New visitors bureau home aims to boost Franklin County exploration

(Chambersburg) – Today, the home of the Franklin County Visitors Bureau works against its mission. Practically hidden off a sidewalk between two buildings on South Main Street, most visitors would need help finding it.

Come fall, the visitors bureau will move from its inconspicuous office at 37 S. Main St. to a large former bank at 15 S. Main St. in Chambersburg’s center square in the heart of Franklin County, and officially become the Franklin County Visitors Bureau and 11/30 Welcome Center.

The transition will allow the organization to use its own location to show off everything the county has to offer, and serve as a launch point from which people can go exploring, according to Janet Pollard, the executive director of the bureau.

The new home will allow the visitors bureau to continue on a trajectory it started a dozen years ago when it was first established by the county. But in that time, it’s had no real space in which to promote its mission, instead working with outside partners and using the internet to achieve its goals. The new facility will operate as a hub for visitors and local people alike to learn about what they can do in the area.

“We have a lot of tourism assets across multiple themes of recreation, art and history to really explore, to put front and center for visitors to whet their appetite,” Pollard said.

The 11/30 Welcome Center, named for the main roads that crisscross in Chambersburg, will take up the lower level of the building.

Exhibits will illustrate five themes, which will change every six to eight weeks. On display when the new center opens will be The Bridges of Franklin County, On the Move in Franklin County, Arts and Artisans, World War I and Franklin Fresh (food and dining).

Vaults that once stored loads of cash when the building served as several banks will instead take guests on journeys into key points of the county’s history and highlight the county’s towns today. One vault will show videos on topics such as the Underground Railroad and the Burning of Chambersburg, and the other will promote tours of towns.

“The whole concept of the 11/30 Welcome Center is to get people to launch a trip throughout Franklin County, to explore more and hopefully visit again and again,” Pollard said.

The 11/30 Welcome Center will also be a place where the new certified tourism ambassadors can demonstrate their knowledge of the county. The third class of CTAs were certified in May, and the next class is planned for July. Anyone who wants to help promote the county or even just learn for themselves what the county offers can participate in the program.

The second floor will house the bureau’s offices as well as space for the visitors bureau and its tourism partners to hold meetings. Pollard specifically pointed to bus tours using the space: for example, if the group wants to explore the area’s German heritage, they could participate in a German cooking demonstration in this space.

With the launch of its new home, the visitors bureau will begin hosting bus tours most months of the year. The first one will be the Franklin County Barn Quilt Squares Tour, entitled Stitches in Time.

The visitors bureau has been steadily growing since the county commissioners resolved on one of the last days of 2005 to establish the organization and boost tourism in the county. The effort has really taken off in recent years, with the popular annual light show reenaction of the burning of Chambersburg that attracts thousands of people to downtown Chambersburg each July being perhaps the biggest example of success.

“So what you’re looking at – the present-day impact is the result of these things building on top of each other over the past 10 years,” Pollard said.

The momentum really started building when the visitors bureau became a nonprofit organization in 2014. It was then that the organization began considering a move.

The project has fallen behind a bit – the visitors bureau initially planned to move by last fall – but some of the delay was the result of wanting to get the design and renovation just right. Construction on the building – which was originally the National Bank of Chambersburg, and most recently served as a Santander Bank – began in March.

The cost of the project, not including the purchase of the building, will end up at about $1.5 to $1.7 million, Pollard said. Financing was provided by F&M Trust, the Franklin County Area Development Corp. and the Chambersburg Area Development Corp. The visitors bureau also secured an anchor building loan from the borough.

“This is a project that will ensure that that building is kept as a contributing structure in the downtown, and be in good repair, not be vacant and create vitality,” Pollard said.

It is still very much up in the air, but Pollard hopes the new visitors bureau will open in time for Applefest, which takes place in downtown Chambersburg on Oct. 20.

Do you want to become a certified tourism ambassador? Contact Doug Harmon at dharmon@explorefranklincountypa.com.