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Hey, what's up everyone. Welcome to you Delightful Destinations. My
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name is Jeff Saint Pierre. This is episode forty. This
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is your first time check out the program. Thank you
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so much for taking some of your time out of
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your day to join us. Delightful Destinations is a show
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that I created so I could talk to representatives from
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different locations around the country and learn more about these
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beautiful places that are just all around us. I'm always
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looking for an excuse to get away from home and
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try something new, and I hope this show will help
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inspire you the next time you're looking to escape the
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daily grind. So quick business note for all of you
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who listen to this show regularly. First of all, I
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appreciate you taking time out of your day to listen
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to these conversations. It just means so much that we've
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had so many of you listening. This is going to
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be the last episode of Delightful Destinations, at least for
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a little bit. Some things behind the scenes here have changed,
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so we're going to have to hit pause on it
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for a little while. I'm hopeful that we can bring
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the show back in the future. I just don't know
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when that future will be so this is kind of
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bittersweet being our fortieth episode and also potentially our last
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for a bit, But again, thank you so much for listening,
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and I hope that you enjoy this coming episode. On
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this week's episode, With next year being the two hundred
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and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of this country, I
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think it's fitting for us to make a trip back
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to Virginia. Our tenth state, hosted so many historically important
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events in the timeline of the United States, from some
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of the first colonies to pivotal battles and the Revolutionary
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and Civil War. Virginia has been front and center for
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so much of our history. But there's more than history
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in Virginia. There's theme parks, there's outdoor recreation, brewery, delicious food,
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and so many opportunities for fun. This week, we're heading
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to the Williamsburg area. And I say area because my
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guest today not only represents Williamsburg, which is a pretty
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popular tourist attraction already, but he also represents some of
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the surrounding areas as well. With me this week is
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Edward Harris. He's the president and CEO of Visit Williamsburg.
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I'm excited to be here. Thanks for having me.
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So this is kind of funny for me because a
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couple of weeks ago I was interviewing somebody by the
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name of Tom York, who I don't know if you're
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a music fan, but Tom York is also the name
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of the singer for Radiohead. And now I'm interviewing Ed Harris,
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but not the actor Harris. I don't know what it
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is with you travel folks. You seem to all have
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the same names as other celebrities.
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Yeah, I know, it's funny. And in one of my
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earlier jobs, I worked closely with a gentleman named Steve Martin.
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Oh wow, And so you know, not the comedian or actor,
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but Steve Martin, who I worked with in the footwear
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industry prior to coming to tourism. But yeah, at least
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my name Ed Harris. It can be associated with a
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pretty good actor. And I guess it could be worse, right, No.
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It definitely could be worse, for sure.
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And I find that we have, you know, sort of
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similar pathways here as well, because if I'm not mistaken,
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you spent some time living in Baltimore, which is where
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I currently live and work.
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What were you doing here in Baltimore. Yeah.
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So I spent fifteen years working for sneaker brands before
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sliding over to tourism, and one of my chapters was
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with under arm at their headquarters right there in Baltimore.
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It was an awesome, awesome chapter of my career. Worked
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with some really fun people, creative people, and I was
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there during a period of hyper growth for the brand
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of under Armour, and so I have a special spot
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in my heart for Baltimore.
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I did tell my boss that I wasn't sure I
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could conduct this interview with you because you're a Saint
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Joe's grad and as a Villanova wildcat, I'm not sure
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if this is going to work out, but I think
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we'll be okay.
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Oh no, I hate to hear that. I mean, you're
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on the other side of the Holy War, I know,
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but it's all good. It's all good.
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Well, you're you graduate. I'm just curious.
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I'm a two thousand and one graduate, okay, Saint Jo's
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and wound up going back to school later to get
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an MBA up at Boston College.
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Okay, I'm an O three guy. So we were there
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around the same time. I think Saint Jose was much
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better than Villanova back then, so you definitely have the
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edge basketball wise in that era.
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Well, you guys had your own run for sure.
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Well, that team has certainly found something.
