[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