Happy travelers are such a joy! Meet Dean and Cathy King from Adelaide. They went to Washington and New York where they caught this Holland America cruise to Canada. They said the entertainment director outlined the demographics: 110 Aussies, 700 or so Canadians, 700 or so Americans, many countries represented by 10+ passengers and 13 New Zealanders, “to be precise.” They were squaring away their plans in Cruiseport until an 11:45AM tour to Rockport, and later walking downtown Gloucester. Their friends signed up for an 8AM tour. I spent time in Adelaide and loved it. I hope they have as great a time here, and memorable trip all around.
Before reaching Cruiseport, passengers like the Kings are shuttled ashore by tender boats.
The tenders hold more people than you think!
As they came ashore they were greeted with soaring vocals of Three Sheets to the Wind.
What a reception! Many visitors stopped to take their photo.
Passengers stream upstairs to happy greeters.
The lines ebb and flow with every tender.
Maps and brochures are selected as passengers head outside to enjoy a day in Gloucester and Cape Ann.
Volunteers like Peter Webber, Kathie Gilson, Lorre Anderson, Charlene, Linn, Jeanne, and Elizabeth helping passengersCATA trolley route
HarborWalk map is popular
Happy helpful greeting at the CATA table. How could it be otherwise–Heidi Dallin!
Passengers heading downtown on the CATA trolley while others stand waiting for a CATA scenic bus.
Unidentified American artist, “It’s good to be on a well-run ship, Holland America Line,” mid 20th century, ink on paper, gift of Stephen S Lash, 2010, collection of Peabody Essex Museum. The museum is featuring the art of Ocean Liners: glamour, speed, and style on view May-October 2017
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The annual Discover Gloucester holiday and awards party was held today at Latitude 43. A delightful luncheon was served followed by the award presentation. A stellar group of Gloucester can-do citizens was in attendance and it was a pleasure and honor to be amongst so many who have dedicated themselves to doing tremendous good for our community, especially where so much of their work is done behind the scenes and goes unsung. Thanks to Joey for suggesting that I cover the event for Good Morning Gloucester. He wished so much that he could be there to honor Kay, Bob, and the Mayor but it’s that time of year when work at the dock is nonstop.
A rising tide lifts all boats!
Mayor Sefatia Romeo Thekan was awarded the Discover Gloucester Heritage Award, which recognizes a person, business or organization that works towards ensuring that our maritime and cultural heritage remains current and relevant.
Bob Ryan, owner of Ryan and Wood Distilleries was awarded the Golden Sou’Wester Award, recognizing a person, business or organization that has jumped into tourism to add a new dimension to Gloucester’s diverse destination.
Kay Ellis, co-owner of the Schooner Thomas E. Lannon received the “Good On ‘Ya” Award, which recognizes a person or organization that has helped create a destination that is a wonderful place to visit and to live.
Back row left to right: Martin Klugman, Joe Novello, Jim Flint, Terry Sands, Barry McKay, and John McElhenny
Front row left to right: Maggie Rosa, Linn Parisi, Donna Ardizonni, and Ann Straccia
To receive a Gloucester Citizenship Awards is a very special honor and it is truly only bestowed upon the most deserving. At the award ceremony last night the love and positive energy had by family and friends for these outstanding Gloucester citizens was palpable. Melissa Cox presenting Donna’s award, and sharing a funy story about removing dead seagulls from the beach.
Here at GMG we are very proud of all the recipients, but especially, especially proud that our own Donna Ardizonni was nominated for her good work with the One Hour at a Time Gang. We are very proud too of our GMG super FOB and friend John McElhenny for his stellar job in spearheading the Burnham’s Field improvements and in turning it into a gorgeous new community playground, garden, and park.
Mike English Honoring Terry Sands
On a personal note, I am also very proud that a very dear friend, Terry Sands, is one of this year’s honorees, for his extraordinary work directing (along with his co-director Mary Curtis) the fabulous Annisquam Village Players, for the past TWENTY- SEVEN YEARS!
Kay Ellis Honoring Linn Parisi for her work with Discover Gloucester
Each winner was honored by a friend or colleague and it was wonderful to learn about the roles they have played in making our beautiful community all the more beautiful. Gloucester is a very special place to call home and it is people like this year’s 2014 Citizenship Award recipients that make our city profoundly unique and, simply awesome! Our most heartfelt congratulations to the 2014 Citizenship Award winners!!!
