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04/19/2017 10:00 AMAs the cold weather starts to roll out, a steady stream of tourists and visitors will start to roll into Guilford. With plenty to see and do in town, the Visitor Information Kiosk has continued to expand its resources, offering guests and residents alike an easy way to plan some Guilford-centric adventures.
The Visitor Information Kiosk, located on Church Street next to the Community Center, first opened in fall 2015. Staffed with volunteers giving out information during the summer, the kiosk is also equipped with an electronic resource, a computer screen allowing visitors to browse through information about Guilford—including historic museums, recreation, and local shopping and dining.
Establishing and maintaining the kiosk has been no small task, but a group of volunteers have taken the effort in stride. More than five years ago, the idea of developing heritage-based tourism was brought to the Guilford Preservation Alliance (GPA). GPA President Shirley Girioni said that over a series of workshops and meetings, the idea of building a kiosk came together.
“It dawned on us during probably the last workshop that perhaps an information center, which would have an electronic kiosk as well as people staffing it, would be the most effective,” she said. “The electronic kiosk could be approached from anywhere.”
The town gave the GPA the land to build the kiosk and the GPA pulled in three grants to build the structure and get the website up and running with the help of local company mediaBOOM. After more than a year in town, the kiosk has been a real success, according to Girioni.
In 2016, people from 17 different countries and 27 different states visited the kiosk looking for info on the town. Hits on the website, www.visitguilfordct.com, displayed on the electronic kiosk and available for use on a mobile phone or computer were even higher—volunteer and GPA Board member Veronica Soell said the website had 16,640 page views.
When the kiosk opened, the website was already populated with information about historic Guilford, parks and recreation, hiking trails, and other locations around town. Over the year, Soell said more information has been—and continues to be—added such as an event section and tours (guided by GPA board member Tracy Tomaselli), while staying true to the original idea behind the kiosk.
“The focus of it in the first place was heritage and that is the whole idea and why the GPA took the initiative for this because Guilford is a very historic town and has five house museums so we gave that a lot of space,” she said. “Historical interest has a big block. We wanted to serve everyone so tourism is a big part of the goal of this website.”
Promoting tourism has been a successfully initiative. Visitors to the kiosk or website can build an itinerary of things to do and places to see around Guilford. Additionally, Soell said having a concentrated resource of Guilford information has even encouraged people to stay after they visit town.
“Someone came—they were house hunting—and they stopped in Guilford, came to the kiosk, had a lovely talk with one of the greeters, and ended up buying a house in Guilford directly from that conversation,” she said.
Growing the Visitor Information Kiosk doesn’t come without cost, though. While the town gave the land for the kiosk to the GPA, all maintenance costs fall on the GPA. Advertising is the primary revenue source; local business or companies can take out an advertisement at the kiosk for $100 a year.
As of now, the kiosk has 45 advertisers and Girioni said she wants to see that number double. With more information comes the need for more volunteers as well. GPA board member Marcia Safirstein manages the volunteers—whom she calls greeters—during the summer.
There are currently 12 volunteers to cover the 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. window of operation during the summer and Safirstein said she is always looking for more people.
“The kiosk is an educational resource for our students and for our community,” she said. “The greeters have a whole kiosk filled with pamphlets, magazines, and maps of the hiking trails. It is constantly being updated.”
While continuing to grow and support the kiosk is a big job, Girioni said the GPA is looking ahead at other economic development and tourism initiatives as well. The GPA, in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce and the town economic development specialist, is currently investigating wayfinding signage, which would put new signage out and clear out some of the older signs scattered along the Boston Post Road.
“None of our highway signs even say ‘Guilford,’ let alone ‘Historic Guilford,” Girioni said. “That is what we are working on and we are making great progress as far as everybody being on board and being in agreement and we are investigating people to come up with a plan right now.”
Volunteers (or greeters) start staffing the kiosk in mid-May up through Columbus Day weekend. Information is always available on the on the website www.visitguilfordct.com or at the electronic kiosk. Those interested in volunteering or taking out an advertisement should use the “contact us” button on the website for more information.