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Yeah, well listen to the national championship.
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Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. Well, we don't have to
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keep going down this lane.
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I do want to talk more about what you're doing
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right now, which is working in Williamsburg, Virginia and visit Williamsburg.
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You know, about a couple months ago, I spoke with somebody,
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I think his name is Tom loftis from visit Richmond,
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and he was talking about the Richmond region and all
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the amazing things there, and Williamsburg kind of got brought
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up a little bit in that conversation. But you also
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don't just work for Williamsburg. You have sort of a
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region that you work with.
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Yeah, that's right. So here at Visit Williamsburg, we promote
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the entire historic Triangle. And if you're not familiar with
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what is that, well, that includes Jamestown, which is the
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site of the first settlement. It includes Yorktown, Virginia as well,
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which of course is where the final battle was won,
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which leads to our independence. And so with Williamsburg serving
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as the revolutionary think tank of the day. All three
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give us the right to say that this is where
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America's journey begins, and that's something we're proud of in
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terms of our historical roots.
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When I was growing up, I grew up in New Hampshire.
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When I was growing up, the vacation my family would
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do would be every two or three years, we'd make
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a trip down to Orlando and do a trip to Disney.
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But I feel like my parents would sometimes use Williamsburg
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as a threat to us. You know, this goes back
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many years ago, and I don't mean that in like
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a negative way, but like when you're a kid and
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your options are Disney or Williamsburg, your your first impression is, well,
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of course Disney. But now that I've become an adult
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and I've learned more about when there is so much
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in Williamsburg for the entire family, I mean, there's a
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lot of exciting stuff there that people should experience.
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Yeah, and I think the word experience that you just
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mentioned is key because Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown Settlement, Yorktown Battlefield,
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they're all experiential. And what I mean by that is
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these interpreters that you can meet at these sites. You
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can have a conversation and they are in character. They
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are historians, and you can really learn about history through dialogue.
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When you come to a place like the Historic Triangle,
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it's like being in a time machine or in the
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middle of a history book, but it all comes to life.
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But if you're not a history buff, there is so
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much more to do. When you think about Bush Gardens,
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Busch Gardens introduced the very popular new roller coaster this summer.
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It's called the Big Bad Wolf, the Wolf's Revenge, which
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has become really popular this summer. We've become a very
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popular brewery winery scene here. Our food scene has really improved,
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and of course being in the Virginia Peninsula area, there's
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lots of water sports, boating opportunities. There's really something for everyone.
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And that's a cliche that a lot of destinations say,
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but I really believe that about this area in terms
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of if you want to learn about our rich American history,
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you can do that. If you want thrills, you can
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go to ride roller coasters, the food, the wine, the beer,
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the trails, and the boating and there's just there's so
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much to do here.
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Over the last year since we started this podcast, I've
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done about forty ish episodes, give or take. I can't
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remember the exact number, but I've been astounded at how
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many people have been bragging about their food scene. And
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I guess I just didn't realize how much food can
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bring people into an area, you know what I mean,
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Like it can be a deal breaker, right, Like if
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you've got to tie, we can go one place or
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the other, but the food is better somewhere that could
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be there, or people are traveling just to experience food.
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So I think it's so interesting to hear folks like
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yourself talk about the vibrant food scene in there, and
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I think that's awesome that that's been a thing that's
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driving people to come check out areas.
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Yeah, you're spot on, and in the year twenty twenty five,
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if you're going to be a leading tourist destination, you've
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got to have some great restaurants. And we're fortunate we've
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got a wide variety of restaurants and we have a
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very unique side to Williamsburg when it comes to pancake houses.
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I want to touch on this, so I'm glad you're
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bringing this up. This is good.
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Yeah. So, you know, we have an unusual number of
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pancake houses here in Williamsburg, and we're actually gonna celebrate
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that in September on National Pancake Day. This year, we're
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gonna brand ourselves as the Pancake Capital of the world,
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bring our pancake houses out for a big event. We're
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gonna have an eating contest, there's gonna be prizes, you
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can win, live music, and we know the whole community
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is going to come out to support those small businesses.