Jim Flint for his work with the Lanesville Community Center
Marty Krugman for the Schooner Adventure
Joe Novello for the Saint Peter’s Fiesta
Barry McKay for the Rose Baker Senior Center
Maggie Rosa for City Hall Restoration and the Gloucester Educational Foundation
Anne Straccia’s Rescue Beagle Ellie
McElhenny Family
AVP Family
Sefatia Romeo Thekan and Ann Margaret Ferrante
Sefatia for Terry!
Donna and Rick and Family
Sefatia and Terry
McElhenny Family and AVP Family
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CHURCH TO HONOR TEN RESIDENTS FOR VOLUNTEER SERVICE
On Sunday, May 4, the Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church will present Citizenship Awards to ten dedicated citizens (and one dog) for their selfless volunteer efforts on behalf of our city.
This year’s awardees will be Donna Ardizzoni, for her One Hour at a Time weekly cleanup efforts; Jim Flint, for spearheading the renovation and renewal of the Lanesville Community Center; Martin Krugman, for leading the restoration of the schooner Adventure; John McElhenny, for improvements to Burnham’s Field; Barry McKay, for his volunteer work at the Rose Baker Senior Center; Joe Novello, for helming the annual St. Peter’s Fiesta and keeping other traditions alive; Linn Parisi, for attracting tourism through Discover Gloucester; Maggie Rosa, for her work with the Gloucester Education Foundation and the preservation of City Hall; Terry Sands, for 23 years of musical theater productions at the Annisquam Village Players; and Ann Straccia and her rescue beagle, Ellie, for providing support and companionship to homeless people at the Grace Center.
The winners were nominated not just by members of the church but by individuals and organizations throughout the city. The final decision was made by the church’s Social Justice Committee. Many winners have no idea who nominated them and will not find out until they arrive at the ceremony.
The ceremony, which is informal, begins at 4 p.m. in the church sanctuary at the corner of Church and Middle Streets, with a reception downstairs in the church vestry to follow. Both floors are handicapped accessible. The event is open to all free of charge; freewill donations will be gratefully accepted. Sponsors of the program include Rockport National Bank, Cape Ann Savings Bank, Santander Bank, Jim’s Bagel & Bake Shop, The Dress Code, MAC Fitness, BankGloucester, and Dunkin’ Donuts.
Donna Ardizzoni
John McElhenny
Joe Novello
Ann Straccia
Martin Krugman
Jim Flint
Terry Sands
Maggie Rosa
Linn Parisi
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GloucesterCast With Lowell Peabody, Kim Smith and Host Joey Ciaramitaro Taped 4/22/14
Topics Include: Gloucester MA, 01930, Happy Earth Day, Lowell Peabody, Kim Smith, 2014 UU Church Citizenship Award Winners- Donna Ardizzoni, Jim Flint, Martin Krugman, John McElhenny, Barry McKay, Joe Novello, Linn Parisi, Maggie Rosa, Terry Sands, Ann Straccia and her rescue beagle Ellie, Gloucester Strong Day At The Hive, Patti Amaral, Rose LoPiccolo, Dog Off Leash Article In GDT, James Niedzinski, Pot Farm In Essex, Arianna MacNeill, Over/Under Time Before Pot Farm Gets Approved, Over/Under Time Before Pot Dispensary Gets Opened, Phantom Illness, iPad vs iPad mini, Monoprice IPS Monitor A Tremendous Value, Petit Robert, The Franklin Lamb Chops, Grilled Brussel Sprouts, La casa de Luis, Montreal Spicy Steak Seasoning, Kim Smith PSwallowtail Movie In Lowell Eco Movie Festival, Palazolas Sporting Goods Baseball Cap Collection, Kim’s Daughter Liv Fair Weather Bostonian, Kim Does Not Know What Year Her Daughter Graduated, Liv’s New Blog,
Topics Include: Discover Gloucester, Social Media and Wholesale Travel, Travel Trade Shows, Gloucester Land Transportation Opportunities, Newport Rhode Island Bus Transfer Station, Tourism Complementing The Fishing Industry and Vice Verse, Steve Douglass Water Taxi- A Great Take, King Eider, Bev, The Studio, Downtown Parking, The Amount Of People Who Thought That Rogers Street Was Gloucester’s Main Street, Lighting The Side Streets To Main Street, Life Is Good, Toodeloos, Hours On Main Street, Seafood Trail, Mass Office Of Travel and Tourism, Farm To Table…Really? , North Of Boston Tourism Bureau, Linn Uses Google, Nothing Like Fresh Fish, Cape Ann Museum Closed Through Mid August, Discover Gloucester Visitor Guide, Waterfronts In Newport Vs Gloucester, Oldest Working Fishing Port, Death Row Sub- Destinos Bomb With Pickles and Tomatoes, Seaport Grille Beet Salad, Seaport Grille Desserts, Chococoa, Newburyport Farmer’s Market, Gloucester’s Restaurant Community, St Joseph’s and St Patrick’s Day, St Joseph’s Pasta, linn@seaportgloucester.org
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I thought GMG readers would appreciate this blast from the past seen today in The Yarmouth County (Nova Scotia) Vanguard newspaper. 45 years later: We’re still waiting. Think it will ever happen?!
