Published: February 22, 2007 08:41 am      

Burnside ramping up tourism promotion

City’s tourism board trying to sink negative publicity from low lake

Efforts to salvage a tourism season that is hanging by a thread have prompted an all-out blitz of promotional efforts by the City of Burnside.

With a scope designed to reach across Kentucky and into Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio, where many of the yearly visitors to Lake Cumberland hail from, billboards, radio spots and even a Web site, burnsidetourism.com, are being employed to “get the word out,” as a recent press release termed it, that the lake is still open this summer and usable for boaters and swimmers, despite it being significantly lowered.

Local public relations firm M&S Publishing Co. is working with Burnside to produce the advertising materials and campaign, and sounded enthused about the opportunity.

“This is an exciting time for the community,” said Melanie Arnold of M&S Publishing. “(Burnside’s Tourism Committee) has adopted a very proactive position in promoting their assets and has a clear vision of what they want to do. Our role in the process is to help them focus on a destination and then create stepping stones toward that destination.”

The town’s new logo and design and promotional slogan, “Lose Your Worries — Leave Your Heart,” will be featured on the billboards and brochures that will be distributed in the far reaches of the Bluegrass and in surrounding states. The logo presents an illustration of the partially submerged tunnel in old Burnside.

Additionally, Greg Kitzmiller, the Web design specialist for M&S Publishing, says the Internet has the potential to “lift up Burnside as a destination for lake visitors” and that they’re working on an advanced search function to help aid the cause, one that will key into Lake Cumberland Rentals. Click into the Web site’s function to make a reservation and it will help you look for whatever accommodations you need — one bedroom, two bedroom, cabins, views of the lake, etc.

It might seem a bit ironic to utilize such high-tech means to promote the natural beauty of the outdoors around Lake Cumberland, but it’s perhaps a sign of the growth that Burnside as a whole has made over the last few years and is still experiencing. The city is taking full advantage of its status as the only area of Pulaski County that allows restaurants to serve drinks — and the resulting swell of eating establishments to locate there — as just another reason to come visit Burnside.

“The ability for current visitors to have a glass of wine with a nice dinner at Picasso’s or the Harbor at Lee’s Ford, a beer with their steak at Reno’s or with their pizza at Lakeside Pizza & Pub, or a margarita with some great Mexican food at Las Penas or El Taxco is a huge plus,” said Arnold.

Donna Howard of the Burnside Tourism Committee said the everyone on their board liked the work M&S had shown them and were very satisfied. Planning had been going on for a long time on choosing someone to manage and promote tourism in Burnside even before the Wolf Creek Dam crisis necessitated the lowering of the lake to 680 feet for the rest of the year —which has caused many regular visitors to fear there won’t be much of a lake to use.

Or for that matter, many fear that it will be dangerous — those who operate tourism-based businesses have had a number of people cancel reservations on the basis that low lake levels may present unsafe conditions. Burnside officials have done everything they can to combat that perception, however, and the advertising package is a large part of those efforts. Radio ads in particular will reportedly discuss the safety of the lake.

“We are planning to spend a large percentage of our (tourism budget) to offset the negative publicity that has been circulating,” said Howard.

How much money it will cost altogether is as of yet undetermined — but it’s going toward keeping Burnside viable at a critical point in the town’s history.

“We’re so very excited at the progress we have made so far,” said Patty Guinn, also of the tourism committee. “The development of Burnside’s tourism potential will open many doors for our community. We feel it’s the best direction for smart growth we can take.”