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Home My WebLink About1995-05-08 95-214 ORDER' City has bear approacted by a local group of bmf s larders, in coop at an with L:e Greater Bangs ftmisl.' of Coanerce, regarding Possible City prrticipH in an effort to frcrease Ca:udian visitations to tt Granter Bangs ares. ITie fK effm-t of thy:, gawp ie to ant tale ala prum eewral Canatlian appreciation days. 19wre Lays have been xlsrbled for My 19-21, Vf is My, ala .Tore 30. y 3, Canada Da . 9e prisary e£foft in ttw a days will be an etivmY iM cmgatay: in tha Caradian Msritimea mmncbg fn May a no ucing special exchange sate mseeaione and other of£e+s £mu tle local business oamuuty as wall ae pernotGg cultine ala axial events acba£vled £@ those v+eela'rde. N Mdttion, tt local vaiia wlll be xwrming a eerier of iwblic earvica ccm nitoenta to higtSigbt local b our of the pmyap ala enforce in w¢ ctmvvdty tla : � �� of tieatinj our Cenadiar: guests MapitablY and with apiaxiation. TM overall f ntlraiaiig goal for- this effort is appaoa➢mmly $50,000. 1tc was � at t last Pinaxe C®nittw and the Comm a las remarer�rl to de full Counog flat $5,000 ke trariefeaerl frvn our Nnti�.'mamt to support this effort. fibre iso vnti®. on this pcogsas fa attached. �t.e.h Hmd Msnagazra Cmoenta: City llene9er Aeexiated r..a..... aHer, letterr ample advertising yrr9/yy 31 yu'�pO ,u..Pinm�n - Aad' �(rud';W, X Paeaege _ Phot Rydfng t@£acral Page — of 95-314 A ipwtoC ncilw Soucy May S. 1995 CITY OF BANGOR By W aty Gaunait NW Giqu/8u . ORDERED. TUT tM1e mount of $5,000 i nevby r.=..=f�ed 6 Gre Caiexal Pwtl CwrtUu9ercy.Kcamt W Fa>Amt 6890-78010100, COntifGrtions, OG r I�3�. IN CITY COUNCIL Day 8 1995 - 95-214 Day P ORDER 1 CITY L ( Title, Authorizing a Transfer from the General Fond Contingency Account in Order to Support Canadian Appreciation Days. ...................................... l. ... Aedgsad to ..... Councilmen 0 rat F�95-1Z 4r GREATER BANGOR AREA CANADIAN APPRECIATION DAYS May 19-21 Victoria Day June3 july3 Canada Day April 26, 1995 FUNDeNSING COMMITTEE - - Ed Barrett Tid City of Bangor Fuad IwablOw," 93 Harlow Street Bangor, ME 04401 - Seen9Mry Cie FiTav CCynt C&=u Dear Ed: BY biucier ' B Cbmmm Through the years, there have been no better friends than .Lmb Club the people of Maine and their neighbors across the border in BOY Bmgur B Canada. The Bangor Area has been a favorite place for our Canadian friends to visit and shop. Unfortunately, due to ua number of adverse factors, i.e., the exchange rate and �^Rsin kH. Fwtr provincial border tax (PST), the number of Canadians coming to the Bangor area in the past year has dropped as much as 505. P.Mdm H mswm ' fum•P J'Amdyd Nearly two months ago, a group of business leaders were b Vngw.P. urged t0 convene to address the dramatic drop 1n Canadian B¢P. Lim Lumbm -- business. Through the collective effort of Ed Youngblood, F1'tl nl 5avriy Senior Vice President of Bangor Savings Bank and President of nce the Greater Bangor Chamber of Commerce and Jack Quirk of the up tillage Car Company, the initiative developed considerable momentum. ��kk awe�avw At that meeting, the dropin business was graphically potrayed and the prime culprit was identified: the reduced value Snuffi VBA Bkw summ of the Canadian dollar. It was agreed that aggressive steps needed to be taken, not only by those who sell goods and ��y &Yw services to the Canadians, but equally importantly, those who T+oWBmk sell to local businesses whose success depends to a great degree on their visitor trade. Under the umbrella of a long-term Eigitor Appreciation Program, two upcoming weekends have been earmarked as Canadian Appreciation Days. On the weekends of May 19-22 and June 29-July 3, participating hotels and restaurants, numbering some 25 at this time with more expected to join before the two weekends, Offer their services at par to all Canadian visitors. In addition, Participating retail merchants will offer favorable hother promotional pregrans on these two weekends. To date, over 100 retailers have agreed to participate, and more are expected. 