Linn
45 YEARS AGO
The latest on a proposed second ferry service between Nova Scotia and New England was that Gloucester, Massachusetts, still might be the American destination for the new ferry, although Portsmouth, New Hampshire, seemed a likelier candidate, the Vanguard reported in its Oct. 9, 1968 edition. The Nova Scotia port for the service had yet to be announced officially, the paper said, but it looked like Yarmouth would get it, given the terminal facilities already in place here and the town’s location vis-à-vis the highways to the valley and south shore. The new ship was being built in Sweden.
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What are your duties at your job and do you use twitter as a tool for your job?
Although what I do is like having two full time jobs, I don’t really have a "job" with Discover Gloucester. I’m in an unpaid position, as everyone involved with Discover Gloucester is. Crazy, huh?!
Some of the work I’ve taken on for the past 5.5 years includes attending trade shows and sales missions to meet with wholesale buyers of travel; attending tourism-related meetings, seminars, etc. around the State; planning out the marketing initiatives that Discover Gloucester takes on i.e. the Visitor Guide (working on our 5th!), our new website, the new Seafood Trail, co-operative advertising and co-operative booth sharing at area consumer shows, and way more than you want me to list here. No wonder I’m tired!
I do use Twitter- a lot- in the outreach work I do to get more visitors to come here. I only Tweet for Discover Gloucester, not personally. Some would say- as they did at yesterday’s Discover Gloucester Annual Meeting- that I Tweet to the degree that I talk, lol. Can you imagine if I Tweeted personally?!
Why do you think you are follow worthy on Twitter?
I don’t outright sell when I tweet. I try to get interesting, quirky Gloucester/Rockport/Essex tidbits & images out there that will entice & inform the readers so maybe they’ll want to take a look at us as a destination. Or not. Sometimes I post something just because it’s interesting/entertaining to me, and I figure it might be to someone else, too. I make my Tweets conversational- not business-like. Ryan Pinkham (whom I remember as a Kindergartner on up through Beeman School 🙂 had a fab post today re: the importance of the human and human-ness behind the Tweet. I completely agree. It’s all about the back and forth of a conversation.
What types of tweets or twitter user drive you up a wall?
Posting a facebook link, by itself, makes me wonder why they bothered to link fb to Twitter. Tweets with no reference to what or where the event is make me crazy, like "Two-fer deal going on at Larry’s!" Who is Larry; where is Larry; and what’s Larry’s deal- and why should we care?
Linn Parisi from Discover Gloucester swung by the dock with Christian Heed. An incredible photographer who travels the globe photographing for big time publications.
Linn regularly guides influential travel writers around Gloucester with her FAM tours designed to give these writers a great sense of what our community is all about!
Discover Gloucester’s been hosting many familiarization tours (FAMs) for journalists, tour operators and agents- getting great exposure for our destination. The latest: Saveur Magazine folks will be here Friday re: seafood- woot!- and two Germans are arriving on Sunday. They’ll attend the Harbor Walk dedication at Gus Foote Park, and then walk the Walk before going on a schooner sail, among other fun things. What’s not to like, right?!
