling there was enough money in there to cover them they only pay 200

[25:44] so they were invited this is not who wants to be in this pay $400 so here's

[25:50] what they did with this brochure the first thing they did is in by the way

[25:54] the population in Alpena is 10,000 so it's bigger than you but in this case

[26:00] what they did is they printed 20,000 copies they mailed one to every single

[26:08] household in their case it was like 3500 households so if you have 800 people

[26:14] here in the area maybe you maybe you have 200 households I don't know what it

[26:19] is 300 households you would mail one to these two every household and they put a

[26:23] little note with it snail mail by the way not email snail mail and put alone

[26:28] know with it and the note said the number one reason people travel is to

[26:32] visit friends and family we hope that you will hang onto this brochure

[26:38] that would they visit you you will share with them the very best of what

[26:43] Escalante in your case has to offer because we believe that every

[26:48] dining-room table should be a concierge desk within days people are coming down

[26:54] to one of those shops and going oh my gosh I got this a man how long have you

[26:58] been here in the Mercer we go ten years and you know what this is the most

[27:05] important brochure you could ever do you need to promote your best herbs because

[27:12] success breeds success to get you past the politics we're gonna help you do

[27:19] this because we seeker shop some of them now you can create your own criteria in

[27:24] their case their criteria was this number one they had to have good curb

[27:28] appeal they had to play place that looked like people take well that looks

[27:32] like a nice place to eat one of the most asked questions ever it must be open

[27:37] year-round this is their criteria they must be open till at least seven o'clock

[27:43] p.m. I mean tell you why shortly they must be open six days a week the

[27:48] day they could be closed on Mondays I know it's Utah and I know I know how

[27:53] that works but I'm just trying you can create your own criteria and they must

[27:58] be unique to you so we're not gonna put subway I'm sorry in here I could find

[28:05] that anywhere we're gonna put things that are unique to you and they need to

[28:10] be highly regarded by somebody other than themselves eighty plus positive

[28:18] percent positive reviews on TripAdvisor etc if you do this you're already

[28:23] passing politics and so what we want you to do in Escalante is promote your top

[28:30] floor restaurants your top retail shops or maybe there's four of them top twelve

[28:34] activities those day-trip activities around you and you cannot let politics

[28:39] kill the effort and by the way if let's say for instance we ate at the

[28:46] outfitters up the street great pizza right

[28:49] we ate there and you and by the way if we're here for a week we're not going to

[28:53] eat there every meal and we might not eat at just the restaurants that are in

[28:57] here you know you know what happened is when they handed this out there were

[29:01] people that were furious well you include them I think I'm just as good as

[29:05] they are now that would never happen here in escalade me with it yeah I

[29:09] didn't think so but you know what they said afterwards this is just like a mall

[29:14] we go to the mall wherever you go when you go to a mall you go over there for

[29:18] the anchor tenants and while you're there you might stop at RadioShack or

[29:21] whatever right and so that's what you need to understand is those people were

[29:25] saying boy that was the best $400 I never spent because I didn't really like

[29:30] because it was so great when they went to my neighbor's place that's in here

[29:33] they also came into mind promote the very best of what you have to offer

[29:39] success breeds success and by the way if somebody doesn't fit well as criteria

[29:44] there's incentive for them to make their place look better or to be open an hour

[29:48] later it's incentive to increase your success in Nova Scotia they do these

[29:55] little visitor guides and in their visitor guides they always do the top

[29:58] five picks the very best of whether it is whether it is places to visit things

[30:05] to do and or or it might be you know that that and by the way they also do

[30:12] the seasons there is no reason why this should not be a year-round destination

[30:16] none other than you saying we like our time off by the way if you are a

[30:23] community that's losing its school enrollment everything if you want to

[30:27] bring back young families with kids you need to have jobs that will last at

[30:30] least eight months a year that is the litmus test eight months four five six

[30:35] seven months will not cut it with most businesses as far as somebody opening a

[30:40] new business eight months you need eight months season and there's no reason as a

[30:44] matter of fact when we came here I wanted to go to Jacob Emily said the

[30:49] best time to come as March April September in October it's too hot this

[30:51] time of year I said well will the town be openly said

[30:55] some of it and then we're not coming back soon I mean it'd be like a ball

[31:00] saying well half of our stores are closed

[31:03] we're not gonna go till they're all open so they do a good job there in Nova

[31:08] Scotia they did the best have best top photo aqua trees good that the local

[31:13] picks for hidden gems and nightlife I mean what they did is this and it works

[31:17] so for you absolutely that section highway 12 is a best-of and

[31:23] by the way what don't come we want but we don't mind if they go to torii we

[31:27] just wanted to come back here right and so that number one right there you got

[31:33] to have that the Anasazi Indian village State Park even though we didn't get a

[31:36] chance to go in that we read the view reviews and stuff and it was a top notch

[31:39] okay and then we added Kodachrome State Park um has some great hikes so now

[31:48] there's the beginning of your list I mean if you put those three things in

[31:51] this people are gonna go oh my gosh that's pretty cool and we've only done

[31:54] three so now focusing in on s : d we did come to the hole in the rock and and it

[32:03] was interesting because some visitors think I think they got that wrong so the

[32:06] hole in the wall gang isn't it well a different story it's not Butch Cassidy

[32:12] so we did go there public welcome and we thought the mural and by the way we

[32:18] understand this is a local artist fantastic and so it's a great story here

[32:25] the LDS Church I think I had an elder missionary he was fantastic so we walked

[32:31] in there's a little film that tells you that whole story and they did a great

[32:35] job and he did a great job there's another gentleman too there they did a

[32:38] great job now when you walk up to this use it I mean

[32:45] put Escalante just put something here that says those is a matter of fact

[32:49] right here I'd have put your very best up brochure there I mean I'd add

[32:54] brochure just distribution so here you are you're one of the first stops coming

[32:57] into town from the east and in it's not really being used here we've got this

[33:03] but these are empty and I thought boy it'd be great if you used this stuff to

[33:09] get people spend time and money in Escalante by the way tourism is a means

[33:13] to an end this is BA you know what tomorrow penguin is gonna see a whole

[33:21] different story you talk to any person that lives in

[33:25] Penguins where do you go to hang out where do you go for shopping

[33:29] 9900 we'll say cedar we go to Cedar City or they will say no we skip horsey you

[33:35] say we go straight to st. George or a few people say well we'll go up to us up

[33:42] north to Richfield and so take advantage of it but anyway it's a great stop now

[33:51] I'm not so sure I would call this a best stuff but one thing you need to

[33:56] understand this is a fantastic complementary activity while you're here

[33:59] it's something you should go do because it's a cool story and and people should

[34:04] know what it was like and so then we went over here to the interagency Center

[34:09] which in your marketing call it the visitor center I mean when you see

[34:15] escalating energy visitor say think government government and by the way it

[34:23] is fantastic this is by far the best visitor information anywhere in the

[34:29] region outside of Blanding the little visitor center planning is pretty cool

[34:36] but these people were excellent one thing we noticed right away when we're

[34:43] here yesterday is that we were the oldest visitors anywhere around you are

[34:50] becoming a hot sought after destination for Millennials Jordan that basically

[34:57] runs our business for me because I'm always on the road it's 31 his wifeís

[35:01] spring from Springville he said Roger I can't wait for you to go there because

[35:05] both Ashley and I have on our bucket list to go to Escalante we have heard

[35:09] from all of our friends everywhere that Escalante is the place to come and it's

[35:15] young and by the way this gentleman right here was fantastic he's from New

[35:21] Mexico he's been here for two years and I asked him have you been down to Jacob

[35:25] Hamlin have you and he goes yes I've been there he been to all these

[35:28] Kodachrome all of them and and I said so we're talking about

[35:32] going down there said you know Roger he goes you know that's not really a good

[35:35] idea this time of year now if you do I want you to make sure you're well

[35:38] hydrated it gets very hot it is desert it's a 13 mile hike and and we're gonna

[35:46] do you know and he says most people don't even go there for Jacob Hamill and

[35:50] they go for the other things around there he told us about it's a 1 hour and

[35:53] 45 minute drive on dirt roads to the parking area yeah I mean he gave us so

[35:59] much information was like thank you and he was so honest about it he said you

[36:05] know I might suggest you go to peekaboo and spooky because that's not that

[36:09] strenuous it's like I think what 3 miles round-trip or something and and it stays

[36:13] fairly cool in the slot canyons and you know he sized you up and figure out

[36:17] whether you had the ability to do it and and he wasn't a small guy so I figured

[36:23] if he could do it I could do it even though he's half my age but but it was

[36:28] just very great and as a matter of fact this was so great I would absolutely

[36:31] consider them a best-of matter of fact in penguin we couldn't find a human

[36:37] being anywhere to even help us with visitor information and so it was Fanta

[36:44] and by the way that's what I called it and by the way there's more than one

[36:50] Grand Staircase visitor information but you could always put in parentheses the

[36:54] interagency interagency blah blah blah you know so we're in town and by the way

[37:00] with nice little cabin and nice little visitor and it says visitor information

[37:05] it's really just the kiosk now one thing we do here be nice if we heard more

[37:09] about the history there's a little cabin here there's I mean by the way this is

[37:13] Utah there's cabin is everywhere and we would like to know the history of the

[37:18] person how it was living in the cabin how big was the family how many square

[37:22] feet was that where the floors dirt cuz it's locked

[37:25] so tell us the stories they do a good job with this by the way over in Bluff

[37:29] they do a really good job explaining the cabin since matter of fact they have

[37:33] little audio recordings that are in multiple languages if you ever want to

[37:37] see a good example go over there so while we were here we did get a copy of

[37:42] this little arts and laughter s : t and we did get the little

[37:46] map and this little map was very useful and so we thought okay there's some art

[37:52] here that's cool we're gonna go check it out

[37:54] and so we use this and we already attend this one there's David chairs there

