City staff have organized a follow-up meeting to the community tourism forum in April that participants touted as widely successful due to the variety and volume of ideas presented to attract visitors – and money – to Morgan Hill.
The tourism follow-up is scheduled for 3 p.m. June 14 at Morgan Hill Cellars winery, located at 1645 San Pedro Ave.
The purpose of the upcoming forum is to continue the discussion that took place at the April 18 session which generated a list of “65 action items,” according to Morgan Hill Economic Development Manager Edith Ramirez. That forum was the first effort in recent memory to bring so many local and often otherwise competing interests together to devise a plan, strategy or idea to promote Morgan Hill as a destination for outsiders.
More than 80 people representing local restaurateurs, hotel managers, vintners, business owners, sports and recreation enthusiasts, City officials and others who stand to benefit from economic development attended the forum.
Ideas floated then included improving “cross promotion” of industries and events, developing a technology-based “community calendar,” re-opening the Granada Theater, a winery shuttle service and even an artificial wake-boarding park.
The purpose of the June 14 forum is to continue the discussion of those ideas and move toward a plan to implement them, City staff said.