WAPAKONETA, OH (WLIO) - Auglaize and Mercer Counties looked back at all the hard work done last year to boost local tourism.
The Grand Lake Region Visitors Center held its annual Awards Reception to honor everyone's successes in the last year. The area broke records for the number of people booking local lodging and celebrated several major milestones, like the 200th anniversary of St. Marys and the 150th anniversary of Auglaize County. The theme of the evening was "Small Towns = Big Charm," because despite their size, the cities surrounding Grand Lake have a lot of retail, entertainment, and dining to offer.
"We see so many folks from outside the state, different countries, come in and they experience our area for the first time and always leave, telling us that they're going to come back, they're going to tell their friends," said Matthew Staugler, the newly appointed executive director of the Grand Lake Region Visitors Center.
The Legacy Award for lifetime achievement was presented to Mercer County's Commissioner, Jerry Laffin, who will retire next January after 45 years of service.
"I was a commissioner during the time when the idea came up about forming the Grand Lake Two County Visitors and Tourism Association. We put in from each county $20,000 a year for a few years to get the tourism off the ground and give them some seed money to see what they could do," Laffin said.
This year's Stahr Award went to the Mercer County Fairgrounds, and Laura Yelton received the Ambassador of the Year award for her work with the St. Marys Area Resource Team, or SMART.