[37:59] which are really cool and then and his wife was right above it so we drove to

[38:05] this one now we did not go in here's why it looks like it's about a hundred

[38:11] square feet and we're gonna be imposing there's no other cars there we're not

[38:15] sure it says it's open we're not too sure if it is and people don't like

[38:19] being if we're the only ones there ever done that when you travel for the only

[38:23] ones there then you feel kind of like there's pressure on to buy stuff so we

[38:28] didn't go in and and and I wasn't even sure if it was really open another one

[38:33] we drove up to was this one but it's somebody's house and it's by appointment

[38:37] only and so we thought man you know you've got it here but where is it I'm

[38:44] going to love this here local art but it's only open Thursday Friday Saturday

[38:47] noon to 6:00 and we were here on Wednesday so we didn't get to see that

[38:51] so we thought could you now remember we have no background could you do a pop-up

[39:01] gallery say look I know this is for sale could we put an artist co-op in there

[39:05] and the second you sell will be out within two weeks do something I thought

[39:10] you have art here but we don't know when it's open and where it's that it's all

[39:18] these little houses you have to call for appointments and we decide if you could

[39:22] do an artist co-op somewhere maybe maybe somebody would let you lease that for a

[39:27] song and you just pay the art bill and we've done coops where one artist will

[39:31] managed it on Monday a different one will do Tuesday so they do one day a

[39:35] week there and they can actually bring their art by the way people are four

[39:39] times more likely to buy art when they meet the artist four times art gives you

[39:44] cultural depth and so we thought could you do that I mean I don't know maybe

[39:49] the owner won't let you or whatever I'm we've even seen cities Lisa and then

[39:54] they turn them into a co-op salt falls on the cities

[39:56] insurance we even saw we have some beautiful brick homes that are historic

[40:01] columns without man maybe some of these I don't want him to fall down but some

[40:07] of them are already start to see him I'm going but maybe this could be down the

[40:12] road could be out there are grants from the National Endowment for the Arts

[40:16] there are lots of grants out there to find places like this and turn them into

[40:21] artists coops or even artists live work space I mean if not that one here's

[40:27] another one now you know who owns all these but we don't know any backstories

[40:33] and we don't know what condition they're in we even thought well could you go and

[40:38] do this one temporarily and if somebody comes along and buys it turns in a

[40:42] restaurant or another gallery something fine then meanwhile we could be working

[40:46] on one of these we'd love to see you have a place for your artisans to have a

[40:50] central place in the downtown I think it'll be fantastic now one thing I would

[40:56] love to have you do if you have your arts people I'd like you to go down to

[40:59] Arizona and when you go down to two-buck which is just south of well it's about

[41:05] 45 minutes south of Tucson also go to Jerome Jerome was the coolest thing in

[41:11] the state Arizona and Jerome just so you know used to be a mining town of 5,000

[41:17] it went clear down to 50 they called it America's biggest ghost town well the

[41:22] population is now 800 in it's the coolest town in the entire state and it

[41:27] is chock-full artisans and galleries it's incredible now people are spending

[41:31] the night there they took old the hotels and motels and turn them in really cool

[41:35] ends matter of fact they have a kaleidoscope store there that's probably

[41:39] the nicest one in the United States and it's in limiter Rome Arizona out in the

[41:43] middle of nowhere it's about half an hour from Sedona but I think you know

[41:50] this they this guy does a western heritage furniture he takes old barn

[41:54] wood and makes really cool things kinda like what you did in this space here you

[41:58] know and he makes all this furniture he's been on Ellen on her show she buys

[42:02] all her stuff there she goes to Jerome Oprah I mean all these celebrities will

[42:07] go to Jerome Arizona population 800 pretty cool and so we're not saying that

[42:14] you need to be an arch town but you know what art and recreation actually go

[42:18] together fine and that leads to culinary arts it leads to everything you know

[42:21] what there's not very many towns in southern Utah that have the cultural

[42:24] depth you do you need to put it front and center these artisans need a place

[42:30] they can display their stuff and so just an idea

[42:35] we did see excursions of Escalante beautiful job with the curb appeal they

[42:41] do a great job of helping people they even have ice cream sandwiches you know

[42:46] which is pretty cool on a hot summer day and absolutely they should be there on

[42:50] your best sub guide and by the way your best self you know what we want to

[42:54] promote private business because you know what that's tax base that's jobs

[42:58] and so they do a great job they're highly related highly rated on every

[43:05] TripAdvisor Yelp you name it and so we also in here we love this a little place

[43:11] I just love this place first of all I love the sign did a great job with this

[43:17] here's the local art timebut camping hiking gear clothing you know best you

[43:21] know best what is a lattes and I mean you know what and by the way things

[43:26] don't have to be spitting polish don't like it it's funky it's cool and so it

[43:31] was just really great and by the way there there is an outfit or in downtown

[43:36] penguin there is more in one corner of the store there is in that entire store

[43:41] I mean these stores everything you could possibly need to enjoy your experience

[43:47] in Timon Escalante it doesn't matter whether you're for art whether you're

[43:51] here for hiking biking whatever it is there's no reason to leave Escalante for

[43:57] anything you need that's pretty cool how many towns can say that and so we loved

[44:04] it absolutely they should be on there and even across the street this place

[44:10] yesterday was packed at 3:30 in the afternoon by way great job I got a kick

[44:19] out of it because they had the UPS guy coming in and he kept coming in with

[44:24] with hand trucks stacked this high of boxes because it's the only liquor store

[44:30] and he brought in like eight hand trucks full of booze and I said how often do

[44:37] you have to do that he goes every week well we got some heavy drinking LDS

[44:42] people here don't we no I'm just kidding just kidding just kidding but but I mean

[44:49] I was just you know it is you got some Millennials coming here you get lots of

[44:52] visitors and by the way at 3:00 3:30 these people just left and it was the

[44:58] only seats you could get 3:30 in the afternoon between lunch and dinner

[45:00] packed you asked me where's a good place to eat out finish excellent excellent

[45:07] service I mean they have so much inventory in that store it's amazing

[45:12] they have more inventory in that little space than you'd find in three or four

[45:16] other stores in other towns and so absolutely they need to be there for

[45:20] both food and gear so then we went across the street we went in here and I

[45:27] said okay I want to know about all of this and they said won't go over there

[45:31] and asked oh he said well the garage doors down it goes where is she and so

[45:36] then there started to be some kind of a conversation about what where we don't

[45:39] know where she went she's supposed to be over there and so then and by the way

[45:43] for half an hour they tried to find a brochure and we couldn't find one

[45:47] because I said well I want to come back and I so finally I said well could you

[45:51] at least write down your website so they took a little piece of notebook paper

[45:55] wrote down their website address so I could get some information for when we

[45:58] come back so these are little things you need to work on and when she says well

[46:03] when she went over when this girl came back she said well why didn't you tell

[46:06] me our brochure she goes I did tell you several weeks ago and I'm going we're

[46:11] gonna be in this conversation and so but what's really cool about this place and

[46:15] this is something I love about Escalante is that you can rent an ATV or UTV or

[46:22] you could rent a Jeep if you want to do it on your own or if

[46:26] you'd like we'll shuttle you down to wherever you want to go and you tell us

[46:29] one we'll come and pick you back up or we can actually do the guided trip for

[46:34] you you name any option that you want and

[46:36] they'll cost for you and I thought that was

[46:38] incredible that is cool most places it's one or the other and

[46:43] here's however we can make your experience we'll figure out how much it

[46:47] costs and and what vehicles and how we get you there and the guides and

[46:52] everything and I went that is so cool high adventure put them on the list

[46:57] I mean we're you know we're we've been in Escalante for like three or four

[47:01] hours by now we're doing this and then we did this we saw a circle D by the way

[47:07] what some of the best curb appeal in town

[47:10] we love umbrellas even if they're not up because I know you get the winds it just

[47:14] says we're open it's colorful it's it's and we know you're in business and by

[47:20] the way you know and there it is Circle D is number two on the list 700 reviews

[47:26] so absolutely we're coming up with a pretty amazing best of guide and here's

[47:36] the big deal we could feel we could see it this is the most up-and-coming

[47:44] destination Utah it is

[47:49] [Applause] so when you walk out there's a

[47:56] chalkboard right next door it has those words on it within half an hour somebody

[48:02] had wrote that really scares me here's the deal if you don't change you die

[48:10] however what you have to do is how can we facilitate without going over the

[48:16] edge to where we get to where we also have McDonald's and Dairy Queen we come

[48:22] gentrified right there's always that fine bounce we even work in towns where

[48:26] they create ordinances that don't allow chains in springdale best town in Utah

[48:31] and I'm gonna tell you why in a bit it's Springdale Subway sued the town so

[48:38] much that the town finally relented they put a subway there and nobody will eat

[48:43] there yes and by the way no offense to Subway but it's not who they are they

[48:51] don't want chains and so many towns do ordinances that say we're going to

[48:56] restrict them but I you know what if not the entire western states you have to

[49:02] understand I'm travel 250 days we've worked in every single state in many may

[49:08] I mean what you're doing what we're seeing here is remarkable hands down

[49:14] up-and-coming City but our first day was very very cool place it's a destination

[49:21] in itself and here's why we said that is number one I'm assuming that this is

[49:29] going to be a hotel I don't know why they don't put up a sign that says

[49:35] coming this fall or next spring I don't even know what it what did Jesus mean

[49:39] but you know what it's even gonna be

[49:43] what's that anybody so just just that it's an invitation to come back and so

[49:52] just put up whatever sign says opening shirt or whatever because it looks like

[49:55] it's gonna be fabulous ok I mean even for townie how your

[50:00] school is incredible work on my gosh town has really got it going on I mean

[50:06] you even have an incredible community center

[50:09] I mean think of other towns your population you know I mean even this

[50:14] having this here and you know what try to get in that splash pad it's bet busy

