Press Release
Custer County Tourism Board
The Custer County Tourism Board is pleased to announce the release of fresh literature to welcome the 2022 season as our community prepares for a festive season of music, art, and spectacular summer events that will bring an economic boost to our county. Tourism’s marketing efforts continue to help visitors to have an enjoyable experience while supporting the businesses and events that bring vitality to our little town.
The 32-page, full-color Custer County Guidebook, (which replaces the CART Discover Guide), features interesting information to let visitors, as well as locals, know what’s happening in the Wet Mountain Valley. We showcase photography from Deb Adams, Dan Ballard, Lexi Christopher, Scott Dankof, Lars Leber, Christoph Stopka and Dena Woods as well as local artists: Jacqueline Keller, Andy Mast and Deb Yarra. We are grateful for the visual contributions to the guidebook.
People wanted it, busi-nesses asked for it, so Jo Studio created it…a brand new Town Map of Silver Cliff and Westcliffe that lists Accommodations, RV Parks & Camping, Places to Eat/Coffee, Galleries, In-Town Gems and Shops. The guidebook is perennial and the Town Map will be printed annually. Both pieces are available as an interactive PDF to download from our website VistWetMountainValley.com.
These two major printing projects were designed and produced by Jo Studio, Inc. (jostudioinc.com). Shelly Larson walked into the Welcome Center as a newcomer to the Valley one year ago and introduced herself to Deb Adams, chair of the Tourism Board; and so began a wonderful working relationship. “Shelly Larson was a godsend to the Tourism Board. Her graphic design experience and social media expertise is taking Tourism to a new level of professionalism. We can now reach out to local events to provide professional graphic design services for event posters
and related marketing materials. Anyone interested in this service needs to reach out to the Tourism Board before May 31st to take advantage of this free service. It is Tourism’s way of giving back and investing into
our community.” states Deb Adams.
We were fortunate to employ the exceptional talent of part-time local Robert Pratt, a retired NatGeo mapmaker, to create beautiful trail maps of the Sangre de Cristo and Wet Mountains to explore the wilderness and mountains that surround us. Tourism collaborated with Herb Kober of Trails for All to make sure every detail was precise for enjoyable outdoor recreation. The mountains are calling…
Board member Jackie Shepherd-Pettis has created “Jackie’s List of Places to Eat, Drink and Enjoy Yourself,” a Restaurant Schedule with weekly business hours. People can find it on our website under Food & Drink to download. It’s a very useful resource to have. Restaurants and coffee shops can keep the list up-to-date by emailing jackie@wapitiranchrealty.com.
Board member Wade Pettis is our dandy handyman who keeps the Welcome Center maintained. He added an outdoor bulletin board and fixed the literature kiosk to spruce up the outdoor space to be ready to welcome visitors and newcomers to our quaint and quirky towns.
The Welcome Center reopens April 1st and will be staffed with an ambassador on Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. We will add Thursdays come Memorial Day weekend through the month of September and then back to two days a week until Thanksgiving. The Welcome Center is closed December through March with the outdoor kiosk stacked with literature.
We encourage businesses to display a supply of guidebooks in a lucite holder that is provided by Tourism. We invite locals to stop in the Welcome Center anytime to pick up a copy of the new Custer County Guidebook, Hiking and Town maps. Sign up on our website for our monthly e-newsletter to stay in tune with what’s happening in the Wet Mountain Valley.