Merchants seek ways to guide tourists to town

CORNWALL — Area business owners continue to work on long-term and pressing issues. Their goal is to bring local and tourist commerce back to town in a significant way. The recession and a lack of effective promotion have taken a toll. But so has a lack of information (or incorrect information) on tourism Web sites.

The effort began last year as a consortium of West Cornwall merchants met to discuss their concerns, which were echoed by other business operators. The group has expanded to include any Cornwall business that wants to participate.

The business owners identified one of their key issues at an April 21 meeting as confusion over The Cornwalls. Visitors go to Cornwall Bridge looking for the Covered Bridge, for example. Realtor Virginia Miller said Google doesn’t recognize the West Cornwall ZIP code; many people don’t know it’s a village within Cornwall.

Bianca Griggs, who owns The Wish House and represents Cornwall on the Litchfield Hills Travel Council, said that site’s information is inaccurate, and efforts to update it have not been successful.

Search online for “dining in Cornwall,� and you get Matthews 1812 House, a mail-order company, and Nodine’s Smokehouse, which is also not a restaurant — and which is in Goshen. And before The Wish House comes up on a Cornwall business search, one finds the Riverton Inn, Griggs said.

These complaints have been raised before, and they were reiterated last week following a presentation by Dan Bolognani of the Litchfield Hills Travel Council. His promotion of the council’s Web site was followed by input from dissatisfied Cornwall merchants, who are hopeful the door has been opened to addressing the problems.

Bolognani also told the merchants about a grant program offered by the Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area, a federal program that encourages tourism and preservation in Litchfield County and Berkshire County and parts of New York state. Towns can apply for up to $5,000 to be spent on enhancing the quality of life in towns and on economic development.

“One of the things we want to do is give both residents and visitors a rich sense of what it means to live here,� Bolognani said. “We are hoping projects such as maps of walking trails and historical information markers on buildings will engage people in the community. Residents will be more in touch with the community if they visit the library or historical society on their lunch hour. Visitors will return if they get in the river — or get off the beaten path.�

An approach that is gaining popularity around the area is exactly what the Cornwall Historical Society did last year with a different grant: historic walking tours.

Meanwhile, merchants are feeling the time crunch as the tourist season approaches. One of the quickest, and likely most effective, ways to pull visitors into village centers is signage. Those planned signs would be located on state highways and need state Department of Transportation approval. They also need to comply with local zoning regulations.

Wandering Moose Café owner Russ Sawicki expressed his frustration that the signs are still in the discussion phase. The group then shared ideas for a quick but temporary solution, such as sandwich board signs.

First Selectman Gordon Ridgway said approvals may be pushed through faster than usual. He also suggested a motto, “Visit Cornwall,� that could transcend the town’s identity crisis.

The Cornwall Farmers Market held each Saturday during the summer and fall on the Wish House lawn is gearing up. This year will see weekly showcases of various businesses, artists, performers and other town entities.

In the next week or so, Ridgway said he expects to hear back from the state about facade grant applications for improvements to businesses in town.