95-2 7 In addition to participation by the Greater Bangor business community, the Greater Bangor Chamber of Commerce and its Executive Director Michael Crowley have played a key facilitating role, and both Bangor and Brewer municipal government interests represented by Ben Gibb and Les Stevens have been instrumental in the launch of this innovative program. The initial Canadian Appreciation Days on May 19-22 will be supported by a two-pronged promotional effort: 1. Local electronic media will be running a series of public Service Announcements heightening local awareness of the program and reminding people in the Greater Bangor Area of the importance of treating our Canadian guests hospitably and conveying to those guests how appreciative we are of their decision to visit our area. 2. Some $15,000 of a projected $50,000 has been raised and will be allocated to an advertising campaign in the Maritimes commencing in early May announcing the special exchange rate concession and other offers, as well as promoting the events of cultural and social events scheduled for this weekend. All program participants recognize the need for an ongoing Visitor Appreciation program. The initial Canadian Appreciation Days celebration is expected to be the first step toward a solution to the drastic decline in Canadian visitors. This joint cooperative effort is critical to the economic survival and stability of the tax base of all the 21 Greater Bangor area communities. We are asking each community to participate financially with economic development dollars to help defray the costs of promoting and sustaining both short and long term strategies to recapture and expand Canadian traffic to our area. Acting alone, or doing nothing will precipitate a continual economic decline. Acting together, we willsucceed. Enclosed please find additional background information. 1 look forward to speaking with you to discuss your community's level of financial commitment. Please feel free to call me at 942-9364 or Earl Black at 942-6711. Sincer ly, D glas E. Smith Earl Black DES/jns Enclosures 95-214 /q Canadian Appreciation Days Fundraising E60 Talking Points DRAFT CANADIAN TRADE DOWN It is estimated that 30,000 fewer Canadians visited the Bangor area last year thanjust a few years ago. This represents an estimated 12 to 15 million dollar loss in trade to the Bangor area business community. BANGOR AREA NEEDS TO RECAPTURE THAT CANADIAN TRADE It is vital that the Bangor area recapture the lost Canadian trade, and Canadian Appreciation Days is the first step toward a long term elTort to do just that. - - COMMUNITY EFFORT Not only the retail community gains from Canadian made. All businesses me the effect of it, either directly or indirectly. An unprecedented, community -wide effort is needed to reverse the downward trend. NOW IS THE TIME We are at the beynnning of the travel/shopping season. An effort must be mounted now to establish shoppingltavel patterns for the rest of the year. Also, the Bangor area must act now, because other areas experiencing the same declines surely will. TWO WEEKENDS The kick-off for our entire campaign will be two Canadian Appreciation Weekends falling on the Canadian holidays of V imoria Day and Canada Day, May 22 and July I. A majority of local hmels/motels and restaurants will be offering their services to Canadian guests at par. Participating retail merchants will be offering a variety ofpromotions ranging from favorable exchange rates to percent off programs. WE ALL BENEFIT FROM A GOOD ECONOMY All sectors of the business community benefit Gam a healthy retail economy. Retail nen buy services from other businesses. When retail suffers. Sodom the hospitality indusM, restaurants, professionals, auto sales, etc. FUNDS ARE NECESSARY The hospitality and restaurant operators are making a financial sacrifice by accepting Canadian money at par, and the retailers will see little or no gain due to their promotions. We are asking the rest of the business community to help fund the advertising campaign for these two weekends. Moneys an, needed to pay for print. radio, and TV ads in Canadian market. Banners, point of purchase signage, and local public service announcements arc also needed. The estimated east ofadvertising for each of these Canadian Appreciation Weekends is 12 an 15 thousand dollars. WHAT WILL YOU CONTRIBUTE? -Allir pay, The ;Greater ;Bar and over 100 with genui .REA HOTELS N eb L' AT PAR n ^Fo Iai iGdhn I ill ypper 8 JAib�X Lcnnalotlkw • Mu City Motel „ 1 • Holiday Inn Pv�Yxw'Wry • I lack I"r Inn 3`11 •UhielmusOm -. IMid+ IM.9mp \u 1"nwrc t JMWt U,h • Ha\nrd JahrynF� F I. \Yhm4Fvinl w �ann+iv M1bJneivMYms MI,NICPp4 IWmbW ButNL81w4s 1 ruVm.CON. 1 LILAe N eb L' 4 W n ^Fo uv 1\NN�xNI.>mfp. JAib�X in Leml MI Pv�Yxw'Wry bMPeJ -- 3`11 -. IMid+ IM.9mp \u 1"nwrc t JMWt U,h D F I. \Yhm4Fvinl