Community members representing education, tourism, business and natural resources has been gathering monthly over the past year to plan Perry County's future. The group's goals are twofold: identifying strengths that already make the county a great place to live and work - and sharing the good news with others, residents and visitors alike.
"We call ourselves a quality of life committee and our goal is to promote what our county already has to offer," said Eric Kehl, the committee's chairman.
"Sometimes our own residents don't know all of our attractions. We want to get the word out."
The committee does its work under the oversight of the Perry County Development Corp., which launched the quality of life committee in an attempt to promote the community's assets, building on existing strengths and promoting them in ways that will help the county attract new companies and investment and retain companies and residents already here.
Issues being looked at by the committee include the need to share the community's existing assets, including quality schools, friendly people and a strong work ethic. The county is also rich in natural attractions, including the Hoosier National Forest, as well as the Ohio River and lakes and tributaries popular with fishermen.
Committee projects under development include a video presentation about the county that will provide an overview of natural attractions, festivals and schools. Larry Peter of Tell City-based Power Plant LLC is a committee member who is working on the project. Over the past year his cameras have captured images from Schweizer Fest and other festivals and he has filmed local sporting events, visited communities across the county and walked the hallways of local schools.
Narrated footage will be offered on high-definition video discs and will provide a multimedia resource for people interested in moving to the county, showcasing communities, schools and attractions.
"I was expecting an interview of about 15 minutes but I felt like I was going on CNN," William Tell Elementary School Principal Laura Noble, another committee member, said at the last meeting of Peter's in-depth efforts.
The DVDs might be given to parents of new and prospective students and even placed on the school Web site as well as Web sites maintained by Tell City and other groups. Peter said components of the DVD can be updated over time, keeping its message relevant. The committee is also planning to offer the DVDs to the public during Schweizer Fest at nominal cost.
Another committee project is preparing a brochure of local attractions that often go unnoticed, not only by visitors but some residents. The brochure will be distributed within the county and at destinations popular with visitors. Along with listing popular attractions such as antique stores and festivals, it identifies points of interest such as the Cannelton Locks and Dam, Eagle's Bluff Park and visitor center, the Celtic Cross at Rocky Point, Christ of the Ohio and the Cannelton Cotton Mill.
Historic sites listed in a draft brochure include the Rome Courthouse, Hines Crossing, Huffman Bridge, Electra Plane Crash Memorial and gravesites of Civil War soldiers killed in the explosion of their ship's boiler in 1865.
The attractions subcommittee working on the brochure is also preparing a shopping-dining pamphlet that will include attractions that aren't free.
Promoting a strong retail business sector and tourist base is another of the group's efforts. Members of the committee have toured other communities, such as Madison and Vevay, to see how they have promoted themselves. "It was a good tour of the two communities. We heard about how they got to where they are now," said Cheri Taylor, director of the Perry County Chamber of Commerce and a committee member. Stops include retail stores and presentations by tourism leaders in those communities. Some members of the committee also visited Jasper to see how that county is working to promote its history and draw visitors, including a new train depot.
The committee also includes representatives of real-estate firms, small business owners and media.
"We purposefully invited members from a cross-section of the community so we can tap the expertise and knowledge they possess," Kehl said. "I've been impressed with the expertise our group has shown."
Another future project is to share the success stories of men and women who grew up in the county and who are making their marks around the county and, in some instances, around the world. The Perry County News plans to publish guest columns from those people.
The goal is to show how strong Perry County communities - families, schools and churches - prepared young people for full lives. The committee also wants to profile people who left the county when young, found success elsewhere and then returned to make a difference here.