[50:20] there's a stage being built back I just went this is a great town I mean then we

[50:26] see like this is it I think it's open now right this is new yeah and you can

[50:32] see by the way there they were just poured the foundation for their sign and

[50:35] it looks fabulous and I'm sure it's a little lodge right and I just see that

[50:41] then we see this I think it says there's a little sign that says something about

[50:46] resort but I don't know if it's a resort or a hotel or a restaurant I saw a

[50:50] couple of cabins once again there's nothing says when it's gonna be open or

[50:54] whatever but what we see here is a lot of change and here's why I think it's

[50:59] good how many towns from Kanab to all of the

[51:07] towns in in Paiute County to all along twelve how many cowboy towns can you

[51:13] have in this state and what we see is kind of a giving away of the old and

[51:21] kind of a transition to kind of new cool younger by the way there are more

[51:28] Millennials than there are boomers they are the future Escalante they are your

[51:34] future this town is one of the best towns for that audience and by the way

[51:40] if you cater to Millennials you're gonna get us baby boomers to show you

[51:43] Millennials we like hanging out with you whether you like it or not it's true so

[51:50] we see this now I'm not saying you need to get rid of anything that's cowboy or

[51:54] western heritage but we see that you're becoming kind of a cool kind of a neat

[51:59] really a neat place that you just want to spend time in and we could just feel

[52:03] that energy and it's cool I mean you know even places like right here can

[52:09] kind of that place is packed you know but here's what I talk about when I talk

[52:15] about the transition because we see this with an old

[52:18] old sign that you can't even read then we've got a temporary sign here there's

[52:23] not really any kind of good curb appeal cowboy blues restaurant I just you know

[52:30] and I saw there's rooms they have rooms there and so just you know this and I

[52:35] guess somebody must hopefully hopefully there's not a kid in there but you know

[52:39] best margaritas in town but you know what I mean that's in stark cotton it

[52:44] might be fantastic place but it's kind of that switch from this to to the other

[52:50] places that I showed you that are so cool and there's a lot going on and

[52:53] there's young people working there and own them and I mean it was just really

[52:57] great to see and it's and so we just see that transition but like cowboy country

[53:03] in you know I'm not where I wouldn't say oh they need to get out of cowboy or

[53:06] anything but even they have done a good job I think you can probably add some a

[53:10] little more landscaping around the entry but the rooms are well landscaped I mean

[53:15] you know and I just love this you know I mean it takes somebody of a certain age

[53:19] to guess that that was Robert Mitchum do I get that right no who is it that's

[53:24] John weightless more like Robert Mitchum than John Wayne

[53:26] there's the better like as John Wayne down in penguin but anyway still cool

[53:32] it's still cool and so this is totally fine so we're not saying you have to

[53:36] throw that out but you can just see that combination as a matter fact it's what

[53:40] makes you really cool is the eclectic mix of new old you know and it just

[53:45] makes you really a neat place I thought that was just a great display there so

[53:50] we decided to eat at this restaurant and I'm gonna use them as an example because

[53:59] at first we weren't going to eat there because here's the problem number one is

[54:05] this restaurant have anything to do with this motel

[54:09] is it totally separate you don't know I would always separate a restaurant from

[54:15] a motel because I mean do you guys say hey when we go there Lord just gonna go

[54:19] get hotel food see what I mean or motel food so for them I would say I would get

[54:24] rid of all for the motel this sign looks like 1950s and and I would just I would

[54:30] just put the name the motel right here and and then down

[54:34] here you know I'm gonna talk about this in a second in this one here I mean

[54:40] number one there's way too much text on a sign you should never have more than

[54:44] eight words and by the way have you ever gone anywhere and said honey stop the

[54:48] car gotta write down that phone number so what they should do with this and by

[54:54] the way there's no arrows or any that tells you where the restaurant is so my

[54:58] first thing was the restaurant must be in this motel no thanks and I heard this

[55:04] is a fairly new restaurant owner from the one that failed before them I don't

[55:08] know whether that's true or not but that's what we heard and so see that

[55:12] siting down there I'd go from that to that now you know it's not hooked to the

[55:19] restaurant renegades restaurant one block that is what they need to do

[55:24] because all these banners there and they aren't doing them any good because it

[55:28] doesn't say where it's at it's just at the motel and on the sign it says

[55:32] restaurant and I don't want to eat at a motel restaurant and so even here I put

[55:39] out more tables and chairs I didn't put you know you can go into airports and

[55:44] see umbrellas because they just the Catalina umbrellas just say we're open

[55:49] it makes it inviting but I would add more here make it more inviting I mean I

[55:54] would take the bear out of the attic and put them down on the floor and here's

[56:00] why if you took the bear out of there by the way I barely saw the bear up there's

[56:06] some other animals creeping around up there too and I said why don't you put

[56:10] the bear right here and then people will take their picture with it and then I'll

[56:15] send you got social media going for you I mean you know and and when you walk in

[56:21] I would absolutely for that for this the restaurant owner the photos are way up

[56:27] too high they need to be downward people look at I mean we're setting the table

[56:29] there's a photo up there I would have said you know what you got some

[56:32] merchants here that really good at interior displays I'd have somebody come

[56:36] down and work with them because inside has no personality whatsoever I mean I

[56:42] put gift shop here or put gallery here put

[56:45] paintings and art here I mean leverage it but you walk in it's just kind of

[56:50] barren and open and so you know and by the way one thing I said you have to be

[56:56] known for something what's your specialty

[56:59] you know we notice they sold tacos in there and they sold hamburgers and it

[57:03] was kind of not anything that they specialize in and I'm and I'm going to

[57:07] show an example that coming up but anyway and then the in here has just

[57:12] absolutely zero curb appeal I'm telling you a curb appeal is important and let

[57:19] me give you some statistics about that and so and it might be nice but it

[57:24] doesn't look like a great place to stay this little building is fantastic and

[57:29] congratulations to further doing this this is great low place in penguins with

[57:37] nearly three times the population we're meeting in City Hall what does that tell

[57:42] you and so I mean it's just just really great as we keep going around I mean

[57:49] even this that little you know the little Mercanti or there's a mercantile

[57:53] ghost or great just a great job and so one thing I would do is you know what

[58:00] have you tried to cross the street out here on a busy day it's a nightmare so

[58:08] here's here's where I'm here's where here's where I start getting myself into

[58:12] trouble and this is where I often kid people I say you know it's all bringing

[58:19] myung his fault you know when he designed the biggest widest streets

[58:21] anywhere in the country you know so they could do a u-turn for wagons and I'm

[58:26] just kidding with that but why is it that in Utah the streets through the

[58:33] middle of your downtown are wider than the highways getting here that's stupid

[58:38] you know what if it was me

[58:45] by the way congestion is a downtown's best friend you're right you know what

[58:52] you know I told me it split you I know I told him in Springdale Springdale it

[58:58] lines all the way up from Zion National Park all the way through town you know

[59:01] what they were going to do you dot Utah Department transportation was gonna

[59:07] widen the streets to Springdale I went there and then I went up to Salt Lake

[59:13] City and talked to the your your your top economic zone people Vicki from

[59:18] tourism world man from rural Utah I mean and and I don't know know what I want

[59:25] you to do in Springdale is I want you to narrow the streets and widen the side

[59:30] watch to 20 feet wide narrow the streets then what I want you to do is put a

[59:35] parking structure in each end because you have free shuttles through town why

[59:41] does any and you have free shuttles all the way up into the Narrows in the park

[59:45] and I told me you need to work on shelves to get over to ease I am but I

[59:49] said no you're doing the wrong thing you're not trying to move more traffic

[59:52] if you could make it more pedestrian friendly your retail sales will

[59:59] skyrocket and that is the benefit of tourism and they're doing it they're

[1:00:06] narrowing the highway and widening the sidewalks for you number one you don't

[1:00:12] even have one single crosswalk so I thought what if what if what if you

[1:00:23] made this a bike lane like it is okay you make that that's a bike lane but

[1:00:27] then what if you took this Lane what if you took this Lane and you made this

[1:00:33] landscaping except for where you come in here and you put street trees down here

[1:00:39] so you'd have one lane of traffic and you'd have a buffer between this between

[1:00:44] your pedestrians I mean what if and what if you did that on this side I mean

[1:00:57] now departments of Transportation around the country have two primary functions

[1:01:04] number one is Public Safety number two is moving traffic this is a

[1:01:10] pet an impediment to moving traffic but there's a third one that Utah now gets

[1:01:15] and that is economic development if you can slow people down in this downtown

[1:01:21] you will see your retail sales increase and you will see more investment like

[1:01:26] right across the street where it's needed and there's just no reason why

[1:01:31] you can't narrow traffic and by the way now you're giving your pedestrians this

[1:01:36] actually is helping pedestrian safety ok well now you have an ally at the unit

[1:01:45] you I'm an ally at the state tourism office with rural Utah nearing because

[1:01:49] we will take this back to them so to me it just does not make any sense why you

[1:02:01] have a two-lane highway with six of you know 55 60 mile an hour speed limits and

[1:02:07] you come to downtown and you have four lanes wide and the speed limit is 35 and

[1:02:12] they're still going 50 well true of revenue yeah so so anyway and then and

[1:02:22] then put in some crosswalks I just think I you know what I think it would be

[1:02:26] fantastic yes well it that but but but the reason the reason I did this here I

[1:02:38] could have said put Street trees along the sidewalk and then and then leave

[1:02:42] leave one of these open is because with the semis now you could actually do

[1:02:48] sidewalk cafe dining down here or whatever now you've got a buffer between

[1:02:52] you and the semis that's why that's why I kept this the bike lanes inside the

[1:02:57] landscaping on the outside I mean I put the landscape in the outside not on the

[1:03:01] inside but but there's not much you can do that because it is a state highway I

