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Door County Takes Home Two Wisconsin Tourism Trailblazer Awards at State Tourism Conference

Media Contact: Jon Jarosh, Director of Communications & PR, Destination Door County, jon @ doorcounty.com or 920-818-1133

Two Door County tourism organizations were recently presented with Wisconsin Tourism Trailblazer Awards. Destination Door County (DDC) and the Baileys Harbor Community Association (BHCA) were honored for their work by Destinations Wisconsin at the statewide tourism organization’s annual fall tourism conference, held virtually this year on Thursday November 5, 2020.

Destination Door County was awarded a 2020 Wisconsin Tourism Trailblazer award in the “Outstanding Partnerships - Regional Collaboration” category for their collaborative efforts with local government, health care and business leaders on their pandemic response and related public information campaign. These efforts, through the county’s recovery task force, helped Door County protect public health while supporting business continuity during the traditionally busiest time of the year for tourism.

The Baileys Harbor Community Association was awarded a 2020 Wisconsin Tourism Trailblazer award in the “Outstanding Marketing Campaign under $25,000” category for their Weather or Not campaign. The campaign brought awareness to COVID-19 related issues facing Baileys Harbor during the safer at home order in the spring and used short, fun videos paired with educational talking points to communicate with locals and visitors.

Each year Destinations Wisconsin gives out Wisconsin Tourism Trailblazer Awards to destination marketing organizations for outstanding marketing and partnership projects that help to advance Wisconsin’s tourism industry. 2020 awards were given out in 4 different categories.

DDC’s Communications & PR Director Jon Jarosh said these awards reflect a few of many great examples that show how organizations and the people of Door County came together this year to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Destination Door County may have received the award for “Outstanding Partnerships – Regional Collaboration” Jarosh said the award belongs to the whole county. He feels the work together approach of the county’s task force helped the public information campaign reach more people and have a greater impact on the community.

“Led by Door County’s emergency management office, the efforts of the task force that came together back in April helped everyone in the county navigate a very turbulent year,” Jarosh said. “The collaboration between county government, public health, healthcare, tourism and business leaders was critical in helping keep our residents and visitors safe and our economy moving forward,” he said, “and those efforts continue as the pandemic rages on.”

The BHCA award for their Weather or Not campaign consisted of more than 20 videos that touched on topics like social distancing, curbside pickup etiquette, how to videos and more. Each video provided a fun weather report as well, since weather usually becomes a point of conversation for people near and far. The video campaign helped keep Baileys Harbor fans and friends informed and engaged on BHCA social media pages.

Door County is no stranger to Wisconsin Tourism Trailblazer awards. The county’s tourism industry has won several of them in previous years for a variety of marketing and communications initiatives.

Destinations Wisconsin presents the Wisconsin Tourism Trailblazers awards each year during the Wisconsin Fall Tourism Conference in an effort to increase the visibility of Wisconsin’s tourism industry and destination marketing organizations.  The awards recognize Wisconsin tourism organizations for outstanding marketing and partnership efforts.  Destinations Wisconsin represents 40 Wisconsin's destination marketing organizations and initiates cooperative ventures that strengthen Wisconsin's tourism industry.

Destination Door County is the official tourism marketing and management organization for Door County whose mission is to inspire travel that drives community enhancement while working to ensure all travelers feel welcome, preserving the county’s way of life and protecting the region’s natural resources.

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Below: Destinations Wisconsin Executive Director Julia Hertel announces Destination Door County as the winner of a Wisconsin Tourism Trailblazer award during the organization's virtual annual fall tourism conference on November 5, 2020.

 

Below: Destinations Wisconsin Executive Director Julia Hertel announces the Baileys Harbor Community Association as the winner of a Wisconsin Tourism Trailblazer award during the organization's virtual annual fall tourism conference on November 5, 2020.