Tourism group recognized statewide

SENECA COUNTY—The Ohio Travel Association (OTA) hosted the Ohio Conference on Travel, the state's largest annual travel conference, Oct. 3 in Toledo. Destination Seneca County (DSC) was recognized with five statewide awards. In this year's competition, the Recognizing Uncommon Brilliance Yearly (RUBY) Awards had over 220 entries, showcasing the high level of competition. According to Executive Director of DSC Bryce Riggs, the awards mark the third consecutive year DSC has been recognized at the state level for their contributions to Ohio's tourism industry. In total, they have received seven RUBY Awards and four Citations of Excellence over the past three years. This year, DSC received three RUBY awards – an award presented to recognize excellence in Ohio's hospitality and tourism industry for efforts in advertising, marketing and public relations. According to a press release from DSC, this year's competition featured over 220 entries, "and we are one of the smaller communities to attend the conference (from a budget standpoint)," said Riggs. DSC received awards in the Event Campaign category for its Seneca County Solar Eclipse of the Heart event, its Annual Report for the 2023 Year in Review and its Targeted Marketing Campaign for Elope at the Eclipse. Additionally, it earned two second-place Citations of Excellence: the first for its blog and the second in the Spirit of Community category for its Out of the Dark Glow 5K & Fun event. "When it comes to conferences, it's often an overload of information," said Riggs. "This one is different in the sense that it's a lot of information that is applicable to communities like ours. Coming back to this conference each year feels like a family reunion." Regarding being recognized for their Eclipse of the Heart event, Riggs shared that planning the event began with targeting visitors to the area. "With how the line of totality fell, the community was starting to expect an influx of visitors, so we thought let's build on it and draw an audience," said Riggs. "We wanted to make it special, and we only really had one shot." Marisa Huss, marketing director of DSC, said, "We wanted to aim to reach a few groups of people. The first was people interested in the eclipse. We wanted to be able to educate them and provide a safe viewing experience," said Huss. Throughout the day, various activities were available for people of all ages to enjoy, including glow bingo, the Out of the Dark 5k, camping and more. "The next was people who were recently engaged because when you are getting married, one of the biggest worries for couples is often a venue. We knew that by hosting something downtown, our event would become a little more special," she said. In total, 150 couples registered for the event, and 130 couples ended up participating in the event."The final group was our local and surrounding communities. With 200 other places in the state falling in the line of totality, we wanted to be different– special even," said Huss. "The event resulted in Seneca County being written into the lives of at least 130 couples and countless individuals." Their second award was received for their Annual Report, which had not been done prior to 2023. Huss explained, "It's just a way to further reflect on what has been done throughout the year, as well as shed more light on Seneca County from a tourism perspective." When asked what the secret to the organization's success was, one word came to Riggs' and Huss' minds: Collaboration. Huss built on this, saying "Whatever you are doing, you can't go at it alone. I always say there are some things you can't buy or teach: Heart and Hard Work. That's what I feel sets Seneca County aside from other communities." According to Riggs, "We try to maintain a collaborative and not competitive mentality." "We have an extremely supportive family, including but not limited to the Seneca County Board of Trustees, Seneca County Commissioners, city of Tiffin, various elected officials and more," said Riggs. "I'm very grateful that they have given us the ability to dream big." An additional factor that contributes to their success is their ability to conduct most of their work in-house. "We're definitely the scrappy bunch; by doing as much as we can in-house, it tremendously helps our budget– and in turn, we are able to do more for the community, which is what we are here to do," said Riggs. "Additionally, sometimes when you outsource, you can lose that hometown feel, which is what we are all about.""The sky's the limit. For DSC, we are going to continue to put our best out effort out there and continue to show up to work with the same passion for the community that we always do," said Riggs.