[1:03:06] mean well yeah yeah it is a state I and I agree with you you know what but

[1:03:11] you know what happens a lot of times in places where there's a lot of congestion

[1:03:16] this time I say I'm not gonna fight that I'm gonna go different route now I don't

[1:03:20] know how possible that is coming from Tory and you know what I mean

[1:03:23] doing these but we have seen it in other places where where all of a sudden they

[1:03:28] just said wow that's just that's a nightmare to get through there which by

[1:03:32] the way would be good news for you so the grocery store I mean you know it's

[1:03:39] fine I'd like to get rid of the weeds would love to see some beautification

[1:03:43] anything some hanging baskets anything that just makes it look more attractive

[1:03:48] Nemo's quite the place always busy awesome

[1:03:52] one of the best rated so you know what we got to put Nemo's on there it's great

[1:03:57] okay then as we're going through we see some other fun things like yours canyons

[1:04:03] B&B in this one I would probably get rid of it's so vegetating there you can't

[1:04:08] even see it it's almost kind of scary as you walk in

[1:04:11] there and I got a kick out of the sign that says that the rooms are actually

[1:04:15] furnished and I and it's the first time I've ever seen a lodging place that

[1:04:21] actually had to tell you that the rooms were furnished because I've never heard

[1:04:24] of a lodging place where they weren't and by the way for anybody that's in

[1:04:28] lodging always give us it says so it says furnished rooms with baths now with

[1:04:33] private so if I was a B&B I always put private baths 24-hour access put your

[1:04:39] top three reasons why we should stay there but we say furnished rooms that's

[1:04:43] kind of a given so anyway is this still operating it is see because it's so

[1:04:51] overgrown you don't even know and so you have to know little things like you have

[1:04:58] a farmers market when is it when Saturday 911 put a sign up invite us

[1:05:07] back even if you just put a sandwich board right here it's just every

[1:05:12] Saturday 9:00 to 11:00 it's an invitation for us to come back okay by

[1:05:19] the way I haven't there's not one thing you've seen here that's expensive

[1:05:24] except for that streetscape everything else is just low-hanging fruit this what

[1:05:31] is it you know what it's got flags somebody's using it is

[1:05:37] one of the coolest buildings we searched them the web we can't find websites we

[1:05:41] can't all we have is tons of pitch old people taking picture that because they

[1:05:44] think it's a cool building and I thought well maybe it's maybe that's your artist

[1:05:49] coop maybe I don't know but what what is it is it a private privately owned okay

[1:05:57] okay well I can tell that it is really a cool building I hope it turns into

[1:06:02] something really cool because it's a neat thing and anyway so and I'm glad

[1:06:06] they seem to be taking care of it we saw lots of little homes like this I'd be

[1:06:10] this one I'm sure it's privately owned but you know what Airbnb is gaining

[1:06:14] Stream gaming steam like crazy and Airbnb is fantastic for families and so

[1:06:19] we thought wow if you have homes this is that kinda like the one we're staying in

[1:06:22] in penguin now this probably belongs somebody so I'm not saying they need to

[1:06:26] move out and turn it into an air B&B but but we did see this one for sale used to

[1:06:31] be a B&B and you know I thought wow so we should buy that and turn it into an

[1:06:34] air B&B people millenials particularly had travel groups friends and stuff they

[1:06:40] love these okay and so as we're driving around checking out downtown we saw

[1:06:47] Smoky Mountain Road as also in this Ronnie Milsap song came to mind but I

[1:06:51] don't know we didn't know why it deserved its own special sign and at the

[1:06:57] same time we were trying to find we grabbed that little artist map and it

[1:07:01] said that you go down this road and it takes you to like a rodeo grounds or

[1:07:04] something so he drove down this road and that's what we saw so that obviously

[1:07:09] didn't work so we came back around we end up going down Smoky Mountain Road

[1:07:13] and there we saw this is that why that has a sign is there any space is there

[1:07:19] any special significance to Smoky Mountain Road oh but but but all the

[1:07:26] other streets have street signs this one has a big brown sign like there's an

[1:07:29] attraction there and I didn't know if it was for this or what it was for

[1:07:35] eat all the way to we're really now you know what we ran into we ran into a

[1:07:45] couple or no two couples I can't remember where they in penguin that said

[1:07:51] they got here from Paige and they never went up 89 and went how did you do that

[1:07:55] now we know know Oh from cotton oh they came up cotton wood okay so what we

[1:08:07] heard about that yeah so anyway so we did see the grounds right here now are

[1:08:12] these ever used okay once a year wait wait wait wait oh yeah but what but wait

[1:08:22] a second once a year when when 24 chili for what pioneer days okay okay

[1:08:32] everybody has pioneer days in Utah okay and it's used on Saturdays this a four

[1:08:41] hour it looks like it's used okay so are any of these vents open to the public

[1:08:51] okay people going yes some people go no here's the point if there's things open

[1:08:57] to the public put up a reader board that says coming in 2017 put the public

[1:09:01] events there it's a reason for us to stay longer and come back you do a

[1:09:05] terrible job of ever getting people to come back and it's a lot cheaper to get

[1:09:10] people to come back then always get new visitors so it looks great but you know

[1:09:14] what I thought this could be a really cool concert venue and I thought this is

[1:09:22] Red Rocks near Denver you know what I came from the concert industry and by

[1:09:28] the way these are just suggestions this whole thing is meant to be a

[1:09:32] conversation starter not to meant to be all your answers but you know what this

[1:09:36] people drive four and five hours toward concerts here we're originally from

[1:09:41] Seattle where people drive four hours to go to the Gorge Amphitheatre and we kept

[1:09:46] going war now I'm not saying we're happy I thought

[1:09:49] somewhere like Escalante would be such a cool place and you the town would be

[1:09:53] full you know anyway just wild idea we just thought wow and I'm not saying you

[1:09:59] get rid of that I thought but just the setting and everything you have around

[1:10:02] here we thought would be really cool something like that so these are

[1:10:05] conversation stars and I can tell that I'm already going to start a lot of

[1:10:08] heated arguments aren't I that's too bad but it could be healthy

[1:10:13] this little stretch here we cannot figure out our assumption is that

[1:10:20] there's nothing in there that's still in business am i right

[1:10:23] okay you don't even know there's nothing in business sort of in business okay

[1:10:36] well with this part of the problem with this weather I mean we don't know we

[1:10:46] could never we could you could never figure it out but these little buildings

[1:10:51] have tremendous potential first of all first of all there are no blade signs

[1:10:58] blade signs are signs that are perpendicular when you drive down your

[1:11:02] Main Street or when you walk down that side right there's not one single sign

[1:11:06] that tells you there's anything in those buildings not one

[1:11:10] there's not one let me go back to it the only way you see any of these signs is

[1:11:19] as you're driving past too late to stop or if you're across the street you have

[1:11:27] no idea what's in any of those what we see are signs that are perpendicular to

[1:11:33] us we didn't even notice these buildings except as we drove by we just figured

[1:11:37] what a shame all shut down closed these are blade signs

[1:11:43] these are blade signs notice consistent height and size they don't all have to

[1:11:48] be cookie cutter but they that's for any business that go in there that's

[1:11:52] Nantucket this is Carmel I mean they're all the

[1:11:56] best towns at blade signs and so for every bit

[1:12:01] you need a blade signs signs that are perpendicular I mean this is little

[1:12:05] Canmore Alberta there's some general rules you can use see there you go blade

[1:12:10] signs blade signs so that's problem but you know what I thought could be in

[1:12:14] there what if those little buildings had a little cupcake shop a little ice cream

[1:12:18] shop what if you had a little work off eShop a little deli what if you had just

[1:12:23] a cool little things there what if you even went so far as to get rid of some

[1:12:29] parking and extend because the sidewalks are very narrow there and extend some

[1:12:35] dining like they did here this is in Wolfville Nova Scotia now what they do

[1:12:41] with these notice what they do is they put the dining on the sidewalk and then

[1:12:45] they put these up and you walk around it and by the way every winter they put

[1:12:49] them away in storage so they come up like in April and Nova Scotia and

[1:12:53] they're they'll tell the in October and then they pack them all up and then they

[1:12:57] move indoors for the winter or you can do what they did in Halifax Nova Scotia

[1:13:03] they have the waterfront but three blocks up a steep hill from the

[1:13:07] waterfront is this street called Argyle Street nothing was happening there and

[1:13:11] everybody is at the waterfront but a guy got together that owned the restaurant

[1:13:16] down here oppan and he went to the city and said city in my block I want to put

[1:13:24] some restaurants in here but our side watch so NER I'd like to get rid of the

[1:13:28] parking so that we could build these temporary sidewalks so that we could do

[1:13:32] outdoor cafe dining down here the city said well if you want to do that and

[1:13:39] you're not afraid of losing that parking will do it we will leash you these

[1:13:43] spaces for a buck a month and it needs to fall under your insurance and so all

[1:13:49] these restaurants started coming and that's what they did every restaurant

[1:13:52] filled the sidewalk full of little tables and chairs and then they built

[1:13:55] these little temporaries and then they put them away in the winter and guess

[1:13:59] what over five years he recruited twenty-two restaurants in two and a half

[1:14:04] blocks so I thought if you had this little cupcake shop this little

[1:14:08] ice-cream shop this little little coffee shop a little hangout place maybe a

[1:14:12] little and you just be that little row right

[1:14:15] could be the coolest thing ever just an idea I you know I mean people oh I know

[1:14:24] but but maybe you know what I would do is I'd sit down target I think we've got

[1:14:27] some really cool ideas do you want to play do you want to be part of this you

[1:14:30] know we got a way that you could better monetize your spaces you know I don't

[1:14:35] know what I don't know what your property owners are getting per square

[1:14:38] foot but I'll bet you're getting 10 times more extreme deal and they're

