Officials said good hospitality is an important aspect of hosting a successful event.
Local residents were told about the importance of good hospitality as a method of preparing for the Dixie Youth World Series to be held in August.
The Jones County Chamber of Commerce conducted a hospitality seminar Tuesday at the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in preparation of the event.
Local officials have been working for months to prepare for the nationally-recognized sporting event.
The 2009 Dixie Youth World Series will be hosted at the Laurel Sportsplex on Aug. 7-13.
Mary Beth Wilkerson, deputy director of the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) Tourism Division, and Diana O’Toole, the tourism divisions’ Hometown Mississippi Retirement Program Manager, were the guest speakers at Tuesday’s event.
Wilkerson and O’Toole emphasized the importance of “good hospitality” when hosting an event the magnitude of the World Series.
“It’s very important to get hospitality right,” Wilkerson said. “You want them to want to come back to your community.”
O’Toole said “it’s important to know the difference that you can make.”
“Laurel is such a beautiful community and it’s a wonderful thing that Laurel has going on,” O’Toole said. “Sports marketing has so many multipliers. A child coming to play ball brings along with him; mom, dad, sisters, brothers, grandparents and so much potential for a community to gain tax dollars.”
Donna Williams, director of Chamber of Commerce of the Economic Development Authority of Jones County, said Tuesday’s seminar was the third of a four-part series the chamber is conducting.
“We only have one seminar left and that’s a refresher course which will be conducted in July,” Williams said. “We just want to do our part to make sure our businesses and residents are ready for hosting the World Series.”
With less than three months left, the City of Laurel is finalizing its plans for the national event, which is expected to attract thousands of spectators and players.
People from various facets of the community are working together to make the visitors’ trip to Laurel in August a memorable occasion.
“This is going to be a big event for the community,” said Laurel’s Parks and Recreation Director Elvin Ulmer. “We want them to enjoy and remember their time here in Laurel.”
Officials said the series is about more than baseball.
Ulmer said the theme for the series is W.O.W.
“We wanted a theme that will depict the type of event we are hosting, and W.O.W. is it,” he said. “W.O.W. stands for World Series Of World Series. That’s what we are going to host, the best World Series.
“When people come to Laurel we want people to say ‘W.O.W.’,” Ulmer said. “Our goal is to make Laurel’s hosting the best of the best.”
Ulmer said teams will begin arriving on Friday, Aug. 6, with the opening ceremony that night at the R.H. Watkins Stadium. He said the opening ceremony will include a fireworks display.
“Hotels and the community will play a big part in this project,” Ulmer told the group Tuesday. “This is about more than just a World Series.”
Officials said the World Series is a great tool to promote Laurel and Jones County.
Wilkerson said tourism can have “a great economic impact for a community.”
O’Toole said “tourism is a $6 million industry in the state of Mississippi.”
Wilkerson said visitors accounted for more than $48 million for Jones County in the 2008 fiscal year.
“$48,078,771 was collected from visitor expenditures right here in Jones County,” she said. “There’s 710 people in Jones County employed in the tourism and hospitality industry. ... And Tourism capital investments in Jones County for the Fiscal Year 2008 was more than $1.1 million.
“This is a great event for Laurel and the state of Mississippi,” Wilkerson said.
Ulmer said a lot of work has been done at the Laurel Sportsplex located off Highway 84 in preparation for the World Series.
According to plans, Ulmer said, Dixie Youth officials will be meeting at the Laurel Country Club throughout that week, while baseball games will begin on Saturday at Laurel’s Sportsplex.
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