I attended the meeting in October and stated at that time I think it is an exciting idea, it is fun to talk about advertising and new concepts, but is not likely to produce the expected result. Today, I still do not think it will produce the type of results people wish to see and is very expensive. I also do not believe that changing people’s attitudes with T shirts and hats is appropriate. Basically that type of so called marketing makes a statement that you will continue to give with nothing returned. Those free gifts will become more expensive in the future.

These marketing efforts will be directly competing with current tourism efforts. Ads will be confused with tourism ads which are more likely to create a mixed signal on Lake of the Woods. Additionally to say that Lake of the Woods would be the first to do this type of marketing is not true. There are communities all across the country trying to compete for the same thing. I believe that growth can come from working with what we have, we need to begin to create and develope from within the community.