Nick Lewis
Tourism is important to Madison County’s economy and Acres of Land Winery is just one of the many tools available to entice tourists to come and spend a day or two with us. And when they come, they spend money important to economic vitality.
Wineries have a special aura about them and people locally, but more importantly visitors from everywhere and all walks of life are drawn to them. Tourists want to experience what wineries have to offer as well as the beautiful scenery that usually surrounds them. Wineries also have more to offer than just wine and Acres of Land Winery is no different.
Recently, I took some friends visiting from Huntington, W.Va., to dinner there. They were impressed and I believe a little jealous of what we have that they don’t. We do have something special to help grow our tourism industry, but we are not taking full advantage of every tool in our tool box. Wine sales on Sunday at Acres of Land needs to be added to the tool box.
Although the winery is special place, and as wineries go, has a certain mystique of attracting people any day of the week, Acres of Land is at a competitive disadvantage because of the county’s dry policy on Sunday. We need to give every tourist traveling Interstate 75 every incentive possible to spend their money in Madison County.
The current dry policy is limiting our opportunities to grow tourism on one of the most important days of the week. However, the community and Madison Fiscal Court have the opportunity to change that. On Tuesday, the fiscal court will conduct a public hearing on this issue and I encourage all interested citizens to attend.
Based on the outcome of the public forum, the fiscal court will have a decision to make. For many citizens, including members of the fiscal court, selling alcoholic beverages any time is very emotional and controversial, but more so on Sunday as we found out in Richmond last year. However, this issue is much different because it is specific to wineries which help drive tourism and the local economy.
The fiscal court also needs to consider whether our present policy is a deterrent for future growth of wineries in Madison County and the opportunities they will bring. Also, do we want to limit our opportunities for growing tourism in an extremely challenging economy just because it’s an emotional issue? And furthermore, those in opposition need to understand how the wet policy has been vital in bringing eateries, jobs and revenue to Richmond and Madison County.
Another thing to consider is that retail shopping traffic is very dependent on restaurants, especially those that sell alcoholic beverages. So consider this, if Richmond and Madison County were still dry … would the restaurants we patronize as well as the Richmond Centre we will shop at exist today?
As the fiscal court evaluates the results of the public forum, I urge them to approach this issue strictly as an important tool needed to drive tourism. I believe we can all agree that growing tourism is vital to growing Madison County’s economy more now than ever. The fiscal court should realize this issue is really about driving tourism and nothing more.
Nick Lewis is publisher of the Richmond Register. He can be reached at nlewis@cnhi.com or 624-6682.