We’ve been slinging out Discover Gloucester Visitor Guides like crazy (Thanks Lia, Daphne and Pat!) with only 12k of the original 100k left! Businesses can still sign out Visitor Guides in bags of 50 at the Stage Fort Park Visitor Welcoming Center, which is open 7 days a week, 10A-6P.
A few of our Board members were on the ad hoc committee that made recommendations to rewrite the City’s Tourism Commission ordinance. A public hearing re: the new ordinance is coming up at City Hall- stay tuned!
Here’s a few pictures from a recent evening on the terrace at the Beauport Sleeper-McCann House on Eastern Point- fabulous!
Homie and RD will really relate to one of them 🙂
Hopefully Gloucester residents know they get FREE admission to daily Beauport tours…. How sweet is that?! If you haven’t been- Go!
Their Nooks & Crannies Tours (August 25 and September 15) offer fascinating peeks into spaces not open to daily tours. Reserve now, too, for the always-sold-out Brilliant Beauport Tour at twilight on 9/27. You’ve got to see Beauport at night!
Gloucester is getting a lot of exposure from all the familiarization tours (FAMs) that have been here lately-and they’re still arriving! Some of them are sent here by MOTT- the MA Office of Travel & Tourism- via the North of Boston CVB (Convention & Visitor Bureau), and some are generated by PR for Gloucester, via Matter Communication – thanks John McElhenney!
The week before last we had a the UK Travel Channel crew here filming for their show, and last Sunday an Italian TV RAI 3 crew was here.
This coming mid-week, there will be four different FAMs here- and it’s all good for Gloucester.
Thanks to all the accommodations, attractions and dining establishments who host and welcome these valuable FAMs!
You’re probably wondering why the re-run of your fabulous photo of lobsters?
Because tomorrow, June 15, is NATIONAL LOBSTER DAY!
Over 40 restaurants on the island to get your lobster fix…. and if you want to cook ’em and have your own feastat home like my Father in Law will as our gift on Father’s Day, then you get ’em at Capt. Joe & Sons!
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Fancy meeting you at the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Lock Up fundraiser at LobstaLand yesterday!
Pilar Garro from the Beauport Sleeper-McCann house on Eastern Point (which is open for the season, btw) recommended that I get "arrested" for the truly good cause- Thanks, Pilar!
I had a great time at the event. The best part is that so many friends and family members contributed to my "bail" ahead of my being "arrested" that I didn’t have to make phone calls. Thanks to all who donated to help put a halt to this horrible disease. We raised nearly $2400!
Thanks to Corey and his crew at LobstaLand for hosting the event and feeding all the participants.
The pics attached are of me being served my warrant by Manny Simoes’ nephew, Officer Simoes; getting into the police car to be driven to the Lock Up (my first and last time in the back seat of a cruiser :); yours truly behind bars; Pam Macaurelle from CruisePort making desperate calls for bail; and Joey bringing Pam a bail check. Too fun!
The last and totally unrelated picture is a UK Travel Channel TV show called "American Times" filming the star/host, Julian, eating a lobster in the rough at Roy Moore’s on Bearskin Neck- in the pouring rain on Monday. Everything we tried to do that day for their show, which was about fish & fishing, lobsters & lobstering, was derailed due to the nor’easter. Not a fish to be found in the City; too rough to go out on the water. They managed to get enough footage done, but it took us hours and we were drenched and cold at the end of the long day.
Thanks to all of the Discover Gloucester partners who tried to help during the day, and did help to get the job done.
Another TV show film crew will be here on Sunday. This one is from Italy, RAI 3- like our PBS channel 2.
This time the media FAM is about art, culture and history. Hopefully, no rain on Sunday- please?!
Kay Ellis and I had a great time Monday night at the Boston Concierge trade show at the Park Plaza Castle connecting with all the hotel Concierges who send visitors out to have fun and adventures. We were there to let them know all the fabulous things to do and eat here, and that we’re just a short car or train ride away from Boston.
We met many Concierges who want to come check out our destination for themselves, and we will make that happen.
