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By Rebekah Elliott
brCassandra Vanhooser, director of the Talbot County Office ofbrTourism, is a natural born storyteller. The former travel writer joinedbrthe tourism office last February, after moving about 900 miles frombrher family’s dairy farm in Tennessee. Though her new responsibilitiesbraren’t quite the same as those of a journalist, she says the basicbrprinciple of storytelling still applies. As tourism director, Vanhooserbrhopes to discover the many different stories of Talbot County andbrcapture them in the best way possible. We recently sat down withbrher to chat a little about her transition into tourism and what she hasbrplanned for the future.br
It seems like you’re settling in well. How has the firstbryear been?
brIt’s the most incredibly busy, intense job in the world, but it’s alsobrso great. Talbot County just has so much going on. It’s a small officebrand there’s a lot to do, so it seems like every day just blows past. It’sbrjust amazing how much we’re able to do here with a small staff. Andbrwe have people from all over the world wanting to come here. It’sbra great honor when someone comes to your county, in this case, tobrspend their leisure dollars. We should consider it a real compliment.brThere’s a world of options when someone is choosing where tobrgo to spend their time off and their leisure money. They could gobranywhere; so it’s a huge honor when they decide to come here.
Tell me a little more about Talbot County as a travelbrdestination for international tourists.
brThe thing about Talbot County is its proximity to the nation’sbrcapital. We are a prime destination for international travelers. Whatbrwe have that is particularly appealing to international travelers isbrthat sense of the authentic, small town, rural America. Internationalbrtourists want to see what real America is, right? You’ve got the cities,brbut then there’s a whole lot of America that’s not cities and we’rebremblematic of that wholesome American experience.
What’s one of the major projects you’ve been working onbrsince taking over?
brI want an excellent website that tells the story of Talbot County. Ibrwould say it will take at least six months until we’re there, but webrare on our way to a new website. I would like for the website to be abrlittle bit more dynamic, so you don’t see the same thing every timebryou look at it. But it also needs to say where Talbot County is andbrwhat it means to be in Talbot County. When we get this websitebrredone and if it does what I’m picturing it to do, I’ll be very proudbrof that.
That sounds like a pretty daunting task. Is there anything elsebryou’re hoping to accomplish this year?
brWe’re adding a blog to the website. I will be blogging about TalbotbrCounty and I’ll be having guest bloggers join me. These things takebra lot of time to develop and this (the website) is our anchor, so we’rebrgoing to drop our anchor and then see what else we can do. I’d alsobrlove for us to have a lot more volunteers and I’d love to develop abrvolunteer program. But we’re going to drop our anchor first and thenbrbranch out from there.
It seems Talbot County is becoming increasingly well knownbrfor its restaurants. Is this something the tourism office isbrhelping to promote?
brBoth Maryland and Virginia are really pushing the states as culinarybrdestinations and we, of course—(former tourism director) DebbiebrDodson and now me—are positioning Talbot County as a culinarybrdestination. One of the reasons is that we have unique products thatbrare indigenous to our location; we have oysters and crabs. Whenbrpeople eat an oyster, they want to be as close to where that oysterbrcame from so that they can see how it got to them. That’s the bigbrmovement now—how did that food get to my plate? And we do thatbrextremely well.
If you had to pick your favorite thing about Talbot County,brwhat would it be?
brWell, I am partial to pretty. Every single day, I get to live in the placebrI consider one of the prettiest places in America, and that’s the truth.brYes, you find the beauty in the place where you are, but it just sobrhappens we’ve got a gracious plenty here. We are well and blessed inbrthat regard.
brCassandra Vanhooser, director of the Talbot County Office ofbrTourism, is a natural born storyteller. The former travel writer joinedbrthe tourism office last February, after moving about 900 miles frombrher family’s dairy farm in Tennessee. Though her new responsibilitiesbraren’t quite the same as those of a journalist, she says the basicbrprinciple of storytelling still applies. As tourism director, Vanhooserbrhopes to discover the many different stories of Talbot County andbrcapture them in the best way possible. We recently sat down withbrher to chat a little about her transition into tourism and what she hasbrplanned for the future.br
It seems like you’re settling in well. How has the firstbryear been?
brIt’s the most incredibly busy, intense job in the world, but it’s alsobrso great. Talbot County just has so much going on. It’s a small officebrand there’s a lot to do, so it seems like every day just blows past. It’sbrjust amazing how much we’re able to do here with a small staff. Andbrwe have people from all over the world wanting to come here. It’sbra great honor when someone comes to your county, in this case, tobrspend their leisure dollars. We should consider it a real compliment.brThere’s a world of options when someone is choosing where tobrgo to spend their time off and their leisure money. They could gobranywhere; so it’s a huge honor when they decide to come here.
Tell me a little more about Talbot County as a travelbrdestination for international tourists.
brThe thing about Talbot County is its proximity to the nation’sbrcapital. We are a prime destination for international travelers. Whatbrwe have that is particularly appealing to international travelers isbrthat sense of the authentic, small town, rural America. Internationalbrtourists want to see what real America is, right? You’ve got the cities,brbut then there’s a whole lot of America that’s not cities and we’rebremblematic of that wholesome American experience.
What’s one of the major projects you’ve been working onbrsince taking over?
brI want an excellent website that tells the story of Talbot County. Ibrwould say it will take at least six months until we’re there, but webrare on our way to a new website. I would like for the website to be abrlittle bit more dynamic, so you don’t see the same thing every timebryou look at it. But it also needs to say where Talbot County is andbrwhat it means to be in Talbot County. When we get this websitebrredone and if it does what I’m picturing it to do, I’ll be very proudbrof that.
That sounds like a pretty daunting task. Is there anything elsebryou’re hoping to accomplish this year?
brWe’re adding a blog to the website. I will be blogging about TalbotbrCounty and I’ll be having guest bloggers join me. These things takebra lot of time to develop and this (the website) is our anchor, so we’rebrgoing to drop our anchor and then see what else we can do. I’d alsobrlove for us to have a lot more volunteers and I’d love to develop abrvolunteer program. But we’re going to drop our anchor first and thenbrbranch out from there.
It seems Talbot County is becoming increasingly well knownbrfor its restaurants. Is this something the tourism office isbrhelping to promote?
brBoth Maryland and Virginia are really pushing the states as culinarybrdestinations and we, of course—(former tourism director) DebbiebrDodson and now me—are positioning Talbot County as a culinarybrdestination. One of the reasons is that we have unique products thatbrare indigenous to our location; we have oysters and crabs. Whenbrpeople eat an oyster, they want to be as close to where that oysterbrcame from so that they can see how it got to them. That’s the bigbrmovement now—how did that food get to my plate? And we do thatbrextremely well.
If you had to pick your favorite thing about Talbot County,brwhat would it be?
brWell, I am partial to pretty. Every single day, I get to live in the placebrI consider one of the prettiest places in America, and that’s the truth.brYes, you find the beauty in the place where you are, but it just sobrhappens we’ve got a gracious plenty here. We are well and blessed inbrthat regard.
