Kirkbrae Country Club, Lincoln, Rhode Island The Blackstone Valley Tourism Council 20th Anniversary Annual Dinner Annual Report September 29, 2005

We are a Destination (Intro Letter) | We've Always Fought the Uphill Battle (History)
Chris and Lisa Van Allsburg (2005 Lifetime Achievement Award) | Who Are We (Staff, volunteers)
20 Years of Imagination (Accomplishment Timeline) | Thanks to Our Sponsors

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‘We are a Destination’

Dear Tourism Friends:

Is seems awfully strange to be writing about the life of 20 years of tourism development in the Blackstone River Valley of Rhode Island.

I don’t think anyone could see 20 years into the future to the way we are enjoying the Blackstone Valley today. We have now achieved “Destination” status. The Blackstone is now a place where people are proud to live – as a council we wanted to affect change to instill pride-of-place. The Valley is now a place that new businesses and corporations seek to settle in. We knew tourism would be good for our communities and businesses if we were allowed to promote what was good about our environment, history and culture.

People are now visiting the Blackstone to learn about our “comeback story” and to experience the American Industrial Revolution.

It was a tall order then and is still a tall order. We have at least 20 more years of work to bring our dreams to all 241 square miles of the Blackstone River Valley of Rhode Island. When we began there were few “believers.” Now there are many.

The Blackstone Valley National Heritage Corridor is our largest governmental supporter and partner in this success as are the communities of Pawtucket, Central Falls, Woonsocket, Lincoln, Cumberland, Burrillville, Glocester, North Smithfield and Smithfield. These partners, coupled with the R.I. Division of Tourism, our tourism colleagues from Newport, Warwick, South County, East Bay, Block Island, Providence and our Massachusetts partner the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce, have helped to make the Blackstone Valley an emerging, dynamic, exciting and interesting destination in the United States. When you include our private partners with their financial support, our program appears very well-endowed with friends.

The Blackstone Valley’s success in tourism is credited to people. My board of directors, led by my close friend Dave Balfour, and my tireless, selfless staff, led by Natalie Carter, are the Valley’s real heroes, going unnoticed, being satisfied to work everyday to change the world, beginning here in the Blackstone Valley. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I must thank my wife JoAnne, and my children Ryan and Sarah, for allowing me to follow my dream to create a tourism development program in the Blackstone Valley, second to none in America. They have given up so much over the past 20 years to see this dream through. I will be forever thankful.

Finally, I thank all of the hundreds of people, corporations, communities, state and federal organizations who have worked with the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council in its mission to develop our Valley through tourism.

Respectfully,

Robert D. Billington, Ed. D. President

We are a Destination (Intro Letter) | We've Always Fought the Uphill Battle (History)
Chris and Lisa Van Allsburg (2005 Lifetime Achievement Award) | Who Are We (Staff, volunteers)
20 Years of Imagination (Accomplishment Timeline) | Thanks to Our Sponsors