A grant to promote people driving through the Northwoods on a recently designated auto trail will hit the media this fall.
The Joint Effort Marketing grant of nearly $40,000 will provide promotion of the Nicolet-Wolf River Scenic Byway from September 4 through Halloween. The collaborators will also match the JEM grant. The 145 mile loop is the longest of it's type in Wisconsin, beginning along Highway 55 in Langlade county, extending north into Forest county, with loops through Oneida County at Military Road, plus along Highway 70 in Vilas county and ending in Mole Lake.
Mark Ferris is Executive Director of the Forest County Economic Development Partnership. The "Fall In Love With the Byway" promotion is aimed at getting tourists to travel through the Northwoods at fall color time..
. "...it's a process that took almost 10 years to get the designation from the Wisconsin DOT. About a year ago, we got the good news from the DOT that the Nicolet-Wolf River Scenic Byway would receive the designation and would be the fifth, and possibly, the final scenic byway...."
Ferris says marketing the trip is the next step...
"...one of the significant things about our scenic byway is the fact that it is the only 'loop'-style configuration of the five byways int he state of Wisconsin..."
The marketing budget will focus on social media, search engine optimization, online newspaper advertising in the Fox Valley and Milwaukee areas, radio marketing in the Fox Valley and Milwaukee areas, and statewide sponsorships with Wisconsin Public Radio.
