A small community adopts tourism as a development tool - Johnson County, Tennessee

Johnson County, Tenn., as one of America's first and last frontiers, has captured the hearts of visitors from across the country as well as from around the world. When Daniel Boone developed the "Wilderness Trail" two hundred years ago, he could never have foreseen that there would one day be thousands of tourists seeking their own discoveries in this beautiful part of northeast Tennessee, and in so doing helping to revitalize an economy which had gone stale in the 1980s.

Today, the world over, communities are tapping natural, cultural, and historic resources in rural areas; and rural tourism has become an important tool for economic development. With a little optimism, lots of creativity, and an energetic leadership, local communities such as Johnson County are utilizing "rural tourism" as a means to develop and diversify their economies by creating jobs and bringing in new resources. They are providing that rural areas can integrate innovative tourism programs with other efforts to achieve economic development.

Johnson County's tourism successes offer a model for many communities across the country which may be concerned with the decline of an agricultural or industrial economy. This small, rural community has used tourism to stimulate positive economic activities which create new jobs and new businesses. The people of Johnson County have recognized increasingly that residents and workers of busy metropolitan cities are seeking rest and relaxation in the serene environment of rural areas. And, further, that international visitors to the United States are expressing their interest in touring the countryside and seeing a "Rural America," better described as the "Real America" in the sense of cultural and historic development of the country. This effort in Johnson County epitomizes the current decade's interest in an attractive natural environment offering scenic and historic settings.

Rural Tourism Recognition

The problems that plague rural America today are extensive. Until the 1980s, unemployment rates were consistently higher in urban areas than in rural areas. However, during the 1981-82 recession, rural unemployment rates rose faster and peaked higher than urban unemployment rates.

This phenomenon of high unemployment rates in rural areas is a significant break from past patterns, ad represents a warning flag that fundamental conditions have shifted in rural America. For example, during much of the 1980s, about 400,000 rural residents packed their bags and left rural America each year to seek employment in the cities. Although agriculture remains the most important industry in rural America, it now employs relatively few people, and that trend is likely to continue. Only approximately 400 of America's 2,400 rural countries are now considered "agriculture dependent."

White house recognition of tourism as an important tool in rural revitalization efforts came on Jan. 22, 1990, when the President ordered implementation of the Report on Rural Economic Development for the 90s. This report explains that any new lifeblood for rural America will be found primarily in off-farm employment opportunities, especially in industries such as tourism, retirement living, and commercial recreation, which all serve to bring additional income to rural communities. In remarks on Oct. 28, 1991, the President state: "More and more rural communities are making tourism a part of the economic development option for the nineties. And the U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration, along with other government agencies, is working to put small-town America on the tourist map. As part of that initiative, federal agencies will provide leadership for educational outreach programs in rural tourism development."

The U.S. Department of Commerce has been in the forefront of developing various tourism strategies to assist in implementing the President's Initiative on Rural America. Two important strategic steps of the Department's policy include:

* An interagency effort by the National Tourism Policy Council (chaired by the Secretary of Commerce) to develop a national policy for encouraging the growth of tourism-related businesses in rural America; and

* Directions for the U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration (USTTA) to develop an educational outreach program to provide training for rural communities interested in tourism as an economic development tool in rural areas.

USTTA has provided the major leadership for implementing these tourism strategies. One of USTTA's most important responses was announced by Under Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism John G. Keller on Dec. 3, 1991, when he stated that: "Tourism can play a critical role in revitalizing rural America." Towards that goal, USTTA organized a "Train and Trainers" rural tourism conference, scheduled to take place on April 22-24, 1992, at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Kansas City, Mo.

Johnson County, Tennessee

Drive through Johnson County nowadays and you see few remnants of those hard times almost five years ago when the unemployment rate stood at 30 percent. Located in the northeastern-most corner of Tennessee, the Appalachian Mountain County borders both North Carolina and Virginia.

By 1986, trouble was on the horizon. During the next two years, Johnson County's only hospital declared bankruptcy and then closed its doors. Burlington Industries, which once employed 1,500 of the local residents, shut down the plant and left town. Because of a lack of funds, the Johnson County Board of Commissioners failed to pass a timely budget and the school superintendent was forced to close the schools for several days.

Headlines in The Tomahawk, the local Mountain City newspaper, proclaimed the bad news week after week, carrying pictures of local government meetings packed with citizens angry about what was happening to their county. "It was bad," remembers local businessman Tommy Walsh. "Something had to be done. The County Executive called a meeting at the courthouse one afternoon. With everything shut down, we needed jobs to create dollars. We talked about what we could do."

Just 35 miles away, in Boone, N.C. - home of Appalachian State University - the economy was booming. "I had just opened the Mill Outlet Store in Mountain City, the Johnson County seat," Walsh said, "and the tourists from Boone were coming in." Paul Brown's (a local businessman) Roan Valley Golf Course just outside Mountain City was doing a good out-of-town business also.

