“We are a destination place. We just have to accept it.” – Daniel Tiffany, Heart of Ohio Trail Board
MOUNT VERNON — With the increasing number of users on the Heart of Ohio Trail, HOOT board member Daniel Tiffany said it is time to start marketing Knox County and local entities, not Delaware County.
“We averaged 500 people on weekends last year,” Tiffany told the county commissioners on Thursday. “We are figuring on 1,000 now that we are tied into Sunbury.”
An example of such local marketing is the “Welcome to Hilliar Township” signs erected by township officials in September 2022. The signs are posted at each end of the township line.
“They did that on their own. It wasn’t a prod or a push,” Tiffany said. “They did something people will remember.”
Tiffany said such signage is good public relations and defines boundaries for trail users.
“We are on some major trails going across the country. That’s a plus,” he said.
The Heart of Ohio Trail, along with the Kokosing Gap and Mohican Valley trails, is part of the Great American Rail-Trail running from Washington, D.C., to the state of Washington.
All three trails are also part of the Ohio to Erie Trail, which runs from Cincinnati to Cleveland.
Another example of local marketing is highlighting the fact that the HOOT includes the high point between Lake Erie and the Ohio River. Tiffany has been unsuccessful in getting USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) coordinates for the high point and asked the commissioners’ help.
“We think it will be a plus for the county,” he said of signage promoting the high point. “People actually travel around the country to the high point.”
Commissioner Bill Pursel will take Tiffany’s suggestions to the Knox County Convention & Visitors Bureau and see if it can help design and install wayfinding signage.
“You read the license plates, and they are from all over. We are a destination place. We just have to accept it,” Tiffany said with a smile.
