New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Several local businesses have committed to supporting tourism in New Bedford, sponsoring a campaign for visiting New Bedford this summer. These businesses demonstrated a commitment to promoting the city, with two major investments including a new billboard advertising New Bedford and a sampler CD of local music to showcase the city’s arts, music and culture scene:
– The new billboard on I-195 westbound (an in-kind design by Design Principles, Inc., and sponsored by Skip’s Marine): Sponsors said it was important to promote Destination New Bedford’s new brand with a fresh, welcoming sign to thousands of daily travelers.
“My dad and I have always been big supporters of the city,” Ray Drouin, President of Skip’s Marine, said of the company founded by his father, Skip Drouin. “Our business has been involved with and supported by the seafood industry for over 55 years. We should all be proud to say that New Bedford is the #1 fishing port in the United States.”
– The Destination New Bedford Music sampler CD (sponsored by Whaling City Sound): the Office of Tourism and Marketing will sell the CD at a promotional price of $10 in its efforts to promote New Bedford as a leisure travel destination, and to market the city’s history, culture, shopping, dining, arts and entertainment locally, regionally and nationally.
“New Bedford is undergoing one of our periodic resurgences, this time energized by artists and the creative economy,” said Neal Weiss, President of Whaling City Sound. “The city’s extensive multi-cultural history carries the customs, celebrations and culinary traditions of many nations into the present, with the benefit that these gifts are now available to anyone who wants to visit. Whaling City Sound began issuing jazz CDs 20 years ago to bring talented area artists and others to a wider audience. Five #1 CDs on jazz radio and one Grammy nomination later, we have succeeded in spreading the names and music of our performers over the internet and airwaves worldwide. Jazz has a special place in New Bedford, and New Bedford has a special place in the jazz world. The city has provided a fertile ground for Whaling City Sound to grow and expand. We are honored to work with Destination New Bedford in bringing our message to the wider population, and to offer others a glimpse of what we have and cherish on a daily basis.”
“The businesses we worked with on these specialty projects are not typically looked at as tourism related businesses like attractions and cultural institutions, but these are businesses that are investing back into the community,” said Dagny Ashley, New Bedford’s director of tourism and marketing. “They see the importance of tourism as an economic generator and how that supports small businesses. It has been such a pleasure to work with Skip’s Marine, Design Principles, and Whaling City sound on these out-of-the-box creative initiatives that benefit our community.”
