March 19, 2024

Newton CVB celebrates 20 years

The Newton Convention and Visitors Bureau is celebrating 20 years of being the city’s “arm of marketing.” An open house celebration was held in honor of the anniversary on Thursday at Newton’s Visitors Center, 300 E. 17th St. S.

“They are marketing the community to visitors, that has not changed in 20 years,” board member Annette West said.

The CVB originally started in the mid-1980s as the marketing source for the city of Newton. In 1996, the organization branched out on its own as a non-profit entity funded by a portion of the hotel/motel tax from the city.

Jo VanGorp was named director of the CVB, having worked in a similar position while it was under the city’s wing. In the years to follow additional directors Tiffany Menke, Dan Badger and Linda Bacon helped bring the organization to what it is today.

The organization is currently without a director since Bacon stepped out of the position in April. Board Member Margie Criswell said that the board is currently assessing the organization’s needs to determine how to move forward.

“We do marketing and promotions, try to get people into the hotels and motels, to the attractions, to visit the speedway, Maytag Dairy or Centre for Arts and Artists,” Criswell said.

One major accomplishment of the CVB was to raise the funds received through the hotel/motel tax. In fiscal year 2006, a total of $215,497 was collected in taxes. That number increased to $339,545 10 years later, even with a few bumps in the road such as the loss of Maytag and the national recession.

The organization also opened the Newton Visitors Center, located in the Hawkeye Stages building, in 2012. The center has information on events and activities in and around Newton for those visiting the community.

“Everybody is very proud of that,” Criswell said.

Several state and nation wide organization have visited Newton thanks to the efforts of the CVB including the Epic Iowa Roadtrip, Route 66 Travelers and the Miss Iowa USA, Miss Iowa Teen USA pageant, which has been held in Newton for past four years.

“(The pageants) bring a lot of people into town, a lot of press into town,” board member Beth Steenhoek said.

The CVB is also statewide partners with many organizations including Iowa Economic Development Authority and the Iowa Tourism Office, Central Iowa Tourism Region, Travel Federation of Iowa, Iowa Society of Association Executives, Midwest Travel Writers Association, Society of American Travel Writers and Iowa Destination Marketing Alliance.

“The CVB organization has done a fantastic job of promoting Newton, bringing people to our community, ‘heads in beds’ as well as the marketing arm of the city. They inform people on a regional basis what we have here to attract visitors,” Mayor Mike Hansen said. “Twenty years is a good time to celebrate and hopefully we’ll have many more year of involvement with the Convention and Visitors Bureau.”

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com