Outdoor recreational tourism is something that communities across West Virginia have been focusing on as a growing industry in the state. West Virginia is poised to continue growing tourism as the natural wonders of the Mountain State continue to be developed and preserved to attract adventure seekers and give residents a chance to explore their home in a new way.
In this short series, we will highlight these Hub Communities in pairs to show the work happening across our communities and the state to grow West Virginia’s outdoor recreational economies.
The pandemic brought new attention to mountain biking bringing with it a surge in popularity across the country. According to NDP Group, a marketing firm, bike sales soared in April 2020 bringing in about $1 billion in retail sales in that month.
That popularity continues to grow in West Virginia as new mountain biking teams form and new trails are created to cater to the rapidly growing industry. White Sulphur Springs and Marlinton are two HubCAP IV communities that focused on mountain biking’s popularity and used their technical assistance (TA) funds available for use through HubCAP to bring more mountain biking opportunities to residents and visitors.
White Sulphur Springs
Acting on Recreational Data with a goal to become West Virginia’s healthiest community, the volunteer-led team in White Sulphur Springs is focusing on creating something for the kids to enjoy and be active.
Clay Elkins, a volunteer working on the community team, is excited about the potential to turn the community into a healthy destination for visitors. The town is situated close to state and federal land that Elkins sees as an endless opportunity to encourage biking tourism in the town.
There is excitement from the community about the work happening to reinvigorate White Sulphur Springs. Community members are excited for the potential of both increased recreational tourism and becoming a healthy community.
“We are exporting our most valuable resource and they are leaving in droves,” Elkins said about young people leaving West Virginia. “Despite that, we are trying to give people a reason to stay. Give them some fun to see. Give kids a way to ride a bicycle.”
White Sulphur Springs is leveraging their HubCAP technical assistance and the input from The Hub to focus on making their town a destination. As a member of the MonForest Towns, White Sulphur Springs is taking the input of technical assistance partners to make their mountain biking and health dreams for the town a reality.
Marlinton
The community team of volunteers in Marlinton, located in Pocahontas County within the Mon Forest region, understood their ability to capitalize on the growing interest in mountain biking. Located a short drive from Snowshoe, Marlinton is leaning into the work to develop a more robust network of mountain biking trails.
This year, Snowshoe Highlands became a Silver Level International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) Ride Center. Snowshoe Highlands is one of only two mountain biking courses designated Silver on the U.S. East Coast. IMBA Ride Centers are recognized as large-scale mountain bike facilities with extensive trail networks, masterfully designed for mountain bikers of every skill level. This designation propelled all of Pocahontas County when thinking about being a mountain biking destination not just for the region but on a global scale.
Through part of the HubCAP technical assistance funding, Marlinton worked with Downstream Strategies to create a Bike Tourism Action Plan for the community.
“I’m thankful for HubCAP for bringing me out of the tourism and marketing work that I do into a different side of the work focusing on outdoor recreation economy through things like fostering business and community development,” Chelsea Faulknier said. “I’ve heard a lot of folks say in the past that there is so much planning and not enough action. HubCAP has been great for Marlinton to give us this push to take our action plan and really push the ideas and make things happen.”
The community-led team in Marlinton teamed up with Downstream Strategies to create a robust bike tourism plan to bring more people to the Snowshoe Highlands trails by way of Marlinton. The team has created a sustainable plan to grow their impact on the community over the next year, two years, five years, and even 20 years.
Congratulations to Marlinton and Snowshoe Highlands on receiving an Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) POWER grant of $1,500,000 for trail development! The goal of the Snowshoe Highlands trail development is to make it one of seven designated Gold networks of mountain biking trails in the world.
The Hub’s Communities of Achievement Program (HubCAP) offers participating communities a time-tested curriculum to accelerate their community-led economic development efforts. We support community teams over a multi-year period to move forward a clearly defined community development project from initial idea to long-term implementation and financing. These projects are the spark for community revitalization including through activities such as building redevelopment, increasing business opportunities, and improving community engagement practices.
To learn more about HubCAP, reach out to Stacy Thomas at s.thomas@wvhub.org