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And you have like a pancake trail, correct, we do, well,
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we will, Okay, so it's okay.
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Launching on September first, which is the month of National
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Pancake Day, we're gonna have a virtual mobile pass that
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you can download very easily from visit Williamsburg dot com.
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And as you accumulate points throughout the month when you
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visit our collection of pancake houses, you'll earn points that
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can be redeemed for some cool prizes. And so we're
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going to be launching that out quickly here in the
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next couple of weeks, and we're really excited about it.
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We know that having a mobile pass will get people
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around the area to discover businesses that otherwise they may
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not have learned about or thought about.
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Yeah, it feels like every area has their own you know, trails,
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their own mobile passes, and most of them, I find
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tend to tie into beer or wine, right because breweries
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and wineries have become much more popular over the last
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ten ten years or so. But I just was talking
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again to your colleague down in Richmond and they have
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a Mosa trail, which I was like, well, that's interesting,
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Mosa trail. You don't hear a lot of places that
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have something like that, and here you are with the
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Pancake Trail. I love the creativity going on in Virginia
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right now.
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Yeah, I think these passes make it fun, right, you know,
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you know nationwide, there's been this trend of what they
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call gamification for a while now with just the advanced
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video games, and you know, video games are played by
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lots of different ages in this day and age, and
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whenever we can make it fun for people to discover
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the area with a trail that's you know, tied back
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to your phone where you can collect points and have
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fun with it, We're going to be doing more of
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those things going forward.
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I think the era of the relaxing vacation is over right,
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Like I think every vacation now people want to see
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the unique things where they're going to be. They want
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to experience, to use that word again, they want to
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experience the region. I mean, I think back to being younger,
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and you know, if you went to the beach, what
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you did was you went to the beach and that
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was it. You sat on the beach all day long,
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you got sunburnt, you went back to the hotel, you
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came back and did it again. But now it feels
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like when you're going somewhere, it's okay, I want to
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check this place off, or I saw a unique speakeasy,
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or I saw that there's like all these different things.
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And I really enjoy that because I think it's bringing
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people into the unities and bringing them into small businesses
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and getting them to check out things they wouldn't otherwise
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have done before.
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Yeah, I totally agree with that, and that's what I
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love about moving here and living here. It's just just
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the wide variety of things you could fill up your
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day with. But at the same time, if you're looking
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to relax, many of our golf courses also have spas.
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We have a few awesome resorts here, and so if
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you're looking to kind of just relax or play around
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a golf we've become known for that too. So yes,
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there's enough to fill a jam packed itinerary for a
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week here. But if you need some downtime to kind
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of chill out, there's that too.
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You mentioned Yorktown earlier, and Yorktown obviously plays a massive
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part in the history of this country, and I know
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ken Burns has been working on something for Yorktown. You've
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got some big stuff planned for.
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That, absolutely, ken Burns. He's releasing his new twelve hour,
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six part series which is all about the American Revolution,
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and what a perfect time to be launching that ahead
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of the two hundred and fiftieth Commemoration of the United States.
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Yorktown is going to be one of those places where
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you can see a sneak peak of that documentary, which
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will officially roll out across the nation in November. Also
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in Yorktown, though, if people are interested in planning and visit,
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they will be one of the hosts of the Tall
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Ships Festival, which is going to bring in these massive
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older ships that you can watch tour throughout Harbor's on
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the East Coast during the commemoration year of twenty twenty six.
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They'll be in Yorktown in June of next year, so
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Yorktown is very excited about that as well. But yeah,
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coming up in September Ken Burns the documentary, you're gonna
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be able to see some of that in Yorktown.
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That's amazing. I will say.
