Today we got the chance to visit Connellsville, which shares a lot of similarities with the town we are working with in Ireland, Carrigart. We first visited the Youghiogheny Stained Glass Factory, which is one of four factories located in the United States. We learned about the process of international shipping for the company’s glass offerings, as a lot of their customers are overseas. The glass factory is a large part of the art culture in Connellsville, which correlates with drawing people into their economy. We also got to take a piece of glass home, which I am excited to display in my dorm!
After that, we went to The Canteen, which is a place that harbors a WW2 museum, a community restaurant/coffee shop, and is home to an extensive train set. As we were here, our two hosts, Dan and Michael, shared with us a ton of historical facts on the town and how they got to be where they are today. Dan and Michael are both a part of the town’s Cultural Trust, which aims to aid the city in projects such as renovations of buildings and making the town appealing to tourists. The main attraction in Connellsville is the presence of the bike trail, which draws in lots of people from around the country, so amenities like hotels, restaurants, and rest stops are critical to the town. This strongly correlates to Carrigart, as they will soon have a newly constructed bike trail and will benefit greatly from such amenities.
In specific, I found that the hotel caters a lot towards the tourist bike community in their business. They offer shower and laundry to bikers who just need to pop in for just a few dollars, which is very appealing to people on the road for extensive periods of time. They also have bikes and canoes up for rent in a back room that any who stays there can utilize if they wish to do so. The river is just around back to the hotel, so this is a fun excursion for anyone staying there.
In the off-season of the town, since not a lot of people bike ride in the winter, the town grabs the attention of travelers by offering their event space for weddings, bridal showers, birthdays, and much more. This is just one effort we saw from the town of Connellsville that would be a great endeavor for the even smaller town of Carrigart we will be consulting with in just a week!
Today, we were provided with many best practice examples of marketing, finance, and future planning that we can research even further to provide for the town the credibility to make recommendations. We are super excited to take what we have learned from a small town near us and apply the inner workings of it to Carrigart!