Burnside ramping up tourism promotion

Local News

Related Photos

Above is an illustration that will appear on billboards stretching up to the borders of Ohio, promoting Lake Cumberland and Burnside as a tourism hotspot this summer, courtesy of M&S Publishing. Efforts have been ramped up to squash the negative publicity surrounding the lowering of Lake Cumberland to 680 feet to ease pressure on Wolf Creek Dam.

February 22, 2007

City’s tourism board trying to sink negative publicity from low lake

By CHRIS HARRIS CJ Staff Writer The Commonwealth Journal Thu Feb 22, 2007, 08:41 AM EST

Efforts to salvage a tourism season that is hanging by a thread have prompted an all-out blitz of promotional efforts by the City of Burnside.

With a scope designed to reach across Kentucky and into Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio, where many of the yearly visitors to Lake Cumberland hail from, billboards, radio spots and even a Web site, burnsidetourism.com, are being employed to “get the word out,” as a recent press release termed it, that the lake is still open this summer and usable for boaters and swimmers, despite it being significantly lowered.

Local public relations firm M&S; Publishing Co. is working with Burnside to produce the advertising materials and campaign, and sounded enthused about the opportunity.

“This is an exciting time for the community,” said Melanie Arnold of M&S; Publishing. “(Burnside’s Tourism Committee) has adopted a very proactive position in promoting their assets and has a clear vision of what they want to do. Our role in the process is to help them focus on a destination and then create stepping stones toward that destination.”

The town’s new logo and design and promotional slogan, “Lose Your Worries — Leave Your Heart,” will be featured on the billboards and brochures that will be distributed in the far reaches of the Bluegrass and in surrounding states. The logo presents an illustration of the partially submerged tunnel in old Burnside.

Additionally, Greg Kitzmiller, the Web design specialist for M&S; Publishing, says the Internet has the potential to “lift up Burnside as a destination for lake visitors” and that they’re working on an advanced search function to help aid the cause, one that will key into Lake Cumberland Rentals. Click into the Web site’s function to make a reservation and it will help you look for whatever accommodations you need — one bedroom, two bedroom, cabins, views of the lake, etc.

It might seem a bit ironic to utilize such high-tech means to promote the natural beauty of the outdoors around Lake Cumberland, but it’s perhaps a sign of the growth that Burnside as a whole has made over the last few years and is still experiencing. The city is taking full advantage of its status as the only area of Pulaski County that allows restaurants to serve drinks — and the resulting swell of eating establishments to locate there — as just another reason to come visit Burnside.

“The ability for current visitors to have a glass of wine with a nice dinner at Picasso’s or the Harbor at Lee’s Ford, a beer with their steak at Reno’s or with their pizza at Lakeside Pizza & Pub, or a margarita with some great Mexican food at Las Penas or El Taxco is a huge plus,” said Arnold.

Donna Howard of the Burnside Tourism Committee said the everyone on their board liked the work M&S; had shown them and were very satisfied. Planning had been going on for a long time on choosing someone to manage and promote tourism in Burnside even before the Wolf Creek Dam crisis necessitated the lowering of the lake to 680 feet for the rest of the year —which has caused many regular visitors to fear there won’t be much of a lake to use.

Or for that matter, many fear that it will be dangerous — those who operate tourism-based businesses have had a number of people cancel reservations on the basis that low lake levels may present unsafe conditions. Burnside officials have done everything they can to combat that perception, however, and the advertising package is a large part of those efforts. Radio ads in particular will reportedly discuss the safety of the lake.

“We are planning to spend a large percentage of our (tourism budget) to offset the negative publicity that has been circulating,” said Howard.

How much money it will cost altogether is as of yet undetermined — but it’s going toward keeping Burnside viable at a critical point in the town’s history.

“We’re so very excited at the progress we have made so far,” said Patty Guinn, also of the tourism committee. “The development of Burnside’s tourism potential will open many doors for our community. We feel it’s the best direction for smart growth we can take.”

Text Only

Local News

Visitors rave about beauty of Lake Cumberland in May
May 24, 2012 1 Photo
Pulaski’s Memorial Day weekend to be packed
May 24, 2012 1 Photo
Locally-born Rotary leader Pigman dies at 78
May 24, 2012
Technology summit gets underway
May 24, 2012 1 Photo
Local Democrats diss Obama
May 23, 2012
Floyd edges incumbent in city council run-off
May 23, 2012
Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

May 22, 2012 1 Photo
Pine Knot man leads law enforcement on chase
May 22, 2012 1 Photo
Tragic accident claims toddler
May 21, 2012 1 Photo
Woman with child in car cited for DUI
May 18, 2012
More Local News Headlines

Local News

Search Results

Related Photos

Burnside ramping up tourism promotion

City’s tourism board trying to sink negative publicity from low lake

Site Map