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Living in Baltimore being a harbor town, we've had the
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tall ships roll through here before, So anyone who's listening
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that maybe has not experienced that before, it really is
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something to see. I mean, it's it's a remarkable experience
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to go check those out. So yeah, I mean, if
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you can make it to Yorktown next year in June
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of twenty twenty six to witness that, I mean, it's
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definitely something to put on the calendar. Let's go back
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into history a little bit too, because most of the
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people that I've spoken with from a tourism standpoint have
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tended to be along the mid Atlantic and East Coast
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just based on where I live and the people that
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we've connected with, And there is just so much history
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on this side of the country because this is where
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the first people really came and this is where the
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country was founded. But Virginia, my gosh, I mean, there's
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just it's a million thing. Everywhere you turn, there's another
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historical landmark that you could be a part of. And
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as you mentioned, we're coming up on the two hundred
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and fiftieth anniversary here.
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Absolutely, And I'm a native Philadelphian and so when I
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first moved here a year ago and people found out
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I was from Pennsylvania, more than one person was quick
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to remind me that for out of the first five
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US presidents are from Virginia, of course, and then I
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should always remember that. And so history is taken very
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seriously here, not only in Williamsburg, but across the state,
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and it's special, it's important. I'm proud to be able
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to represent a destination that has so so many rich
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historical roots for our nation.
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I would imagine that you all have and you don't
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have to give me specific events right now, but that
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you have events pretty much all year long next year
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to celebrate this.
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Yeah, you can come to our our website at visit
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Williamsburg dot com and we've got a great lineup of
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things every month throughout the historic Triangle. So whether you're
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here in Williamsburg or you want to pop over to
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Jamestown or Yorktown, it's going to be a big celebratory
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year for sure.
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I saw something else here that I was kind of
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intrigued by. I should have clicked the link to learn
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more about it, but I want to hear from you
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the visit Williamsburg American Birthday Quilt project tell me more
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about that.
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Yeah, this is an exciting one. We are inviting people
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from across the country to participate in the Great American
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Birthday Quilt, and it's relatively simple. We're looking for twelve
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by twelve squares designed by people that reflects their American journey,
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and it spans the entire country. These squares are going
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to be stitched together into a two hundred and fifty
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foot Birthday quilt that will be on display here in
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the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center next summer. And we're already
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receiving all kinds of interesting creative squares that are coming
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in and some of them have stories attached to that
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are fascinating. And so to have a quilt that weaves
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together personal stories of Americans from across the country is
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a really cool and fun project to be working on.
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We're going to be having some activations come up this
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fall in places like Washington, D C. And Philadelphia to
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generate more squares from people to finish out the quilt.
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Because you need plenty of squares if you're going to
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make it two and fifty square feet.
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Is that what you were saying. I mean, that's right.
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Two hundred and fifty feet long is the quill. And
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everybody seems to be participating in the early going, everything
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from you know, middle schoolers to senior homes. People want
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to be involved with this creative project.
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If you want to find out more details or if
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you want to submit something, where should people go to
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find that?
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So people should come to visit Williamsburg dot com. In
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the search bar, you can search for America's Birthday Quilt.
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If you're interested in the Pancake festival, you can search
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for pancakes. But we have a great website. It's constantly
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being refreshed. Our Calendar of events page is always being
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updated on a daily basis, and there's always something happening
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that's fun to do in the Historic Triangle.
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I was spending some I'm on your website actually and
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I need to ask you one question here. Your helper
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on the website is bo Shington. It looks like a
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sheep and it's dressed like what would be George Washington,
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sort of closed, but it's a sheep, so it's Boshington.
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Can you tell me more about this?
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Yeah? Sure. So our marketing team is always coming up
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with creative ideas, and if you were to visit a
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place like colonial Williamsburg in town, you would see you know, sheep,
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you would see baby sheep. And they've become sort of
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a mascot locally because there are a bunch of them
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and they're really cute animals to look at too, And
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so we're having fun by adopting that that idea and
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bringing it into the virtual world with our website and
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our chatbot to give it a little bit of personality.
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Before we speak to people.
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I always try to do a little bit of research
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on the areas myself, just to have a little understanding,
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especially if it's an area I've never been to before,
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kind of like the Williamsburg region. And I saw something
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pop up from Travel and Leisure that said it was
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the most underrated travel gem in the US, and I
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think that's an interesting title to have.
