Stillwater Convention and Visitors Bureau recognized for tourism

A strong community with a variety of activities to offer visitors is what got Stillwater recognition at a recent awards luncheon.

Stillwater Convention and Visitors Bureau representatives attended the Frontier Country Marketing Association 2009 Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon where they received honorable mention as an Outstanding Tourism Community.

“We were thrilled because obviously there’s a ton of communities in the 12 central counties in Oklahoma, and there were a whole bunch of them that were nominated so we were excited to be one of the two that were recognized,” said CVB Executive Director and Frontier Country Board Member Cristy Morrison.

Frontier Country Marketing Association is the premier tourism organization for the 12 central counties in Oklahoma. Members, who come from the more than 140 hotels, museums, attractions and restaurants in the counties, pick the outstanding community.

“To be recognized by our peers is always very rewarding,” Morrison said. “Because it’s our peers that voted, we were really excited. I was actually really surprised because there’s a lot of really awesome communities that were narrowed down and when we made the final two we were pretty pumped.”

First place went to Oklahoma City, but Frontier Country Public Relations Manager Lauren Lorenzen said most of the voters come from Oklahoma City.

“It’s kind of biased since we have a lot of attractions in Oklahoma City, just because it’s a larger place,” Lorenzen said. “Some people think that they’ll vote for Oklahoma City just because they’re here, which that’s fine but you know, I’m biased towards the smaller towns.”

Morrison attributes this success to the community’s willingness to try new things to attract visitors. She said CVB staffers have been there a long time and work together well to improve Payne County attractions.

Part of the success, she said, goes to Oklahoma State University athletics and the business improvement district because they work closely with the CVB for all of their events.

“I just give my congratulations to the business improvement district down town and to OSU athletics and the conventions and visitors bureau,” Morrison said. “The three of us are really working together to create additional events for the community.”

She looks forward to improving the community and making it even better for next year and is taking this as an opportunity to grow.

“Well I think it’s just one more way to get the word out that we are a place that’s a family-friendly, fun community to visit and that we have a lot of different types of things to offer throughout the year,” she said.

The CVB Web site, www.visitstillwater.com, offers many suggestions for visitors to explore heritage, culture and special events in Stillwater and across Payne County. It also contains an updated schedule of events for the community.

“It was all aspects of Stillwater, such as the music and nightlife, the exciting sporting events, the awesome food, great places to eat like Eskimo Joe’s and the shopping,” Lorenzen said. “There’s really something for everyone, and I think that is why Stillwater won.”