New effort launched to promote Voyageurs National Park

Attitudes about and from Voyageurs National Park appear to be changing.

The 32 years that have passed since creation of Minnesota’s only national park appears to have brought a decrease in frustration and anger about land acquisition as well as park management that is more willing to be a partner in the community.

As a result of those changes, a new effort aimed at marketing the park has brought together “strange bedfellows,” according to organizer Shawn Mason.

Mason, who serves as International Falls mayor, says she believes the time is right to make Voyageurs National Park known across the state and nation.

The vast majority of Americans don’t know that Minnesota has a national park and if they do, they don’t know where it is, Mason said.

Coined “Destination Voyageurs National Park,” by Falls City Councilor Tim “Chopper” McBride, DVNP will be a non-profit 501(c)3 marketing organization to put the park on the map through an ongoing sophisticated strategic marketing plan.

An anonymous $5,000 donation jump started the concept. With just one meeting under its belt, an advisory committee is developing a board of directors that will include membership from a wide variety of representatives of governments, gateway tourism organizations, and public and private groups. The committee will dissolve and the board will oversee its director and the plan. Mason, who has worked in the tourism industry for 22 years, is expected to serve as the program’s first director.

DVNP will not be a political lobbying group, nor engage in controversial discussions about public policy, Mason said. Instead, the sole mission of DVNP will be to bring about an awareness of the park and its recreational opportunities, she said.

The concept came to Mason as an inspiration in her sleep, she said. She drafted the idea in a 12-page document in just 30 minutes in the early morning hours of a day in May.

She first discussed the idea with Kate Miller, VNP superintendent. Referring to Miller, Mason said: “This is an example of a bureaucracy whose leadership would like to invest more time figuring out how to make things work, than in invest more time in telling you why you can’t do this.”

In discussing the concept, Mason uses the word “we.”

“This is not a Shawn Mason thing. This is something that was able to breakthrough because of the evolution of the culture,” she said. “I think that the soil is ripe, fertile for this to bloom.”

The idea may not have been possible two years ago, she said.  “It’s a combination of a lot of things, but it does pertain to leadership on many levels: the park service, the cities within the park area, the counties, the economic development agencies think that what we’ve been doing the past 32 years to connect the American people to this national park has only been marginally effective.”

That means efforts must be analyzed and improved upon, she said. She encourages elected officials at all levels who say there is a need to create jobs and generate economic development through strengthening the tourism industry to get on board.

Chambers of commerce and convention and visitor bureaus in the gateway communities have been responsible for promoting the park and its communities. “It simply is not enough,” Mason said. “The resources are limited.” The DVNP plan will compliment existing efforts and take them to a higher level of public awareness.

Mason acknowledged that she has been critical of park management decisions in the past, and that many people believed it was VNP’s duty to promote the park to tourists.

“I am so tired of pointing the finger at who should be responsible for creating visitorship in Voyageurs National Park. I’m so beyond that. I want to take leadership to the next level instead of pointing the finger at Voyageurs National Park and constantly being at odds with them about public policy. What we would like this effort to do is point the finger back at us.”

Mason admits she’s changed her position about the park’s role.

“The failure part in my criticism in the past has always been as it relates to the park being an economic engine for this region,” she said. “Certainly the 52 full-time equivalent the park service employs is part of that economic engine. Now we need to build on it.”

Mason said VNP’s mandate does not included promoting and marketing the park. VNP is doing an admirable job of carrying out its mandate: to preserve and protect for future generations, she said.

That leaves a gap in who is telling current and future generations about the opportunities in Voyageurs, she said. “This model is sorely needed,” she said.

Mason knows some people, elected officials among them, will be skeptical of DVNP, saying efforts to bring manufacturing and industrial jobs to a region suffering economically should be first among the priories of community leaders.

But Mason says the tourism industry is an important part of northern Minnesota economy and, challenges that with support, especially from elected leaders, can play an even more important role.

A stronger tourism industry combined with other efforts to improve the economy can bring a healthy community with a strong future, says Mason.  She concludes her written proposal on DVNP with an optimistic thought about the future: “The Beginning.”