Tourism, the group at that courthouse meeting decided, was one part of the answer to the county's fiscal problems. And so the Johnson County Tourism Committee was born. The first thing they decided was that if you wanted the tourists to come, you had to dress up for company. Mountain City needed a facelift. If Boone could do it, Mountain City could do it.

"We went to the City Council - asked their permission to plant trees along the sidewalk - just like they had 40 years before," Walsh said. The community jumped in at once. A local tree farmer donated the trees. City workers broke up the concrete and students from the horticultural class at the Vocational School planted and tended the trees.

"Next we got the sidewalks bricked. The merchants paid for the materials," Walsh said. The last step was placing wooden barrels bursting with seasonal blooms throughout town.

"Then," Walsh added, "we put up billboards at all the roads leading into the county which showed what folks could do once they were here - fishing, golf, swimming, hiking, and enjoying the scenery and serenity of the environment."

Maybe that was not what Disneyland communities were selling to attract the tourists, but natural beauty and historic heritage were home-grown commodities in Johnson County. And, what's more, they were free attractions. Tourists didn't have to pay money to stop and see the rust-orange sunset over Shady Mountain, or pay a fee to swim in Watauga Lake, or do more than pull on their boots to fish in the first-class trout stream which ran through town.

But, the tourists would buy gas here, and they would stop in the shops in town, and they would eat in the local restaurant. It was a start.

Tennessee Valley Authority

When you've got a dream, and a little optimism, it is wise to consult with someone who can give you some direction. Johnson County found that person in Gale Trussell of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

"I had heard about Gale, that there was somebody in TVA working on tourism," Walsh says. "I called him and said simply: we're in trouble here. Can you help us?"

Trussell, who operates a one-man, low budget TVA tourism office, came to packed house for our first-ever tourism meeting. "I always go to these meetings enthusiastic," Trussell said, "and I always assume the best motives. I could tell right off there was real enthusiasm here."

Trussell first stirred our motivations and then got involved himself. What Trussell didn't have in funds, he had in useful information about tourism. He encouraged people to start up bed and breakfast operations, got involved in printing a self-guided car tour brochure, and helped promote the idea of a lodging tax that would be used to raise money for the tourism program. And, he told the committee to think about doing a little self-advertising by way of developing a local tourism newspaper.

For us this was a big project, but after several months and a lot of volunteer hours, the 32-page tourism paper entitled, Step into Tennessee - Step into Johnson County, was born. The paper covered every fishing hole, restaurant, lake facility, bed and breakfast, and every bit of local folklore and heritage it could cram into its pages.

"We printed 100,000 copies," Walsh says. "Volunteers took them to welcome centers on the interstate, to neighboring towns and places far away. Anytime anybody went anywhere they took a stack." And soon the word spread. "All that public relations paid off," Walsh says, "Tourists began pouring in. Sales tax revenues began to stop the downward slide showing an increase in dollars spent in the county."

In 1987, local sales tax revenues had fallen by 4 percent. By the end of fiscal year 1988, our hard work began paying off. Sales tax revenues jumped 11 percent.

The Tomahawk, after months and months of bad news stories, was only too happy to spread good news. And what the media didn't notice, Walsh was quick to call to their attention. The nearest TV station was 60 miles away in another county, but with every bit of good news Walsh was on the telephone and Johnson County's latest triumph was on the six o'clock news.

Trade, Tennessee and Trade Days

In the 18th century the little community of Trade, located in the eastern-most corner of the county, became a trading ground for settlers traveling across the mountains from three different directions. Drawing on the colorful history of Trade, Tenn. and the surrounding areas, Walsh helped organize the Trade Days Festival which now attracts thousands of visitors from across the country each June. Although sponsored by the Johnson County, Tenn. tourism committee, the festival spans two states, since part of the festivities spill over into North Carolina.

The fourth annual Trade Days Festival will take place June 26-28, 1992. Previous Trade Days have featured a number of special events, including demonstrations of a moonshine still, wine-making, tobacco twisting, cheese making, churning, apple butter-making, spinning and weaving, and wool carding. One of the most successful components of the four-day festival the past two years has been the Native American Pow-wow. Native Americans in tribal garb demonstrate the Eagle Dance, the Turtle Dance, and the Buffalo Dance. Billy Tiger of the Miccosukee Tribe came up from the Everglades in Florida, with live alligators for wrestling.

The Welcome Center

Now, when Johnson County Tourism Chairman Tommy Walsh says the building of the new Welcome Center was a total community effort, he's not just making small

talk. "From the beginning," Walsh says, "hands have been reaching out with whatever was needed. That whole building - it's everybody's. It pulled the community together."

In the beginning, it was only a dream. But with tourism making headway in Johnson County, it was clear that the community needed a focal point for attracting and informing tourists. But, Walsh insisted that it should be more than just a place of information; he wanted it to be a home - a friendly place where you could "set a spell" and talk about the weather, or how the crops were growing this year - a place where you could "pull around the back," spread a blanket and have a picnic lunch, a place where the rest of the world could learn about the attractions of Johnson County. Bordering Virginia and North Carolina, it was a natural gateway - a natural stopping-off point - to the rest of the state of Tennessee.

