By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–You soon will be able to view a new website touting Henry County’s plentiful tourism opportunities.
After a presentation from Andrew Wheatley of Susan Jones Public Relations, the Henry County Tourism Authority voted unanimously to hire the firm to design and maintain the website.
The Susan Jones Public Relations firm earlier designed the new website for Henry County Helping Hand which is so popular this year and the site for Henry County 911, Paris-Henry County Chamber of Commerce, Tennessee River Jam, the Paris PBR and more.
Wheatley described all that the website will do, including promote local events, with links to accomodations and attractions in our county.
Displaying the website for board members to view, Wheatly noted the site will feature plenty of quality photos and a continually updated event calendar. “The copy will be changed quarterly,” Wheatley said. “We want people to be able to keep learning about the community. We don’t want the site to be stale.”
An aim of the site will be to “show off our tourism partners” and photos “will be changed every couple weeks. We want to show people what’s happening in our county right now.”
The Tourism Authority reviews and approves applications from organizations planning events in the local area, such as the national kayak bass fishing tournament and a plethora of other national and regional tournaments, town festivals such as Henry Pioneer Day, Cottage Grove Freedom Fest, Puryear Day, and promotes such events as the World’s Biggest Fish Fry, Tennessee River Jam, 4th of July fireworks at Paris Landing and more.
The website would serve as a facilitator for the applications that come in from various organizations, Wheatley said.
Wheatley said the website would cost $3,500 the first year (which would include production of a video from Crove Media) and $1,200 every year after that.
Board Member Monte Starks said the proposal sounded like a good deal for the Tourism Authority. “We are wanting to rebrand ourselves,” he said.
Tara Wilson, Assistant Director of the Paris-Henry County Industrial Committee, said after the meeting, “We’re really happy with the proposal and the Susan Jones firm. They’ve already done so many other good websites for local groups and we love that they’re local, too.”
In other business:
Michael Trolinger, Vice President of Tourism for the Chamber, reported that the Tennessee River Jam will be held June 1-4. It was moved up from later in the summer when it usually is held. The Chamber board will be meeting Tuesday to finalize contracts for performers and the production company.
He said there will be another free concert on the Thursday night that kicks off the River Jam and it will be held either in downtown Paris or at Eiffel Tower Park.
He said the 2023 lineup will be announced soon.
Photo: Henry County Mayor John Penn Ridgeway, Assistant Director of the Industial Committee Tara Wilson, Board members Monte Starks and Sgt. Ricky Wade look over the website prototype. Shannon McFarlin photo.