These pics are from our booth. One is of a quirky homegrown way to get the Concierge to interact with us. It involved red Solo cups and a ship’s wheel- and it worked!
Wait til you all see the cover of the 2012 Discover Gloucester Visitor Guide! One of Gloucester’s amazing photographers- whom your fobs know and love- took the fabulous shot. You’ll see it at the May 10 Visitor Guide debut at the new Castle Manor Inn on Essex Avenue. Deets to follow!
Discover Gloucester’s next Mug Up Meeting is next Thursday, April 26, 8:30AM at Heath’s Tea Room, 43 South Street in Rockport. Owners Fatima & Brian Heath, their daughter Kim and her husband Mike O’Donnell will be serving up freshly baked scones and a hot cuppa in their very lovely setting while we chat about "Becoming Visitor Ready and Visual Intrusions"- important topics as we jump into the season. RSVP to info@seaportgloucester.org 25 Gloucester tourism folks met with the City Council’s Ordinance & Administration sub-committee at City Hall on Tuesday evening for a workshop on the new Tourism Commission ordinance. Great brainstorming, lots of information exchanged- all good, forward motion. An ad hoc committee will work on the actual writing of the new ordinance- stay tuned!
And- Save this date: May 10, 6PM, for the 2012 Discover Gloucester Visitor Guide debut party, being held at the new Castle Manor Inn on Essex Avenue. Both the new Visitor Guide andthe Castle Manor Inn look fabulous- can’t wait for you to see them!
Joey- Thanks for the chance to catch up on some of the past couple of month’s pictures I’ve wanted to share. The first pic is from February 28, taken at the Cape Ann Brewing Company: Jeremy Goldberg gave Steve Borichevsky (Shooting My Universe) a fabulously framed Fisherman’s Brew carton & Award for winning the photo contest for the new carton design. I was happy to meet & chat with Steve. I’ve loved his amazing work for quite a while… ditto for Fisherman’s Brew. It’s great having Cape Ann Brewing as a Discover Gloucester partner.
The second and third pics are from the AAA Travel Marketplace held at Gillette Stadium March 2-4. Over the 3 day show, we interacted with 2200 potential visitors. Bob from Ryan & Wood and Paul Frontierro, 7 Seas Whale Watch set up the booth and worked it for a few hours. Bob just loved wearing the sou’wester, heh heh…
I want to share these invitations, too-
The Ordinance & Administration Committee of the City Council, chaired by Councilor Romeo-Theken, has invited all Gloucester tourism business professionals to give their input re: rewriting the City’s Tourism Commission Ordinance at a Workshop on Tuesday, April 17, 6PM at Kyrouz Auditorium, City Hall. This is your chance to be heard as to what you feel the City should undertake in the way of planning the work and working the plan for tourism in Gloucester, so show up and speak up.
&
Save the Date: Discover Gloucester Mug Up Meeting, April 26, 8:30AM at the lovely Heath’s Tea Room, 43 South Street in Rockport. Join us for a cuppa (tea or coffee) and a freshly baked scone while we chat about Customer Caring & Visual Intrusions- both timely subjects as we get into the busy season. RSVP info@seaportgloucester.org
Linn Parisi Discover Gloucester
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A team of Discover Gloucester partners just got back from attending the four day Discover New England Summit for the 4th time, held this year at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston. I’m happy to say that it went very well with lots of interest in visiting Gloucester. This trade show is appointment based where International tour companies (Buyers) meet with and learn about destinations, local accommodations and attractions (Sellers). There were five of us from Gloucester, the best representation we’ve had so far, and I couldn’t be more proud of the great job that the team did talking up all the reasons for travelers to come here for their holiday from Europe, South America and Asia. The international tour companies put together what they learn here and create vacation packages and itineraries that they sell to individuals in their countries. Our job was to pitch all the great things about our area and how they fit into the overall vacation experience starting with their flight into Boston. The buyers said they want a real New England experience – and what’s more real than Gloucester?
We did particularly well with companies from Italy, Germany, Norway and Japan. If you’ve seen the news of the new Boeing 787 coming to Boston you know Japan Airlines begins their non-stop flights from Tokyo to Boston on April 22, which will offer new adventures in New England for the Asian market. We got to attend a seminar to learn how to work with Japanese travelers. Did you know: They want to come here to learn about our culture, so trying to replicate a Japanese breakfast – poorly – would be offensive. They want to experience a good American breakfast – even though they might not eat any of it! Food portions should be cut in half. They would much rather have a small “perfect” lobster roll than a big overflowing roll. Two beds are a must, even for honeymooners.
