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May
13,
2008 Welcome Center events highlight 25th annual Tourism Week
Maryland’s 12 Welcome Centers celebrate the
occasion with two major events on Thursday: the opening of a
temporary Welcome Center at
Prime Outlets Hagerstown and a ribbon cutting for the automated
kiosk (pictured) at the Sideling Hill Welcome Center.
The Prime Outlets site temporarily replaces both the eastbound
and
westbound
I-70
Welcome
Centers, which will be undergoing reconstruction during the next
15 months. Continue... National arts advocacy group selects Baltimore for 2010 meeting Americans for the Arts (AFTA) will hold its 50th-anniversary meeting, June 24-27, 2010, in Baltimore, said Gov. Martin O’Malley and Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon. The annual meeting is expected to draw 2,400 arts leaders, educators and artists from around the country. The
AFTA event will use more than 4,000 hotel rooms and generate
an estimated $2.5 million in direct spending for the region,
according
to the recent joint announcement. Continue...
The Maryland Tourism Office, along with a group of approximately 40 industry partners, recently hosted a luncheon for 60 motorcoach and tour operators at the new Gaylord National Harbor Resort and Convention Center in Prince George’s County. The
Maryland on the Road Enterprise (MORE) event targeted tour operators
within a 100-mile radius of Washington, D.C. MORE is
a cooperative marketing effort between the Tourism Office and industry
partners who represent Maryland attractions, restaurants, hotels
and local tourism centers. Continue...
“In
a world full of film festivals,” he said, “this
one is special - it's not about awards or the marketplace, it's
about the movies and the people who make them. All the visiting
filmmakers love being here.” Continue...
By 2007, members of the museum’s board could finally step back and consider what should be done next on a longer-term basis. They established a strategic-planning initiative – a common approach used by museums – that will continue to shape policy over a five-year period. Continue...
In addition to the map, 68 color-coded signs have been placed at key junctions in the marshes of each trail. A new web site helps travelers plan their trip to the island, provides kayak and canoe information, and lists Smith Island accommodations and restaurants. Another site is an on-line version of the water trail map. Tom Horton is an Eastern Shore native has written about the Chesapeake Bay as an environmental reporter and author. He wrote Island Out of Time, a memoir of the two years he spent on Smith Island.
The Tourism Office’s new advertising campaign is tapping into an unexpected audience. Marjorie Wolson in Woodbridge, Va., said her mare, Maddie, becomes agitated and neighs every time she hears the sound of the Assateague ponies in one of the Maryland tourism radio spots. Wolson asked Washington, D.C., radio station WTOP if it could move the tourism commercial to after 6:25 a.m. so Maddie could eat her breakfast without distraction and Wolson, who has “limited time to get these fool horses to finish up their food,” would be able to get to work on time. Perhaps Maddie, a Maryland horse sired by a Thoroughbred from White Hall, felt she should have been asked to do the radio spot. “She is such a diva,” Wolson says.
IN THE NEWS: Tourism
figures show more than 28 million visitors in 2006 “More people have likely seen an original Oktavec …” Tourism promotion law links performance to funding Post spotlights urban arts tradition in Baltimore Levinson returns to Baltimore for film festival Bank of America expands museum program for cardholders
UPCOMING EVENTS: Arts Council celebrates 40 years with 40 student awards Lt.
Gov. Anthony G. Brown will salute 40 Maryland high-school students
for their outstanding artistic achievements at
the annual Cultural Arts for Education conference, May 27 at
Towson University.
Each student will receive a $500 grant from the Maryland State Arts Council. The Arts Council is awarding the grants in celebration of its 40th-year anniversary. Recently, the Arts Council was honored in Annapolis at the Governor’s Awards for Service and Volunteerism event. Theresa Colvin, MSAC director, Dania Blair, chair of the MSAC’s board, and E. Scott Johnson, an MSAC councilor (pictured with Lt. Gov. Brown [l.]) accepted the Governor’s award. Celebration
culminates with Triple Crown's middle jewel
Arts
workshops for nonprofits run through June
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“Tourism
is not only the fourth leading industry in Maryland, it also
contributes significantly to the quality of life for Maryland
citizens,” said Gov. Martin O’Malley, while
announcing the schedule of events for Maryland’s celebration
of National Tourism Week, May 10-18.
Though
final figures are not yet available, pre-event sales for the
tenth
annual 
A
month shy of its third-year anniversary, the 
To
help paddlers in kayaks and canoes navigate local waterways,
a new Smith Island Water Trail made its debut May 2. Tom and
Jenny
Horton, the Smith Island community and Delmarva Low-Impact Tourism
Experiences led the effort to create the trail, which features
a waterproof map showing seven individual trails that connect three
Smith Island villages: Tylerton, Ewell and Rhodes Point.
One
of Maryland's signature events, Preakness Celebration, is in full swing. All
of the festivities lead up to the 133rd running of the Preakness Stakes, Saturday
at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course. 
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