VICTORIAN TOURISM
The Tourism MIRA team was already in the planning stages before receiving MIRA funds. Pennsylvania Congressman John Peterson originally voiced the idea of highlighting the northern Pennsylvania Victorian region. Glenn Cochran, a MIRA team member and Venango Economic Development Corporation (VEDC) employee, had already started a web page, www.victorianregion.com, using text and pictures provided by the author of several northern Pennsylvania Victorian architecture books.
Partnerships
There were and still are several organizations involved with the Victorian Region of Northern Pennsylvania Tourism project. The Oil Heritage Region provided information and funds, as well as the Oil City, Franklin and Titusville chambers of commerce. The Historical Society and the fiscal agent, VEDC, also collaborated with the tourism project.
Leadership
Because the MIRA group was composed mainly of adults with many years of experience in grant writing and project development, decision-making was a bit tricky. According to team member Glenn Cochran, at times it seemed that it was a situation of "survival of the loudest."
There was agreement on the purpose of the project, but the "how" provided a catalyst for several heated discussions. Resolution was found by segmenting the project into three different areas: printed media (brochures), electronic media (web page) and hiring a company to produce a tourism tape.
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