I was talking with a Japanese woman at an appointment and she mentioned Gloucester’s relationship with our Japanese sister city Tomano. I was impressed! She then said “And we work with Robert, Why Not?” Of course, I’m thinking – yeah, why not? While we were waiting to go to the MFA for an evening event, another American helpfully said to a small group of Japanese Buyers “The ducks are here to bring us to the event!”. That took a few moments to translate and we had a good laugh. Once we got there, I could hear Pilar Garro from Beauport Museum, whose fabulous laugh you can hear from a mile away. Turns out she was showing others the silver pieces donated to the MFA by Henry Sleeper, who owned the Beauport mansion. Way to go, Henry! We’re all still trying to figure out what’s behind the name of one Italian tour company name: “Quiiky”!
I’m extremely pleased that contracts are being written between DNE Summit Buyers and Discover Gloucester partners right now, building on recent and past exposure at this trade show. Many companies will be including Gloucester and the area in itineraries for their clients. Woot!
On Sunday before the trade show began I was showing a rep from Germany around Gloucester, She’s looking for another accommodation to recommend to her clients. I showed her a couple, and then drove her by the Birdseye site and she said “Now you’re talking!” She wants a hotel where people can walk to dining, shopping and things to do.
Another company’s rep I spoke with, who knows Gloucester well, jumped up out of her seat to high five me when I told her that Gloucester might be getting a new hotel.
Discover Gloucester partners are working very hard to promote our amazing area to people beyond our amazing area. We are entering our 5th year and it’s great to see the efforts paying off.
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From Linn Parisi, Discover Gloucester Director, with thanks to Joey!
Joey generously asked if I’d want to share info about Discover Gloucester (aka Seaport Gloucester DMO or Destination Marketing Organization) in a weekly post. After a second of thought, I decided to tell readers some of what the volunteer based organization has been doing: Outreach beyond Gloucester to get visitors to come here and spend money while enjoying all the cool things we have here to see, do, eat, and buy.
The most recent Discover Gloucester outreach adventure:
3/2-4/2012: Co-op booth at the 3 day AAA Marketplace consumer show at Gillette Stadium’s Putnam East.
12 wonderful and enthusiastic partners helped man the booth in shifts.
18 local tourism businesses partnered with Discover Gloucester in the booth.
800 whale watch pins were handed out.
1937 consumers entered our raffle for 2 Discover Gloucester weekend packages and sets of whale watch tickets.
2200 Discover Gloucester Visitor Guides were handed out with partner brochures and an incentive offer flier.
17,000 consumers who can easily drive here for a day or more, attended the show.
2013: A double booth!
Next week: Report on attending The 3/25-28/12 Discover New England Summit, an International trade show.
