The Scott County Chamber of Commerce has partnered with the Tennessee Dept. of Tourism and PopFizz to produce marketing materials for promoting Big South Fork, Brimstone, and our community’s businesses that cater to visitors of both.
A production team from Pop Fizz was in Scott County on Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 12-13, to work with a team of local volunteers who served as models for the video shoot. The team visited the Big South Fork and several businesses on Wednesday, and completed their tour of Scott County by visiting Brimstone on Thursday.
The opportunity was made possible through a grant from the Dept. of Tourism.
“To say we are appreciative is a vast understatement,” said Stacey Swann, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce. “We knew the team at PopFizz would be amazing, but our production team was especially talented.”
Based in Knoxville, PopFizz has worked with clients that include HGTV, Discover Channel, Travel Channel, Food Network and Ford Motor Company.
In addition to the Big South Fork and Brimstone, the production team visited Gather Coffee, The Black Cat Antiques & Collectables, and MaryBelle’s Ice Cream Shoppe. The video produced during PopFizz’s two-day visit will be used by the Chamber of Commerce for tourism marketing.
The team got started early Wednesday morning in the vicinity of Bandy Creek Visitor Center, where Joe Cross and AC Shilton helped showcase mountain biking. From there, they visited the East Rim area, where Nichole Newport, Sarah Dunlap, and Mike and Marsha Swain helped showcase hiking. Later in the afternoon, they visited the O&W Bridge area, where Leah Terry, a student at Oneida High School, helped showcase kayaking.
“We are so appreciative of the volunteers that were asked to be actors, and the hurry-and-waiting they had to do,” Swann said.
The visit from PopFizz is just the latest in Scott County’s beefed-up marketing efforts. Last month, the Chamber of Commerce hosted a travel writer from Blue Ridge Digest. The Chamber covered the writer’s lodging, food and venue admission, and Blue Ridge Digest will be publishing a feature story on the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area, Big South Fork Scenic Railway, Timber Rock Lodge, and Historic Scott County Jail. She also visited Charit Creek Lodge on a separate visit, and will be returning this winter to visit Brimstone.
“We are growing and our networking team is becoming large,” Swann said. “We have never seen so many of our members working together to promote one another. That is what the Chamber of Commerce is truly all about. We appreciate the teamwork, and we are so excited for the growth.”
In the near future, the Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a three-hour workshop for short-term rentals like those featured through AirBNB and VRBO. The workshop is by invitation and pre-registration only.