So people started talking it up, about how great it would be, could be, to have a Welcome Center smack in the middle of town, and how their Welcome Center would outshine all the others around the state.

Paul Brown, owner of Brown Brothers Construction, and Danny Herman, owner of Danny Herman Trucking, two dynamic local businessmen, were there with help from the beginning. With land donations from both men, the plan for the Welcome Center not only found an oversized lot on Highway 421, right in the middle of Mountain City, but a place for a recreation vehicle campsite complete with a nearby rushing stream.

Whenever Johnson County's tourism effort was right on the money, Walsh had never hesitated to turn the spotlight on full force. When he let the stake know help was needed in building the facility, they had already heard of Johnson County. "The state approved $100,000 for us through Commissioner Sandra Fulton and the Department of Tourism, and that was the beginning," Walsh explained.

Then, as the land was leveled and the foundation dug, it became everybody's project. Local businesses donated labor, equipment, and materials. Organizations and individuals came together in any way they could. Perhaps the biggest story was the decision to provide inmate labor to build the Welcome Center. "Sheriff Roy Rash really cooperated in letting us use inmates from the nearby Johnson County Jail, and we got a lot of help later from the Carter County Work Camp," Walsh said.

From the cinder block foundation to the two chimneys pointing skyward, and everything in between, the inmates put their shoulders to the wheel. They were so proud of what they were doing that they sent pictures to their folks.

As the work became more complicated and specific, inmates with specialized skills came up from the Center County Work Camp to do the plumbing, wiring, and airconditioning. All the months the building was being worked on, groups, businesses and individuals saw to it that the inmates were well fed. Restaurants sent food, and occasionally various civic groups chipped in to foot the bill or come through with some home cooking. It was not uncommon for individuals in the community to stuff money into Walsh's hand with a "given them something good to eat" comment. "This is the most beautiful part of it - the way the community supported the project," Walsh said.

TVA did a blueprint for the landscaping. There are four picnic shelters our in back of the center with grills next to the creek. The recreational vehicle campground behind the center has 32 hook-ups and a bathhouse, and a large picnic pavilion completes the area.

Besides the state funding, more than $30,000 was raised locally towards the building fund. There was also an $8,000 donation through the Historical Society, which was matched, dollar for dollar, by the TVA. The Chamber of Commerce donated $5,000; Elizabethan Federal donated $1,500; and Farmers State, $5,000. Allen Jenkins gave $500, as did Builders Supply. Another $4,000 was raised in memory of Tommy Walsh's father, when the family asked for donations to the Welcome Center fund instead of flowers. They also applied for a grant through the State's Department of Tourism.

When the local hospital closed in 1988, the word had been, "The place will never open again!" But, "never say never" was Walsh's motto and he, Paul Brown, and Danny Herman bought the hospital for $100 from the bankruptcy court and then gave it back to the Board of County Commissioners. The commissioners placed the three men on the hospital's Board of Directors and gave them a mission: "See what you can do to reopen the hospital."

"We didn't know anything about opening a hospital," Herman said. But, that didn't stop them. They knocked on doors in Nashville, talked to state and local health officials, tried anything and everything they could. "When we hit a brick wall, we looked around and looked around until we found a tiny hole and then we just crawled through," Brown said. And, so it went for three-and-one-half years. A local fundraising drive collected $750,000; a visiting businessman/philanthropist gave nearly $500,000; and East Tennessee State University Quillen College of Medicine got involved in the local health scene and was awarded a $6 million Kellogg grant for its efforts. Half of that money is to be funnelled back into a Family Practice Center and teaching college in the community. The Johnson City Medical Center got involved also and eventually agreed to lease and run the hospital. And finally, last Feb. 16 the impossible happened. After a three-and-one-half year effort, Johnson County Hospital opened its doors again.

Johnson County is a great success story. Through their experiences, officials have found there are a number of key points to consider which they would like to share with other communities, anywhere in America:

1. Promote what you have, but also develop creative, new initiatives.

2. Make noise; identify the leadership; organize.

3. Get all the help you can from all the people you can.

4. Expect some pitfalls, but never lose patience.

5. Keep your sunny side up. Expect the best and you'll get it.

6. Knock on doors at the state capital. Tell them what you need (see number 2); don't talk no for an answer; persevere.

Tourism is only one part of Johnson County's success story. The civic spirit of cooperation, persistence, and the willingness to be innovative and creative was the catalyst that worked and continues to work to solve many of the challenges the county has faced and will continue to face. Through continued local leadership, community involvement, new quality tourism products, area cooperation and coordination, innovative marketing and promotion, education and awareness, and perseverance and commitment, Johnson County will continue to realize the benefits of using tourism as an economic development tool. This combination of factors, and other tools being developed, will provide the direction and motivation for people and communities across the country to adopt tourism as a development tool.

COPYRIGHT 1992 U.S. Government Printing Office
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group