This summer, my husband and I were lucky landlubbers – lucky enough to land on Massachusett’s Seafood Trail, one of those culinary road trips that dreams are made of. Just north of Boston, the Seafood Trail (unofficial slogan: "all seafood, all the time"), serves up everything you can imagine, from crispy fried clams, oysters, and fish ‘n chips to rich, lip-smacking chowder, steamers and mussels. From casual meals fresh off the boats to romantic four-star dinners, it can all be had here. In truth there’s so much amazing food along the Seafood Trail you could take a week to experience it all. We did our best to pack in as much as we could in a single day.We started in Gloucester, dubbed America’s Oldest Seaport and founded in 1623. It’s a tight-knit town that’s seen more than 10,000 of its souls perish while fishing on the plentiful seas, among them the men of the Andrea Gail, whose story was captured in the movie The Perfect Storm (which was also filmed here). A monument honouring those brave men takes pride of place along the seaside promenade leading into the town centre, and the seafaring tradition carries on today. So before we got cracking on the lobster, we wanted to meet some of the locals. One local light, Clarence Birdseye, invented his flash freezing technique in Gloucester, and went on to fame and fortune. Fast forward to today and Gloucester is still a working fishing village, not a replica of something from the past. While Birdseye’s methods are still in use, we were curious to see the inner workings of the seafood industry today. First stop was Steve Connolly Seafood where we met up with foreman Romeo Solviletti. It’s a busy place, where fish was being gutted and filleted and lobsters cooked in huge pots, before being sent off to grateful diners – from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. Soviletti showed us a 14-pound lobster that he said was more than 100 years old. It looked like it belonged on the Seafood counter at Harrod’s, but Solviletti told us what happens to a lot of these monsters: "At Christmas, people come in and buy the biggest lobster they can get and set it free in the harbour. It’s a tradition for some people, and to be honest, you’re better off eating a smaller, younger lobster anyhow." Our mouths were watering by this time, but we wanted to do a little more exploring. So we went to Joey’s place. One of Gloucester’s biggest boosters, Joey Ciaramitaro has run the Good Morning Gloucester blog for years, and has built the Web’s largest collection of mutant lobster photos, one blue lobster pic at a time. If you want to tap into what’s happening around town, you’ll find no better place. And if you want fresh lobster, straight off the boat, head to Joey’s dock and he’ll weigh it in for you with a huge smile. Extra bonus? Joey’s unvarnished opinions on the best seafood restaurants this side of Boston. Follow his advice and you won’t go wrong. His tip on lobster rolls: "Never, never put
Henry Allen has taken the space that used to house The Blackburn Tavern and turned it into a cultural activity center in which he has so much stuff going on it would make your head spin. Henry’s deal is a whole ‘nother post- or ten posts.
Anyway in his space the Gloucester Destination Marketing organization led by Linn Parisi invited Art Haven director and good egg Dawn Gadow and I to come and give a presentation on Social media for tourism related business.
There was a good amount of people that showed up of all levels of sophistication as far as the web goes and how to use it but most of the folks that attended would probably admit that they are in the dark about how to use such things as twitter and Facebook to promote their business or organization. After all that was why most showed up.
The key observation from the meeting to me was that the biggest obstacle for people getting started is some type of fear that they are going to somehow screw up and it is somehow too complicated.
Now I don’t know that I’m any kind of “Guru” on this stuff as Linn tabbed me in the promotional material but if anyone considers me somewhat competent at blogging or tweeting they should know that I only started three years ago. Granted I am intensely committed to GMG and learning the ways to make it better and push the boundaries further but I didn’t know about any of this stuff three years ago.
You want to know how I got started? I didn’t take a class or go to college in it. I’m a dumb ass lobster dealer for Christ’s sake. I just signed up for a free blog account on WordPress and filled in the blanks where they asked questions like username and password. If there was something I got stuck on I didn’t call a help desk, I clicked on the support button that allows you to type in a question or keyword and they give you the answers. Trial and error and tweaking and reading feedback and looking at statistics to see what worked and what didn’t. It didn’t cost a dime initially.
So I started out the presentation talking about Trip Advisor and a story about how when we went to St Lucia we used Trip Advisor to determine what activities we were going to do on our vacation. The number one thing listed in the area of St Lucia where we were staying was this Segway tour. The Segway tour was lots of fun and at the end of it the tour guides reminded us a couple times very subtly that if we enjoyed ourselves to please leave a good review on Trip Advisor. It was brilliant. It cost the tour operators nothing, and it boosted their tour to the number one spot on an international widely used travel site-Trip Advisor. You can’t pay for that type of positive exposure in the tourism industry.
The point was that all kinds of people are using social media to get their message out there and if you aren’t then your competition has a huge leg up on you.
I spoke about twitter but really Facebook is the monster right now. It is taking over the way people communicate world wide. The numbers are astounding. Ideally if you own a business, you have a Facebook page where you upload photos or post specials or interesting stories about what is going on in your industry. Then you link your Facebook page to your twitter account so every time you post to Facebook, the title and link back to your Facebook page gets listed on your twitter timeline. Also when you post you should include keywords or hashtags so that search engines will pick up those areas of interest and like minded people or potential customers can find your information.
You don’t want to be perceived as spammy and just continually beat people over the head with products you are trying to sell. Being somewhat funny helps and when you create a Facebook update or Tweet, try to think of the end user and make it worth their while to read what you are writing. People love visuals. Pictures can be taken with any new smartphone and uploaded directly to twitter or Facebook in mere seconds.
