Visitor’s Center Gets Makeover, New Online Map
The Pocatello Visitor’s Center is now open every day of the week for the summer, and is unveiling a whole new look.
The volunteers who are keeping the center alive are also about to unveil a new website to promote tourism in the Gate City.
After the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau lost funding in 2010, local people picked up the slack. Now, they’re working on automating as much of the system as possible, while still holding on to their valuable volunteers.
One of them is Gerald Waggoner. He has volunteered at the Visitor’s Center for six years.
“This is something that I love to do is help people,” Waggoner said.
He and his wife have traveled all over the country, not to mention the Gem State, Waggoner said.
“We have traveled the entire state of Idaho, every road in Idaho and every town. So if somebody comes in and wants to know something, I can give them first-hand information,” he said.
Waggoner is still getting used to the look of revamped Visitor’s Center. Chamber of Commerce President Matt Hunter brought his family in to repaint it last week.
“Tourism is a huge part of our economy and we have to be available for folks when they come through,” Hunter said.
And if you can’t get to the Visitor’s Center, Waggoner can come to your smart phone. At Monday’s Valley Pride meeting, Old Town Pocatello, Inc. Executive Director Stephanie Palagi unveiled the Beta version of the new visitpocatello.com activities map.
The map shows layers of categories of arts, restaurants, outdoor activities and more. There will be listings to surprise even the most active locals, Palagi said.
“Go in and take a look. I bet there’s things that are in our community that you didn’t even know were here,” she said.
Palagi said they’ll launch the full version of the map by the end of the month. To see the Beta version, go to www.seidaho.org/activities.
Businesses can be a part of the map by updating their information in the state database.
For more information, contact Palagi at 208-232-7545.
