Well, by now many of you know that we have a terrific opportunity to capitalize upon our western heritage and inject new life into our economy. Two proposals have been made to the Community Facilities Advisory Board (CFAB) for our new special events center. For the near future, you can expect to read a lot more about the proposals, but we encourage everyone to actively participate in the selection process by providing your ideas (positive ones, please - no counterproductive griping!) to the members of the CFAB and our City and County Commissioners.
Here's how we see the comparison at the moment and we stress that all of this is subject to change as both proposals will be modified over time.
At present we feel that the Heritage Development Group (HDG) presents the best plan for taking advantage of our western heritage, economic viability, event center usage, national & international marketing, and bringing "new" money into town rather than recirculating local money.
There. We've said it. Unless the Global Entertainment Corporation (GEC) extensively modifies it's proposal to include the items above, we will strongly support the HDG proposal.
One of the "cappers" for the HDG's proposal for us is its concept of integrating with existing tourism attractions in Dodge City, including the Boot Hill Museum. Everyone should be aware that their first act (if we approve their proposal) will be to bring the great group "Riders in the Sky" to Dodge City on a near permanent basis. When this group was in Dodge City on January 12th, they visited the Dodge Theater and were blown away by the opportunity that building promises. Their idea is to make Dodge City a sort of home base for "Riders in the Sky". HDG plans to renovate and reopen the Dodge Theater as a home for the group where they are already putting together a live recording from Dodge City as well as a venue for their regular radio shows (National Public Radio series) "Riders Radio Theater".
This is exactly the way Branson, MO got their start. What kind of fools would we have to be to turn down this offer!
Our Western Heritage
Front Street, Dodge City, circa 1879
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2 comments:
The part that makes me so excited about the Riders in the Sky, is they will become ambassors of Dodge City, promoting it ... during all their tours/concerts, plus via their radio show and their CDs! We couldn't afford to buy that kind of endorsement.
I believe Dodge City was founded with the "Cowboy" heritage that Riders in the Sky still hold true to with all thier performances and with the way they have perfomed throughout the world.
Did you know they also won multiple grammys for thier songs on the Disney/Pixar "Toy Story" and "Monsters Inc." ?
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