Here are examples I would use in each industry off the top of my head
Whale Watch-
every day the naturalist or captain takes a 20 second to 2 minute clip of whales breaching and uploads it to Facebook. Your customers, people that love whales would have a reason to come back to your page every single day. you will be present in their consciousness and when they are sitting around with their thumbs up their ass trying to figure out what to do in August because they’ve already been to the beach 30 times it might just click with them, hey, lets go on a whale watch. I saw this cool video and every single day you get to see these real like monsters of the ocean just yards away from you. Boom! Sales!
Video gets uploaded to Facebook and linked to twitter account
Restaurants-
Daily specials, pictures of any new dishes and new seasonal menus posted to to Facebook with a direct automatic link to Twitter. See The Farm Bar and Grille, or Minglewood Tavern for very successful Social media campaigns. The farm Bar and Grille has over 2200 Facebook followers. That means every day when they talk about 35 cent wing night on Thursdays every one of those 2200 followers gets reminded. Not to mention their twitter followers. Now even if they only converted 10% of those people into customers isn’t that an incredible bang???
Deep Sea Fishing-
Every Trip a mate or Captain takes a photo of the largest fish caught that day with the person that caught it holding it up and post it to their Facebook page. Believe me when I tell you that everyone loves to see their picture taken with a huge fish. You hand a sheet of paper to each passenger as they leave the ship with your Facebook page web address and tell them to look for pictures from that day. I am fucking telling you, you will have an incredible amount of people checking out your page from the customers and family members that they want to brag to all their friends about the huge fish they caught and forward the pictures to them. Link the Facebook page to the twitter account for automatic updating. If any unusual fish are caught highlight those. If you have some regular funny customers do little video clips with them that are like testimonials as to what keeps bringing them back to your deep sea fishing operation. also fishing reports as to what kinds of fish is being caught.
Artisans-
Any new works, several updates as to the work in various stages of completion. Any art shows that the artist will be showing at or local events. Links to twitter account automatically.
It was great to get to talk to these folks. I hope we made an impact as if you’ve been reading these pages you know I’m committed to getting people involved in promoting all the cool stuff going on in our city. I told these fine folks that once they get themselves set up with accounts that I would highlight them here on these pages as an incentive to get off their ass and make that first step. So expect to see more promoting of local twitteratti soon.
You gotta start somewhere. Take the leap into the Cape Ann Social media pond, the water’s just fine.
I know most people don’t give a crap about yarn but please listen to Robert talk about his success at local yarn shop Coveted Yarn which has a global reach and how social media has helped him gain instant sales for no money at all-
Please watch the video and if nothing else from the five minute mark when he talks about how big Facebook is for his business and how it has led to his recent expansion.
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My Receptive business, Over the Bridge Tours of Cape Ann, has been using sou’westers as a brand for Gloucester
for several years. I wear a sou’wester whenever I meet a group coming into town; I pass them out as prizes; I build
them into itineraries that I plan ie. all 130 USS McCaffery Reunion attendees got a sou’wester when they were in Gloucester
last Wednesday for the day.
I’ve made sou’westers available to visitors, particularly recent Eurodam cruise ship passengers.
Mayor Kirk has a supply of them to hand out to visiting dignitaries as well.
As the Director of Discover Gloucester, the Seaport Gloucester Destination Marketing Organization- a volunteer effort to get visitors to come to our area-
I’ve been able to extend the exposure for Gloucester and our sou’westers to the travel & tourism trade shows I attend around the country. We continue to tell the story of the sou’wester in the Discover Gloucester Visitor Guide and get the story out there at every opportunity we can.
My objective has been to have the sou’wester become part of the branding of Gloucester- and clearly, it’s working!
Thanks to the CATA folks for furthering the promotion of the brand!
Sou’ westers can be purchased at The Cape Ann Brewery; The Weathervane on Main Street; The General Store on 7 Seas Wharf; Palazola’s on Main Street (they’ve been selling them for years to GHS fans to wear at games- Go GHS!) and at Nelson’s on Main Street.
If there are other retailers out there selling them- let us know.
Good Morning Gloucester 