I live in a progressive city in a major metropolitan area in
Florida. Sometimes I forget how advanced the City of Largo has become. Largo Florida has a Parks and Recreation
Department. Some towns and counties do not have a Parks Department. The City of Largo has several types of parks
including preserves and nature centers. Some towns and counties do not have any
parks.
The City of Largo has its own website, while some towns and counties do
not. The official City website links to
the Parks Department website. Some towns and counties have a Parks Department,
but the Parks Department does not have a
website. The Largo City Parks Department
website has a list of all the City Parks, while some towns and counties do not
list their parks on their websites. The
City Parks Department website has links to each park which has its own webpage.
Some towns and counties list their parks on their website or in a PDF document,
but they do not have webpages for each park.
The individual park webpage in
Largo has at least one photograph of the park, a list of amenities of that
park, and a link to Google Maps. Each park page also has a complete street
address with zip code, which helps in programing my GPS to find it. Every link
on every page of the City and the Parks Department works. Pinellas County also
has numerous parks, each with their own website, and they have complete
information like the City of Largo Parks websites.
If a town or county
is small, the new residents could just drive around looking for local parks, or
ask their neighbors. They might not expect a park in their town. But that
leaves out the Eco-tourist or green traveler that is looking for a natural spot
to relax. Looking for the brown recreation signs along the highways might work
for the new locals, but the limited information on them might not influence a
tourist to visit the park and spend his money in the local economy.
Case Study- Small town nature preserve “Withlacoochee Gulf
Preserve”
The small coastal town of Yankeetown Florida is located
north of Crystal River, and northwest of Dunnellon Florida. Both have a strong
draw of eco-tourists, and the area is called Florida’s “Nature Coast”. A US
Highway passes just east of the town’s border, and is filled each weekend with
kayakers, cave divers, inner-tubers, campers, boaters, and fishermen headed
toward Crystal River, Dunnellon, Four State Parks, and two State Forests.
Yankeetown does not let those people drive by and forget
them. First they found funding to build a unique nature preserve, nature
center, boardwalk, and observation tower. That is their “draw”. They have a
large 6 X 10 foot blue sign announcing the Preserve on the highway. It is not
your standard brown and white pair of binoculars or a Great Florida Birding
Trail sign. Outside the preserve is a colorful relief sign. Inside the preserve
there are signs noting their funding sources.
Their webpage announces “YANKEETOWN PRESENTS A 413 ACRE ESTUARINE WILD
LANDS WITH LAKES, STREAMS, WET LANDS, SALT MARSHES AND 4500 SQUARE FOOT MUSEUM
AND EDUCATIONAL CENTER LOCATED AT 1001 OLD ROCK ROAD YANKEETOWN, FL 34498” The
town has a webpage that links to the webpage of the preserve. They have good
return on their search results- type in “Withlacoochee Gulf”, and there they
are. Their web presence is accessible from around the world.
This town of 502 people built this preserve and promoted it.
It illustrates what can be done with motivation, hard work, and a little
marketing. The town uses volunteers to maintain and expand the preserve. One of the local residents said it this way:
“Size doesn’t matter, heart does”. Any
small town or county that want to look at cheap ways to promote their parks and
preserves can look at “Guerrilla
Marketing for Nonprofits” by Jay Conrad Levinson. The next time you find a park that you like,
ask yourself how you found it. Then consider how many parks just like it are
out there waiting for you to find them in some other way.
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