craigdailypress.com

Ten Moffat County residents have about three weeks to get their stories straight before going public.

That's the number of residents who attended Wednesday's meeting to further a three-county cultural and heritage tourism initiative. They have until March 11 to determine what "stories" Moffat County has to tell -- and sell.

Cultural heritage tourism means traveling to experience the places and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present.

"People want to connect with a place in a meaningful way," said Judy Walden, tourism expert. "The two things the cultural heritage tourist is looking for is authenticity, which you have in spades, and experience."

The project is a collaborative partnership between Moffat, Routt and Rio Blanco counties and is in its community development phase. Members of each of the 10 communities in those regions will work together to define their community "stories" and assets. On March 11, they'll gather at the Museum of Northwest Colorado to discuss what they have come up with and further develop any common threads.

"We need to get a sense of who we are and what we have before we decide what we want to share," Yampa Valley Economic Development Council director Winnie Delliquadri said. "We really felt we needed a big push now to define our assets."

The group focused mainly on the Museum of Northwest Colorado and the wood carvings at City Park as "visitor ready" assets, with the Wyman Museum being close.

When the group meets again March 2 to further define the area's assets and "stories," it will consider historic, archeological, recreational, cultural, natural and scenic offerings. The group will meet from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Museum of Northwest Colorado.

What the final product will be, Walden hopes, is the development of assets in each community that connects pieces of the seven slices of tourism -- where people eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and how they spend their mornings, afternoons, evenings and nights.

"You've got seven chances to make a profit each day," she said.

Eventually, regional representatives will work together to market their assets -- visitors to Steamboat Springs might be directed to Craig's museum.

Or, people touring the site of the Meeker Massacre might extend their travels to include Dinosaur.

The regional concept caters to the 50 percent of tourists who say the come into Colorado "without a plan."

When assets are explored, those involved in the initiative will take three days of bus tours of each counties offerings.

It is expected it will take three years before a cultural heritage program is fully in place.