Judy Billings is executive director of the Lawrence Convention & Visitors Bureau. She has spearheaded efforts to highlight the Lawrence area’s “Bleeding Kansas” history to tourists, helping efforts to designate the area part of a National Heritage Area that could draw millions of dollars in federal funding. She takes questions at 1:30 p.m. Friday.

Moderator

Hi folks! I’m Joel Mathis, managing editor for convergence, and I’ll be moderating today. Judy will join us shortly; in the meantime, go ahead and submit questions.

Judy Billings

Greetings everyone, Thanks for your interest in our heritage. I’m happy to have this opportunity to chat. judy

Moderator

Hi Judy, and welcome. First question: Where do we stand in gaining the National Heritage Area designation. And how will it help us promote our Civil War heritage in ways that we can’t do on our own?

Moderator

Has anybody noted the irony of Kansas and Missouri working together on Civil War history?

Judy Billings

Our enacting bill has passed both the Senate and the House. A few changes were made to it in the House which requires us to get through the Senate again. After Congressional recess, we’ll be working to get it passed there once again. then it goes to the President for his signature.

In the meanitme, the grassroots group here in Kansas and Missouri are beginning to work together on a “management plan” that will connect our story and ultimately provide us with some federal funding to carry out our projects.

Judy Billings

They certainly have. It’s a new way of thinking. The importance of this is to provide the ultimate user, whether it’s a family, school group or visitor, etc, a complete story to experience here. To date, we’ve only told our isolated stories and not connected them. It will provide a richer experience.

Moderator

Let’s just make sure Don Fambrough doesn’t find out.

Here’s a question from a reader:

reallyoldreader

Has any group or organization in the area (Black Jack Battlefield, for example) considered hosting an Elderhostel week on the Civil War on the Western Front, or hosting a work week (to help restore the battlefield, for example)?
Kansas has very limited representation in the Elderhostel catalog each season (usually one program in Wichita, or one in Council Grove).
Wouldn’t it be nice for Eastern Kansas, and Lawrence in particular, to invite such world-wide organizations to offer their participants programs about our rich history?
It seems like August would be an especially good time for guests to participate in the history programs in Lawrence, and Spring or Fall a beautiful time to be outdoors.

Judy Billings

Excellent idea. I’ve had conversations about this with KU Continuing Education and have worked with some folks at Emporia State who host Elderhostels. It will be in our plan going forward.

Moderator

That last question prompts me to devil’s advocacy. Does our “Bleeding Kansas” history have the chance to be that kind of worldwide draw? Aren’t most people interested in the really big battlefields where thousands of people died?

Judy Billings

As we begin to bring forward the pre-civil war history, I believe those who have been interested in the Civil War will be equally interested in what came before. This is exactly why we’re working on federal designation. An example is the Blue & Gray group that visited the area last week. They were all very knowledgeable people who wanted to get first-hand experience on what they have learned. I think that will build with time and as we develop the experiences surrounding our story.

Moderator

Here’s a question that’s less “Civil War” and more “tourism”:

macon47

JUDY, we think it is great anytime
we can draw people to lawernce
and visit ourdown town.
however, our visitors are constant
being pester by the beggars,
and panhandlers. we know the
city council has no interest
in helping the downtown
merchants since many lawrencians
think the bums are colorful
and amusing. out of towners
do not enjoy be hassled for
money. just last week i saw
a couple with out of state
plates stop , put money in
the meter and were immediatley
pounced on by a group with
a cardboard sign and a dog
on a rope. the couple
just turned around ,
went back to their car
and drove off.
what is the answer?

Judy Billings

I believe there IS interest in this challenge by the city. We all need to hear stories like yours in order to address the challenges. Aggressive pan handling is against the law in Lawrence, but if a police officer doesn’t see it nothing can be done. The police need to know when it happens in order to begin to track such behavior. I understand what you’re saying and agree that we need to find a permanent solution.

Moderator

How is tourism in Lawrence doing? I know you keep track of the “bed tax” that raises money from folks staying in our hotels — how has that been trending in recent years? And does 30,000 season tickets sold for KU put a smile on your face?

Judy Billings

Bed tax collections had been flat until recently. The numbers are beginning to increase. Yes, I like to hear the 30,000 # and hope those folks will stay in town and spend money to help our economy.

Moderator

Back to the Civil War. “Civil War on the Western Frontier” has been a popular offering the last few years; is there anything else we can do on our own to promote that heritage while we’re waiting on the federal government to send us money?

Judy Billings

First of all, I want to clarify that the federal $$ will only come when we have completed a management plan approved by the Secretary of Interior. We must then work to get those dollars into the federal budget for our projects. Studies have shown in other heritage areas that for every federal dollar, eight more dollars have been leveraged for such projects. There’s a lot of work ahead. In the meantime, we’re working on getting our existing tours into an iPod format. As we go through the “visioning” process with the city, we’ll need to think about how we can more visibly interpret our heritage story for the future. There are many ways to do that including interpretive signage, better interpretation in our museum settings and knowledgeable guides for tours like the Blue & Gray.

Moderator

Well then: One more question — What can Lawrencians and other folks inside the potential heritage area do to help encourage the designation process to come to fruition?

Judy Billings

Folks can call or email Senators Brownback and Roberts to encourage them and let them know how important this process is to us. They can also bring their ideas forward in public discussions during the visioning process or give me a call. I’ll do my best to put ideas in the mix.

Moderator

That’s it for today. Thanks so much Judy for joining us!

Judy Billings

It’s always a pleasure to get this information out to more people. thanks for the opportunity!