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Regional tourism branding and marketing efforts are common across the country. The Challenge: Extend the Experience to Main Street So what can we learn from these and other mountain communities? Some examples of smaller non-college towns that have successfully and strategically leveraged outdoor recreation venues for greater tourism and economic impact include Glenwood Springs, Colorado – Frisco, Colorado – Camden, Maine – Watkins Glen, New York – Whitefish, Montana – Heber, Utah and Taos, NM. Not only can they provide starting points for careers in the hospitality and tourism industry for local residents, they also present an opportunity to introduce a community to potential outside investors and small business entrepreneurs – turning visitors into residents and business owners. The Progress Fund and Fourth Economy share a common vision and experience – that is that outdoor destination assets can provide a pathway towards significant economic transformation.

The organization has provided financing and business coaching to help local small businesses create jobs for the region. This reality has been recognized and encouraged by The Progress Fund, a non-profit organization serving both mountain, trail, and other recreational communities in western Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia for many years now. They have the ability to attract tourism dollars as either part of or the focal point for their overall economic future. Places like these are often fortunate to be in close proximity to outdoor recreational destinations. This is especially true for rural regions and mountain main street communities – towns where economies were historically linked to raw material extraction and processing. The fact is that tourism is a major economic development driver. Of course they do, but too often tourism is relegated to a second or third tier position in many economic development strategies. Growing up in the Allegheny Mountains and Laurel Highlands of west central Pennsylvania, I have seen first hand how destination recreational venues like ski areas, trails, rivers and lakes create economic opportunities. I am a skier, cyclist and overall outdoor enthusiast.