[1:14:41] willing to pay it because they're doing 10 times 20 times the business now

[1:14:46] granted they're right next to design but you know what we now know that their

[1:14:49] people go in springdale from Springdale and while they're there they'll go into

[1:14:53] Zion same with Jackson Hole Wyoming so anyway these are just ideas meant to

[1:14:59] take something and turn it into something that could be an amazing fit

[1:15:04] for your town by just putting letting people put sidewalk cafes and chairs and

[1:15:10] orchestrate the business I don't even know what condition the businesses are

[1:15:13] the buildings are in but we just think it could be really cool even if you

[1:15:18] allow pop-up businesses which means they're temporary businesses like for

[1:15:23] instance we're Earp anguish we met a guy and his

[1:15:26] wife and underway into penguins just little ramshackle sheds along the road

[1:15:32] just before you come into penguin you know I'm talking about and there's a

[1:15:35] little restaurant there called hummus and Heffer and it's a guy and his

[1:15:41] wife in there I thought if they could have these little businesses and they're

[1:15:46] there because it's cheap they're more like a food truck kind of business and

[1:15:50] so maybe even if you have a little pop-up businesses in there which means

[1:15:53] we just put them on month-to-month and if it goes well then they work into it

[1:15:57] remember you know what how's your school enrollment doing is it going up or down

[1:16:06] down if you want Millennials here if you want young people here with families

[1:16:13] that's what you better start these are great opportunities for small businesses

[1:16:18] we mean seen towns they they they get grapes and they buy this and they turn

[1:16:23] it into an incubator and it's just shops that are always in and out little

[1:16:27] artisans artisans and action they just make turn lemons into

[1:16:31] lemonade so to speak so anyway as we're here we saw this escalating yards and I

[1:16:41] remember Jane my wife when she was planning where we're gonna stay

[1:16:46] she kept looking at these yurts they looked really cool we thought well we're

[1:16:48] here on business we need a table we have printers and

[1:16:51] scanners we're doing photography and all this you know we probably shouldn't stay

[1:16:56] at the yurts but they sure look cool but you know what we saw the sign we said

[1:17:00] that's right let's go check them out so we drove down there we drove we almost

[1:17:04] gave up even though it's like a much even though it's like a mile and a half

[1:17:09] what you have to understand a mile and a half to a first-time visitor feels like

[1:17:13] five right it does because you never know we start going around a band but

[1:17:17] then we saw the sign and I'm telling you we are gonna come back to Escalante not

[1:17:23] just for that recreation because we have to stay in these yurts they are that

[1:17:29] cool okay is she here oh there you boys are here you both made it yay so these

[1:17:43] are fantastic now if you haven't heard the word glamping that's this by the way

[1:17:53] they're air-conditioned matter of fact yesterday it was kind of warm well you

[1:17:56] had a couple air conditioners in one of them they have five of them they want to

[1:18:00] grow more they want to and tell me if I'm speaking out of turn I mean this is

[1:18:04] a place you'd come year-round it's that cool and this is not like going to

[1:18:09] goblin Valley staying in a yurt that's just on a there's nothing there it's

[1:18:13] basically a box springs this is real glamping and it is so cold people want

[1:18:18] the unusual people want this it is just the most awesome thing and when you have

[1:18:23] places like this it makes you a destination all by itself this is what I

[1:18:28] mean about the change that's happening here the you know people are reinvent

[1:18:34] now you grew up here right no you but your dad lived here they've been up in

[1:18:40] Logan right I mean yeah yeah up in up in the Hebrew Valley area

[1:18:45] right and they've come back and I just think it's fantastic when you see that

[1:18:50] and by the way we need to know where you get those we told him you need to sell

[1:18:53] these because I want a couple is that cool or what so we stayed there for

[1:19:00] about four hours and sorry we didn't get to finish the assessment no I'm kidding

[1:19:04] but we wanted to now so we do see some of these I've seen them around there

[1:19:12] it's a scenic back way I have no idea where it goes how long it is I can't

[1:19:17] find any information anywhere I don't even know where you go look and so these

[1:19:22] things are like ah so now we've looked around I want to talk a little bit about

[1:19:29] tourism Lee and switch gears just for a second

[1:19:31] number one tourism is the purest form of economic development people come they

[1:19:36] spend money and they go home if you bring in the right kind of visitor you

[1:19:41] don't need to police them they won't tear up your streets they won't tear up

[1:19:44] your lodging if you get the right kind of visitor okay it is a can I jump now

[1:19:52] I'm the first say tourism shouldn't be your only form of economic development

[1:19:55] but for the first time in US history tourism is the front door to non tourism

[1:20:04] economic quality of life is leading economic no first time in US history but

[1:20:07] here's the other deal if you heaven forbid ever spend any money Provo st.

[1:20:13] George IQ I can just hear it now wherever you go this helps to offset

[1:20:18] that leakage of locally earned money being spent somewhere else

[1:20:21] Pierce form quickest way to leverage it so tourism you know how you send the

[1:20:28] board of the US Travel Association and we always fight this tourism bunch of

[1:20:31] lousy wage jobs you know what it's the number one small business industry in

[1:20:37] America and the days of you getting Microsoft branch offices in Escalante

[1:20:43] are over that those days are gone but you know what this can do is help offset

[1:20:48] new businesses technology business if you could get some Wi-Fi and some cell

[1:20:53] service here is there any in this town anywhere we

[1:21:01] can't get our cell phones to work on Verizon and we can't find any Wi-Fi

[1:21:05] anywhere in this down so that's something you can help us in your

[1:21:10] marketing tell us where it is front door ninth or some economic

[1:21:16] anybody's come here site selector investors they come here first and what

[1:21:19] a visitor is this a place I'd want to live my customer do I live my client

[1:21:26] number three it proves your brand you know what I

[1:21:29] said about the debt you know what we worked in Emery County and I said quit

[1:21:32] marketing the San Rafael swell it's too big you got to break it into pieces like

[1:21:37] the wedge overlook which I called another Grand Canyon or Joe's Valley for

[1:21:42] bouldering which is Orangeville and Castle Dale but for you

[1:21:46] there's the grand staircase there's the mountainside and that is Brian had Duck

[1:21:52] Creek Village all those and you're the desert side you too can own this entire

[1:21:57] grand staircase even though I know and includes the Grand Canyon and stuff I

[1:22:02] mean in southern Utah you got the desert side the Red Rock side and Brian head

[1:22:07] they've got that mountain side you get it you see what I'm saying what do you

[1:22:12] do tell me what's the problem I probably read about it cool but see these are

[1:22:23] things you should market tell people about so anyway Bryce Canyon country is

[1:22:28] what how the county marks it totally fine and then the best of you really

[1:22:32] have the best of both worlds here and then I I just think that you have a high

[1:22:37] adventure without the crowds I mean this this tourism can help you prove this

[1:22:40] fact number four number one thing is to get people stopped if you can give or

[1:22:47] spend two hours spending doubles but if you can get them to spend the night four

[1:22:53] times more in the day visitor so with tourism it's not how many people you

[1:22:57] bring in it's how long you get them to stay I'd rather see you get one quarter

[1:23:04] of the tourists and they stay four times longer

[1:23:08] because the idea is not to turn into Zion right that affects your quality of

[1:23:14] life I think for you it's getting these people and I think with with Cottonwood

[1:23:19] for one that's there's a whole day right there doing Cottonwood that people I

[1:23:22] heard about that drive down there and back doing down there in in in Hamblin

[1:23:30] arts the Hamilton Jakob Ammann arch I doing peekaboo I mean you have you have

[1:23:34] stuff here that people could do for a week and never run out stuff to do easy

[1:23:39] it would be better to have fewer customers that stay longer

[1:23:43] that is tourism that even locals I don't like tourism could probably buy into

[1:23:48] because that's cash flowing in and we like these that spend four times more

[1:23:52] than these that just stop number five you must promote your local businesses

[1:24:01] quit promoting trails and free stuff it doesn't cost as much money to go do that

[1:24:07] stuff there's no benefit to peak of largest stuff if you don't leverage your

[1:24:11] businesses whether their guides restaurants are lodging or retail I mean

[1:24:18] that's critical I mean you know what the best destinations in the United States

[1:24:22] are all built on private sector all of those were private sector Nashville and

[1:24:27] Country Music Napa Valley wine Branson Missouri in 49 music theaters Orlando

[1:24:31] and Disneyworld and 178 attractions fact number six the average visitor is active

[1:24:37] 14 hours a day they only spend 4 to 6 with the primary activity that draws

[1:24:41] them whether it's downhill skiing or cross-country skiing or quite doing one

[1:24:47] of the arches or a couple of them and then it's been 8 to 10 with

[1:24:51] complementary activities now we're going to go over to to the the hole in the

[1:24:56] hole in the what is it hole in the rock that's where we go into

[1:25:00] your museums that's where we come in to events here we're in the splash pad this

[1:25:05] is where we spend most of our time and most of our money this might be the draw

[1:25:10] but this is what we do and by the way the top activity of visitors in the

[1:25:18] world is shopping dining entertainment in a

[1:25:23] pedestrian-friendly setting not why they come but that's the number one activity

[1:25:28] in the world as a matter of fact this is where 80% of their travel spending takes

[1:25:35] place non lodging 80 percent I don't think you're getting that 80 percent so

[1:25:42] if you have people that don't like tourism that could be a big reason okay

[1:25:47] so by the way Springdale has more retail sales per capita than any city in the

[1:25:57] state of Utah including Salt Lake that

[1:26:01] success that's catch that's tax base okay so I

[1:26:09] want you to create detailed itineraries when we were in San Juan County we did

[1:26:15] one and I'm just gonna go through it quickly but when you do I tenors

[1:26:18] remember I came back and said well the team right taters they were only like

[1:26:21] one line I'll tell you how a traveler I would do a night terror so in San Juan

