Good Times / Bad Times

As Pam and I prepare for the end of what will be a record week for the pottery I note the irony of an article in The Mountain Echo. It details the drop in visitors to Johnson's Shut-Ins from 41,000 in June of 2005 to 17,980 in June of this year. I know that a lot of my loyal customers that had not visited the Shut-Ins in years are going out to see what happened to the park. But for those that only want to have fun in the river and rocks at the park I'm sure they are finding other places to play. The following article from the Columbia paper was printed in a number of newspapers.

As with so many things, the strange politics that make up everyday life in Missouri prevent this state from rising to the top. My local TV station (from Cape Girardeau) is filled with adds for various attractions in Alabama. Assume they would not continue advertising if people didn't leave this area to vacation in Alabama. I also get the New Mexico magazine. This great magazine is written by state employees and published by the state government. It seems to me that Tourism in Missouri is divided into a lot of small organizations that are not working toward the same goal and most are underfunded. I was excited when I heard about Missouri Ozarks Regional Explorers. But after attending one of their conferences and seeing that their web site was not current and even omitted some of the major tourist attractons in the Lesterville area and there is no one person promoting this effort I think its just another failed Missouri attempt.
There is no web site for Reynolds County. The web site for Iron County is full of old data and not one that you would want to visit often. Even the state park web sites lack a lot of visual appeal. So we all just go bumbling along and if the right people come through the door of our business we have a great week.