Pulaski County receives major awards at the 2023 Friends of SWVA Celebrate Tourism Summit

On Tuesday, August 1, Pulaski County officials and local organizations attended the 4th annual Friends of Southwest Virginia Celebrate Tourism Summit at the Wytheville Meeting Center.

 

This convention is held to inform the 19 counties and cities that constitute Southwestern Virginia of new trends and techniques to help reshape traditional tourism methods in order to attract visitors to the area. It was stated by Virginia Tourism Corporation Director of Destination Development, Becky Nave, that, last year alone, Virginia tourism brought in a staggering $30.3 billion dollars.

 

The main event of this annual gathering is the SWVA Tourism Awards, which recognizes the people, organizations, and events that have contributed to Virginia’s outstanding tourism scene. Pulaski County was well represented during the award ceremony and was recognized with three different awards.

 

The first award of the day was claimed by Visit NRV; a partnership between Floyd, Giles, Montgomery, and Pulaski County along with the City of Radford, for Best New Website for a Locality with a budget under $50,000. Visit NRV’s website was created by 5Points Creative, an advertising agency in Roanoke who are also responsible for Visit NRV’s footprint logo.

 

Soon after the first award had been announced, members of the NRV Sheep and G.O.A.T. Club were excited to hear their name called for Outstanding Festival of the Year with under 10,000 attendees. Over 2,000 visitors enjoyed the second-annual Sheep and G.O.A.T. Festival at Thee Draper Village which included activities and vendors promoting the agritourism industry in Pulaski County. The festival will be taking place again this year on September 23 at the New River Valley Fairgrounds.

 

For the final award of the day, all in attendance watched as recent Pulaski County Tourism Director retiree, Peggy White, was named as Outstanding Tourism Leader. White laid the foundation and paved the way for Tourism in the county as she became its first Tourism Director in 2021. Some of her notable achievements include forming the new Experiential Center, the placing of Phone Booth Guideries across the county, along with the completion of many other amazing projects.

 

Pulaski County congratulates Visit NRV, the Sheep and G.O.A.T. Club, and Peggy White on each of their awards and looks optimistically to the future of tourism.