[1:26:25] County we made one up and what we did this is how you should do it you go get

[1:26:30] up in the morning Montell its Monticello you go to piece tree juice coffee and

[1:26:33] you get something to eat for breakfast maybe take something with you then what

[1:26:37] you're gonna do is head towards the needles overlook here's how you get

[1:26:41] there and you're gonna do that scan take about an hour's drive and then once

[1:26:45] you're done doing that you'll go to the dealers overlook and you should spend

[1:26:47] about an hour and a half there and you can tell details about what you would

[1:26:52] see you know I think some of the best views there then you can come back into

[1:26:57] town and go to wagon wheel pizza and by the way it looks a little bit rough but

[1:27:01] you know what the hand make every calzone while you wait it's not fast

[1:27:04] food it's slow food but this is I mean you know and then you might give them

[1:27:09] any fun facts about the place so now that we've had lunch we'll go to the

[1:27:13] frontier Museum where this where we met the guy right here that talked about

[1:27:17] this huge treasure be the tires like eight feet tall the wheels and go there

[1:27:22] you know and only this it's eight feet tall the tractor weighs a whopping

[1:27:25] 18,000 pounds and it actually runs while you're there you might go to the Abajo

[1:27:30] Trading Post or unique creations you'll spend like an hour

[1:27:34] there so you turn unwind from the morning activities and then what you can

[1:27:38] do is go to looking-glass rock or the Wilson arch one of them is a steeper

[1:27:43] climb than this one but feel free to take your pick on those and then when

[1:27:48] you're done we want you to head to line camp steakhouse right around 5:30 it's a

[1:27:53] really cool place here the guy that runs it it's just a kick you know and I asked

[1:27:59] him about the table cautiousness oh yeah I have all my wives make those you know

[1:28:02] and yeah and then and then he's just done politically correct as you get but

[1:28:09] you have to laugh but and the food is really good and so then what you do day

[1:28:14] to get up we want you to go to my cell if you're staying go to Blue Mountain

[1:28:18] Foods the grocery store and then head out to Canyon a national park and go to

[1:28:22] the National Park and go to the needles and by the way you may end up hurting

[1:28:26] cattle on your way they wouldn't move out away we just went really slow as we

[1:28:31] herded them down the road and as you're going you might go over here to

[1:28:36] newspaper Rock Oats we call which we said they should renamed to Facebook

[1:28:40] Rock this really is the fruit the earliest form of social media everybody

[1:28:46] posted their news the Anasazi Indians back in the day but go there it's on

[1:28:52] your way out there and then you arrive at that Park visitor center by about

[1:28:56] 11:30 and while you're there do this and this and this and this is how you should

[1:29:01] do itineraries because now you're promoting and by the way you if you're

[1:29:04] saying oh no we're gonna leave a business out no you're gonna have a

[1:29:07] whole bunch of different ideas everybody's gonna be included see what I

[1:29:10] mean that's how travel writers that's the

[1:29:13] kind of help that we would like and most always promoting your private business

[1:29:17] so we even did one for the South County where he said you'll go to Clarks market

[1:29:21] um you know and get your provision and we loved it look at this the Center for

[1:29:26] adventure right inside the grocery store this isn't Blanding how cool is that I

[1:29:31] mean that is cool that they're even getting by the way they've got all the

[1:29:35] deli they've got delis everything right here we just thought okay promote it and

[1:29:40] then you drive to Natural Bridges National Monument about an hour's drive

[1:29:46] and then while you're there you know you could spend most of the day there matter

[1:29:49] of fact we're gonna come back and just hike the base it's about nine miles

[1:29:53] around you can go right down the can you walk under the Natural Bridges I mean

[1:29:57] these are such cool things you could do then you know you might have the

[1:30:01] homestead steak house and then by the way when you're done you might want to

[1:30:05] go over here they have fantastic shakes see what I mean so these are the kinds

[1:30:11] of itineraries that people want and then go to Hoeven weep I mean over weep is

[1:30:18] fantastic we started showing these to a couple of people and they're going oh my

[1:30:23] gosh we're gonna do those itinerary for days to do these so the easier you make

[1:30:31] it for your customers the more likely they are to close the sale because when

[1:30:36] we got here we didn't know where anything was we didn't know how to sort

[1:30:39] it out I mean I've mentioned peekaboo and and Jacob Hamblin and theis I betcha

[1:30:44] there's a 20 other things that you think are even better I don't know so you know

[1:30:51] maybe you do stargazing we did this one for Seattle we did a webinar about

[1:30:56] itinerary so we so I had Jordan in our efforts make when he lives in Seattle so

[1:30:59] I had to make one up and we did this he just did this like inward so you could

[1:31:04] do these itineraries like this so he did one this is a walking day in Seattle and

[1:31:09] so we did this we did in a webinar I showed it a couple of speaking

[1:31:13] engagements and I'm not going through all the detail with you like I did with

[1:31:17] other people also I get a call from Tom who runs the Seattle visitor saying goes

[1:31:21] Roger somebody just sent me this I tanner I can't believe we got like

[1:31:25] thousands of people want this itinerary can I have it I said you bet the easier

[1:31:33] to make it for people you can have these on your website and you can do

[1:31:37] itineraries by if you're on a motorcycle itineraries if you want hiking

[1:31:42] itineraries if you want it easy you know maybe it's horseback riding I tier you

[1:31:47] can have different ideas by family by group size they are you family with kids

[1:31:51] there's an itinerary for you and so you know what I'd love to see us

[1:31:57] call auntie do is to pick your season pick your passion

[1:32:03] you can you have the best of both worlds there's no reason why we can't come here

[1:32:08] in October November can we in do jacob hamlin down there or dr cottonwood or in

[1:32:14] march and april i think you say picture season the time of year we have

[1:32:19] different experiences for you based on that time of year what our average

[1:32:22] weather is so at the end of the day we heard that this was great they said four

[1:32:32] miles out of town so we went there north korea grill and so we got there at about

[1:32:39] five thirty one thing they could use is we saw the sciences cabin check in i'm

[1:32:43] going we didn't know and the guy and his wife that owned the restaurant he came

[1:32:47] out and he said it was 5:30 he says we don't open till 6:00 he says but i

[1:32:54] wonder a little hike he said go up this road go up this side road back behind

[1:32:58] there you can see some Indian ruins some petroglyphs that nobody else knows were

[1:33:03] there BYU I guess dug out a bunch of stuff and they Phil we're all back in

[1:33:07] and so we walked it was just the coolest thing ever

[1:33:10] and by the way by doing this we worked up quite an appetite and so we walked it

[1:33:16] for half an hour 45 minutes I mean the views were just astounding we saw lots

[1:33:21] of these petroglyphs now remember where they talked about the little restaurant

[1:33:25] said you need to have a specialty you know what was really cool about this

[1:33:28] when you go there and you sit down they hand you a menu and on one of the things

[1:33:33] that's really cool the beef that you eat came from the ranch right next door

[1:33:40] almost everything they serve there is locally sourced as much as they possibly

[1:33:45] can but what's really cool is they say you need to get a hot rock then I go hot

[1:33:51] rock she goes yeah it's a little stone we put by your plate when you cut a

[1:33:58] piece of meat with your fork just have you done this you sear it you sear it on

[1:34:04] there and you a mean it is just incredible see what it means so for a

[1:34:09] restaurant if you do something that's a special

[1:34:12] something cool like that I mean we did that it was fantastic I have no idea why

[1:34:17] this piece of cedar or whatever doesn't burn to a crisp but it's it doesn't you

[1:34:24] know maybe soaked in water before but it was just the coolest thing it was

[1:34:27] fantastic food great service what an incredible place to stay and it's gonna

[1:34:32] give the yurts a run for their money now they only have eight rooms but you

[1:34:37] know what the people that are staying at your yurt so people are staying places

[1:34:40] like this and you have some other nice ones these are people that are spending

[1:34:43] the most amount of money those are the kind of visitors you want to leverage

[1:34:50] that's what's good about the upscaling of Escalante you could have fewer

[1:34:55] visitor spending three times more money than they spend in other towns like

[1:34:59] penguin and other ones this makes sense I mean it's like coolest thing ever and

[1:35:05] by the way right in their Lobby is one of those chairs if you sit in one of

[1:35:11] those I'm Johnny it's amazing now they're four thousand dollars but I

[1:35:15] think it's so cool when you have the place actually had two of them their

[1:35:18] local art on the walls I just think it's just the what's happening here is

[1:35:23] incredibly cool and so you know I think there's another opportunity for somebody

[1:35:31] that wants to do something cool on the side or they want to do this I would

[1:35:35] like to see somebody create a little book called the hidden gems now the

[1:35:39] first one I ever saw was in Door County Wisconsin I wouldn't do a hundred one

[1:35:42] things do it I put the hidden gems of escalante's grand staircase and not I'd

[1:35:49] say you're I'd say escalante's the town's grand staircase see what I mean

[1:35:53] not the whole thing but in this this little book by the way I wish I wrote a

[1:35:59] broad copy if somebody's interests in this I want you to email me and I'll

[1:36:02] send you a copy it's a little book about like this and it's got little things

[1:36:07] that says our favorite Sunday morning starts with breakfast at the white goal

[1:36:10] in on Main Street and fish creek splurge on the slice of their famous Door County

[1:36:14] berry sour cream coffee cake sold then take a much-needed stroll down

[1:36:20] car you drove a specific dessert item in a specific little

[1:36:25] truant then from the white coal and follow main street to Cairo and turn

[1:36:29] right the walk will take you north along Ross shoreline cottages about one mile

[1:36:34] before it turns up the steep Bluff at the base of the bluff is a sliver of a

[1:36:38] park known as champagne rock named for the little rock that hangs out over the

[1:36:43] water down and back to the perfect way to walk out breakfast start the day how

