OLEAN, N.Y. – Owners Dale and Cindy Smith hosted a member-guest
breakfast of the directors of the Allegheny National Forest
Vacation Bureau on Thursday in the visitor center at their
attraction, Rock City Park near Olean, N.Y., as part of National
Tourism Week.

Vacation Bureau Executive Director Linda Devlin said the event
brings together tourism officials from Pennsylvania and New York
state.

“We work closely with New York tourism agencies to promote our
destinations and keep tourists here longer.”

Following the breakfast, Devlin introduced McKean County
Commissioner Bruce Burdick, who was the main speaker. She said,
“Bruce has been a tireless volunteer for the Allegheny National
Forest Vacation Bureau and has been instrumental in bringing the
tourist agency up to the level where it is today.”

Burdick spoke about the impact of tourism on the local economy.
He recalled that when he joined the bureau’s board about 10 years
ago, the agency operated on an $8,000 budget and had no office or
computer. At that time, Burdick believed strongly that if the
bureau wanted to promote tourism, it had to hire a full-time
director.

When a full-time director was hired, the results were
impressive. Today, the bureau’s budget amounts to $360,000, and
Angie Fowler has joined the staff.

In McKean County, tourism generates $65 million annually. At the
state level, Burdick noted, tourism, now the number two industry
and soon to become number one, brings in $25 billion as a
revenue-producing segment of the economy.

According to Burdick, visitors learn about the area through a
variety of means, including by telephone, letter, e-mail, newspaper
advertisements and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
Welcome Centers. But statistics show the impact of the bureau’s Web
site.ð

Burdick said, “This has registered 185,000 sessions. A session
means that someone stays on line for more than several minutes to
see what is of interest to them.”

At a vision meeting on tourism for the County Comprehensive
Plan, public input showed the need for increased lodging
facilities, small conference centers and the linkage of the
national forest to the communities that surround it.

“We also are making more of a push for the resurgence of the
Kinzua Bridge State Park,” Burdick said. “Going from 75,000
visitors annually to 35,000 is a real economic loss for us.”

County government officials have worked to have a PennDOT
Welcome Center located on U.S. Route 219 between the New York
border and U.S. Route 6, Burdick said.

Burdick added that due to our county’s geographic location,
McKean County could promote itself as the gateway to the oil and
lumber heritage regions, Pennsylvania Wilds and the North Clarion
Watershed.

The Smiths purchased Rock City Park five years ago.

In her comments, Cindy Smith mentioned that construction of the
visitor center began last spring and is not completely finished.
Weddings have been held at the park and plans call for having
dances and reunions at the center.

Visitors to the center immediately notice the large rock inside
the building.ðDale Smith decided to enclose in the buildingða huge
sample of quartz conglomerate, which is part ofðthe park’s world’s
largest exposure of the rock.

Also in the center are a fluorescent rock room, museum and
collectibles.

During his brief remarks about the park’s history, Dale said,
“The heyday of the park was the early 1900’s.ðRecords indicate that
in 1906, thousands of visitors came to the park on some days. The
dance hall pavilion was very popular.”