[1:36:47] many hundreds of those do you have right here

[1:36:49] within 20 minute drive 10 minute drive by the way the guy that wrote this is a

[1:36:56] contractor it's got 101 things in it you can have

[1:37:01] 50 or 60 it costs him by way now you could print them in color for less than

[1:37:07] five dollars a piece he sells them to local retailers for 10 and they sew him

[1:37:12] for 15 to 20 and so far he's printed 50,000 and guess what they were selling

[1:37:20] at state park offices in Door County Wisconsin and they started to survey the

[1:37:28] customers who purchased the book they would do a follow-up survey 92% came

[1:37:34] back to do more things out of that book 92% came back see what I mean how many

[1:37:42] of these hidden gems you have here I can't even imagine how many there are

[1:37:46] that are off the beaten path private sector cool thing to do be amazing so in

[1:37:55] closing here are your seven top priority to do items remember these are

[1:38:02] suggestions this is not meant to be all the answers we have not talked to you

[1:38:07] first but I'm telling you what you have here is pretty cool

[1:38:10] it's gonna be a little different story and Penguin I feel my heart goes out to

[1:38:14] them but you're you're building stuff they're closing stuff down and they're

[1:38:19] on eighty nine for them they need to find a focus and so here's your's

[1:38:27] priority number one create the very best of escalante's brochure that very best

[1:38:34] of best thing you could ever do and it is a public-private partnership it

[1:38:39] basically self-funding it is the number one thing you could do and by the way

[1:38:46] there there's there's your list I mean you can add peek-a-boo spook it we

[1:38:51] didn't you know what we didn't have a chance to go do these so we can't rate

[1:38:54] them but just look at hurricane wash a spring and fall maybe that's where I

[1:38:59] think that's where that all is a cottonwood road there you go there's the

[1:39:02] Cottonwood Road that somebody mentioned we heard that that was fantastic

[1:39:06] I put question marks because we haven't tried them yet but I mean calf Creek

[1:39:09] Falls I mean absolutely I mean can you imagine these things in one brochure you

[1:39:16] know what the word is gonna be for that OMG they can't believe it I mean it's

[1:39:22] amazing who cares about who cares about Bryce

[1:39:25] Canyon even after this I mean you know and I'm not taking either way from Bryce

[1:39:31] cuz I think it's one of the best of the national parks create detailed

[1:39:36] itineraries you could do it by skill level you want easy to extreme you can

[1:39:42] even do it by mode of travel I'm on motorcycle or I have an RV or I want a

[1:39:45] bike or I want to hike you could even do it by the time of year you could do it

[1:39:50] by type of experience oh we're coming with kids or we want a romantic weekend

[1:39:55] so we're gonna go the urge to need it the best restaurants and you know or

[1:39:58] stayed out out at the slot canyons in we even have a V by the way we have a video

[1:40:06] library it's got like a gazillion videos in it and they're access for you for the

[1:40:10] next six months they're on Vimeo and we usually just charge so we can cover our

[1:40:13] costs but what you're gonna have access to all these so if you need help doing

[1:40:17] any of these that's there for you all the details

[1:40:21] so there's priority number two number three details details details we want

[1:40:26] the more details you give us the more likely our to close sale if you have

[1:40:31] fishing is there fishing it petrified at the State Park

[1:40:34] here's what we want to know what will I catch there where do I get a fishing

[1:40:41] license is one required see I couldn't find that information near I can't find

[1:40:45] any of this information okay how much is that fishing license what are the catch

[1:40:50] limits as a catcher releases a trout is it bad

[1:40:53] what is it when are the fishing seasons are there certain times a year what time

[1:40:58] of day is best and what kind of bait should I use and is there bait and

[1:41:01] tackle shop in town probably business and is there fishing guides are private

[1:41:06] business how do I get just fishing specific

[1:41:10] fishing spots you know is there a place to park when we go there anything else I

[1:41:16] should know and I don't care whether it's Creek River I mean if it's a ATV I

[1:41:21] did this one for Paiute can I go where can I rent one what are the cost do we

[1:41:25] need a trailer to tow it you know do we how do we get it to where we're gonna go

[1:41:29] what time of year is best I mean this is the kind of details if you answer these

[1:41:34] questions we won't be going to 27 other websites and leaving yours I mean this

[1:41:40] is this is the kind of stuff people want so far the county does the best and

[1:41:45] that's their job I mean for you look at I did this coyote Gulch naked animal

[1:41:51] March I mean they go first of all how do I get to the parking area I mean what

[1:41:56] kind of vehicle do I need can I do it in high clinch vehicle okay do it in a

[1:41:59] passenger car do I need to do it in a Jeep or an ATV I don't know what time of

[1:42:03] year's best how long is the hike once we get there is it easy difficult or insane

[1:42:09] you know I mean is it how much time should I count on luckily the guy over

[1:42:15] there at the Spencer he was answered all these questions for me but what if we

[1:42:20] haven't been here yet and we're trying to make our plans we're trying for out

[1:42:24] how many nights to book now if I would have come here with the whole deal to go

[1:42:30] do jkm large I would have been very disappointed because he said this is not

[1:42:33] really the best time here to do it that's not what you want visitors to do

[1:42:38] and then what provisions we'll need and where can I get those provisions are

[1:42:43] there guide service while we're there what else should we go see I mean what

[1:42:48] else should we know and that's what you need to do because otherwise we're gonna

[1:42:52] go to other third-party sites and you know other third-party sites will say oh

[1:42:57] stay and Tory or they'll say stay somewhere else or they will say this

[1:43:01] isn't for them I mean you know and by the way this happens to be a really good

[1:43:05] one back at coyote Gulch and by the way people

[1:43:08] weigh in that have done it and by the way with your brochures here's my

[1:43:13] favorite brochure I've ever seen and this was in Springdale at an outfitter

[1:43:18] called Zion guru this when I talk about details this one time by this one

[1:43:24] brochure this is privately done what they did there's the back they took all

[1:43:30] the heights welcome to Zion National Park Watchmen they told you what great

[1:43:35] it is what there is to do and they even graded them by the number of smiles

[1:43:40] three smile here's a one smile and with this you know here's two and a half

[1:43:46] here's four angels landing difficulty elevation gain average hiking time

[1:43:52] distance trailhead location optimal time to hike experience fantastic best for

[1:43:59] sure ever they tell you the amenities the ratings the difficulty everything if

[1:44:04] you can do this you're gonna close the sale and it could be all online

[1:44:09] I just thought fantastic first private business to do that okay

[1:44:16] details details details and then your top three top five if there was three

[1:44:22] things I had to do while I'm here what would they be

[1:44:24] I mean anyway say what what do you like strenuous do you like hiking where you

[1:44:29] like and here's the top three people loved it

[1:44:32] top three photographic sites top five wildlife viewing sites in the top five

[1:44:37] trails I mean you have so many helped us narrow it down and if we like those top

[1:44:41] three guess what we're gonna come back to the next three bike routes you name

[1:44:46] it okay top number five if you want to be successful you need a minimum of

[1:44:57] eight months not six not three eight full-tilt from March 1st through

[1:45:05] November that's nine if you do that there is no reason why somebody can't

[1:45:10] come here in any one of those months over at the yurts you guys already

[1:45:15] booked in Thanksgiving aren't you see what I mean

[1:45:18] so that's I mean there's just no reason why people can't come here you need I

[1:45:24] mean the price you know what I should have probably put this priority number

[1:45:27] one if you want young people to move here with families you want to

[1:45:32] repopulate your schools you want year-round sustainable jobs that is the

[1:45:36] number one priority there's just no reason why you can't be

[1:45:42] an 8-month destination just no reason at all

[1:45:45] but I'm telling you if I come back in October and half your businesses are

[1:45:50] close to the season it's gonna be all over Facebook and everything and people

[1:45:53] just cable just we're just going to go there when it's safe June July August

[1:45:58] September so the days of Memorial a bird a extended that ended in the 1980s

[1:46:10] people don't plan to week vacations they say what are we gonna do for four days

[1:46:15] three days the average person is doing five vacation trips a year would it be

[1:46:20] cool if to you or two or three of them and each of those are three or four days

[1:46:24] that is over by the way you want boomers that spend the most amount of money

[1:46:28] their feet months or travel March April September and October and they spend the

[1:46:31] most money and by the way the boomers are doing a cool thing now called

[1:46:35] multi-generational travel you know what the boomers have maybe some of you fit

[1:46:40] in our category we have the guilt complex we may not have been there for

[1:46:45] kids with by god we're gonna be there for our grandkids and you know darn well

[1:46:49] you baby boomers who's footing the bill and we want to take those kids and

[1:46:55] grandkids to places like this where they have experiences they will never forget

[1:46:59] and it's as far as Disneyland from Disneyland as you could ever get but to

[1:47:07] do it you need to be open during spring break in March and April you need to be

[1:47:12] open during fall breaks you need to be open for boomers that want to travel in

[1:47:16] those shoulder seasons when there aren't the crowds

[1:47:20] peak month travel months now are mid April through October priority number

[1:47:28] six this is what I call the 787 rule this is

[1:47:33] the king of all the rules and there's seven of them three of them 787 first

[1:47:39] one is the seventy eighty seventy is really what it is here you go

[1:47:43] seventy percent of first time sales comes from curb appeal we all travel

[1:47:49] have you ever said these exact words that looks like a nice place to eat

[1:47:56] that's a big problem penguin now I didn't see any of your places I mean no

[1:48:02] if I keep picking on penguin a night we're really gonna try to help him but

[1:48:06] I've also had the same conversation and Kanab in other places but have you ever

[1:48:13] said those words that looks like a nice place to eat because you don't have cell

[1:48:18] service we have to go by curb fail just kidding

[1:48:21] partially kidding we could not get TripAdvisor to load here at all using

[1:48:25] Verizon at all so just remember that curb Hill by the way we believe cities

[1:48:35] should be in charge of curbside but businesses should always be in charge of

[1:48:40] the facade side before after notice the difference retail sales went up 35%

[1:48:50] beautification I mean does that make you want to go in beautification and blade

[1:48:56] signs the middle one women account for 80% of all consumer spending i'm iton

[1:49:09] usually there's a guy in the audience that pipes up and says that's all that's

[1:49:15] an absolute fact and women also account for 70% of decisions and travel cater to

[1:49:22] women women want to be in places they feel safe and welcomed more than us guys

[1:49:30] okay absolutely critical love what this shop did and that look cute that's a

[1:49:37] Wickford Rhode Island there's a little sign by the door you know what it says

[1:49:41] your husband call he said to buy anything you want but

[1:49:46] here's something you need to do in s : dia is I want you to take a look at the

[1:49:52] next photo which was not staged what do you see the men are in the benches in

[1:50:03] the chairs and guess where the wives are in the women I mean I have two words for

[1:50:09] you think benches think benches up and down your main street you should have 30

[1:50:17] or 40 benches and every single batch there's chained being a model every

[1:50:22] single bench should be flanked with pots planners that's in Cedar City

[1:50:26] have you ever wondered why we do this we may never sit in those in our front

[1:50:34] porch but it says we're welcome it's the same with their businesses and benches

[1:50:39] should always be at the facade facing out you can buy them all you can buy

[1:50:46] them all over so there you go and the third one this is the big one even

[1:50:54] bigger than your seasons 70% of all retail spending all period all retail

[1:51:02] not online after 6 p.m. all visitors and locals 70% takes place after 6 p.m. ok

[1:51:15] can it can everybody read that here's the deal if we come here we spend the

[1:51:25] night we get up in the morning and we go do any of this stuff we go do 12 we go

[1:51:31] to Boulder and go to an Assad's where you go to petrified state park we go to

[1:51:34] Picabo we do any of that stuff we haven't spent any money except for that

[1:51:39] lodging and if we go back and we come back at 6 o'clock when we walk out here

[1:51:44] tonight is this town closed here's another thing you need to find out

[1:51:49] meaning you know in the 50s and 60s the average family ate dinner between

[1:51:57] 5:30 and 6:00 we are moving to the European standard in America in Europe

[1:52:05] Western Europe the average time people eat dinner is 9 o'clock in the US it is

[1:52:09] now between 7:00 and 7:30 and you have restaurants in this area that closes at

[1:52:14] 7:00 I don't know about in escalante but but in other towns we've been they close

[1:52:22] to 7:00 if we saw that in planning Monticello we had a hard time finding a

[1:52:27] place to eat because they're enclosed at 7:00 now think about your locals that

[1:52:30] are at work they come home for work and you're already closed

[1:52:33] no wonder they had to Cedar City and st. George and everywhere else

[1:52:40] so people spend the night where there's things to do after 6 o'clock so by the

[1:52:49] way the millennial generation is now bigger than the baby boomers when I got

[1:52:56] out there for anybody that's a little bit older I'll bet you on your 16th

[1:52:59] birthday you went down there and got your driver's license did you know the

[1:53:02] average age real millennial getting driver's license 24 we have a daughter

[1:53:07] who's 29 30 she did talk she's come on we should have said 24 um she still

[1:53:15] doesn't have a driver's license but that's why they're living in the urban

[1:53:18] areas but I'm just telling you people want out of their cars in the pedestrian

[1:53:22] experience that's why I said narrow the streets widen the sidewalks make a

[1:53:25] pedestrian friendly we want places to hang out we want third places Starbucks

[1:53:30] built an entire brain around third places you're Outfitters doing that it's

[1:53:34] a place you go hang out you need more of those so you need to work with your

[1:53:41] property owners on this and I get it oh I'm a small business I need to go and

[1:53:45] fix dinner for my kids we get it we understand but there are ways to do this

[1:53:51] and you end up making more money we'd rather see you open at 11:00 and stay

[1:53:55] open till 7:00 then do 9:00 to 6:00 or 8:00 to 5:00 I mean in most European

[1:54:02] countries South America if they have CSS actually closed for two hours in the

[1:54:05] afternoon then they come back but they're even in two

[1:54:09] chips where they can come we do these this tells you how to do that and then

[1:54:13] priority number seven make a list of these suggestions what was there's like

[1:54:18] forty right and turn them into action items the ones you think you're good fit

[1:54:22] and by the way I think you should create the Escalante extreme team this is the

[1:54:27] people a group of people that will sit down saying let's go through these

[1:54:30] suggestions let's make some stuff happen let's talk to the property owners across

[1:54:34] the street about that little stretch let's talk to whoever we need to talk to

[1:54:38] I mean there's you you can be an amazing destination without overrunning this

[1:54:45] town and I don't think anybody here wants to ruin the lifestyle you've come

[1:54:49] to enjoy but I think you would probably all agree it would be great if your

[1:54:53] neighbors and your friends can be more successful with their small businesses

[1:54:57] and I think that you know what if you want young people back your schools want

[1:55:01] to repopulate you so you're not gonna lose your schools but you know what are

[1:55:06] you combining classes the second you start combining classes the second would

[1:55:11] teachers start to retire and the second your budgets are based on enrollment I

[1:55:15] mean you don't want your club right now you've got high quality education I want

[1:55:19] to lose it that starts with jobs this is the cleanest fastest easiest way to make

[1:55:25] you an outstanding Utah destination it's already happening and yes you've got to

[1:55:30] control it so it doesn't get too big or out of control but I think you can do

[1:55:34] that easily I think what you have here is flat-out amazing and I don't get to

[1:55:39] say that very often throughout Utah and so make something happen and here's to

[1:55:47] the best up-and-coming destination in the western United States thank you so

[1:55:53] much for coming out tonight thank you

[1:56:00] now for maybe five minutes if any of you have questions anybody have a question I

[1:56:06] don't mind hard ones absolutely well I think it's important

[1:56:19] and I don't know the makeup of your council or whether you're sitting a city

[1:56:24] manager council form of government or a mayoral forum or a government I think

[1:56:29] it's important but it's up to the locals to vote for your elected representatives

[1:56:34] I do think it's important but I think you know what elected officials from the

[1:56:39] President of the United States under sub has to improve the quality of life for

[1:56:46] their citizens period that's what elected officials do they do

[1:56:50] that by having money called tax base this is about increasing the tax base so

[1:56:56] they have more money to do more things for you as citizens so I think that is

[1:57:01] their focus should be at what can we do to import more cash so this is not about

[1:57:07] taxing our citizens more how can we bring outside money in to improve our

[1:57:12] way of life our quality of life and so I always think it's important that

[1:57:16] business representatives but towns also have chambers of commerce and other

[1:57:21] organizations that that represent the private sector whether its economic

[1:57:25] almost tourism and I think I think that city would be more than welcome I mean

[1:57:29] most cities more and welcome to hear from them they would like the private

[1:57:32] sector to take the lead remember your elected officials are

[1:57:35] elected to be all things to all people a lot of this stuff isn't there's things I

[1:57:39] said here today that I'm sure people are gonna go sideways on and I stole I hope

[1:57:43] I still have tires on our air and our tires out there you know because I could

[1:57:48] hear some of the feedback but you know what change there's always going to be

[1:57:53] people that came here and they never wanted to change but without change

[1:57:57] communities die and you don't have to go very far to find it and but I think what

[1:58:03] you have here is phenomenal I think it's just managing it right getting people to

[1:58:08] stay longer so that you don't have to as many making your downtown really the

[1:58:15] destination I think you could do you know what Jackson Wyoming you know what

[1:58:20] the most asked question is a West Yellowstone Montana which is the

[1:58:23] quickest way to Jackson Hole and let's say well just go down highway 26 by

[1:58:28] Rexburg and I don't go over Teton Pass is there way we can go get at a picture

[1:58:32] taken in Old Faithful then get down there it's a bigger attraction than both

[1:58:36] Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks wouldn't that be cool for you and

[1:58:40] you could do that yes absolutely huge and dark sky we'll spend the night and

[1:59:00] it you're what are you seven thousand feet six thousand feet I mean anything

[1:59:05] above 40 you know Salt Lake valleys at 4500 the higher you go the darker the

[1:59:10] skies are and the clearer they are so the dykes got dark skies something you

[1:59:13] should absolutely promote particularly if you have special places where people

[1:59:17] can go set up camp to go look at them be fantastic be great things for lodging

[1:59:22] veel we've seen lodging places will actually put telescopes on the roof of

[1:59:26] their buildings just for that yes um with calendar vent here's the thing

[1:59:38] and this is going to come up in penguin tomorrow they have a balloon fest they

[1:59:43] might have other events but here's the okay so how many events do you have in

[1:59:48] Escalante in a year roughly okay four or five so you have four or five and it's

[1:59:54] the same people work on all four or five of them you spend almost all year doing

[1:59:57] that right pretty much okay and let's say they all lasted two days that still

[2:00:05] is not going to do anything because any business here's gonna say well how

[2:00:10] you're gonna fill me how you gonna bring me customers the other 340 days of the

[2:00:14] year or even 300 let's take out a day a week

[2:00:16] for a church and be closed see what I mean so I think events are fantastic

[2:00:22] typically I think too much money and time is spent on them for the

[2:00:27] minimal return that you get ok now the balloon fest and penguin is fantastic

[2:00:33] because they get all kinds of news that puts them on the map for something but

[2:00:36] the problem is doesn't put them on the map for anything outside of those couple

[2:00:39] of days sure farmers markets are fantastic sure yeah yeah the more things

[2:00:53] you have to offer the further people come the longer they will stay

[2:00:56] absolutely so with that I know I'm over my time thank you once again for coming

[2:01:01] out thank you so much oh thank you

[2:01:25] you

ESCALANTE Roger Brooks Video

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