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What are your thoughts on that?
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Well, of course I'm going to agree with that one.
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But but we've got, like I was talking about earlier,
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we've got such a variety of things to do here
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beyond the history, which is special. I mean when you
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talk about bush gardens and like I said, the trails,
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the water sports. We're also a college town. William and
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Mary is here. It's the second oldest college in the
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United States, right behind Harvard, So it's got this young
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vibe to it throughout the school year, very creative place
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to spend time, and year round, there's there's things, there's
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things to do. I mean, there's great things that experience
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around the holiday season where the whole area transforms into
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a Hallmark commercial with candle light windows and authentic natural
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wreaths that are made that are placed on all the doors.
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In Colonial Williamsburg. We have our ghost tours, which has
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become very popular in September and October at night, walking
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around Colonial Williamsburg and taking in those ghost tours is
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an awesome experience. I mentioned the golf which is very
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popular year round, and it's just I'm just so excited
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that I get to represent a place like this.
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You've been I guess lucky enough in your time as
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an adult to work in a lot of different places
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and for a lot of different companies. You've been in
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this role for about a year. You think you're staying
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here for a while.
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I do, yeah.
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I mean, this place is so special and the future
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is so bright here. I mean, not only are we
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going to celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth commemoration next year,
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but we have a two hundred thousand square foot indoor
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sports and events center which is also going to open
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next year, and that will be transformational too, as families
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come in for volleyball tournament's, football, soccer, etc. And discover
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or rediscover all that this area has to offer.
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There are usually about two types of people that I
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speak to from your position. One is the person that
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grew up in the area that they are representing, so
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they have this love for that area that they just
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want to get out there to the world. And I
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have others that have transplanted to take a really good
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job opportunity. But I can hear it in your voice
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how much you're kind of a combo of both. Despite
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the fact that you did not grow up in the
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Williamsburg area. I can hear the passion, I can hear
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the love that you have for that area and just
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the way that you tell the story and the way
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that you talk about the things. And I feel like
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Williamsburg is very lucky to have a person like you
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representing them.
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Well, thank you, I appreciate that. But I really am
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the lucky one to get to steer this organization and
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be able to, you know, put out the kind of
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storytelling that we can in terms of our history and
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fun things to do and the wide variety of you know,
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food and beverage options, et cetera. We have so much
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cool stuff here. And to be the leader of the
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group that gets to tell that story through advertising, our
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social media channels all those things every day, it's one
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of the it's the best shob in the world.
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Really well and listen, it's been an absolute pleasure talking
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to you and learning more about Williamsburg in the region
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that you represent. Can you tell me one more time
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where people go if they want to find out information
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or if they want to start planning their trip.
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Yeah, definitely, come to visit Williamsburg dot com and look
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for us on Facebook. Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest. I
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think I covered them all. Follow us on our YouTube channel.
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There's a lot of awesome content you can find on
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those those platforms.
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Edward Harris, President and CEO of Visit Williamsburg, thank you
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so much for your time.
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I appreciate it.
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Thanks for having me.
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Big thank you to Ed Harris for his time. Again.
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You can find out more about Williamsburg, Virginia at visit
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Williamsburg dot com. And that's it for this episode of
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delightful Destinations. Until next time, be well,
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Hey, what's up everyone. Welcome to you Delightful Destinations. My
2
00:00:04.679 --> 00:00:07.280
name is Jeff Saint Pierre. This is episode forty. This
3
00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:08.960
is your first time check out the program. Thank you
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00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:10.679
so much for taking some of your time out of
5
00:00:10.679 --> 00:00:13.359
your day to join us. Delightful Destinations is a show
6
00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:15.560
that I created so I could talk to representatives from
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00:00:15.560 --> 00:00:18.359
different locations around the country and learn more about these
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beautiful places that are just all around us. I'm always
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00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:23.320
looking for an excuse to get away from home and
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try something new, and I hope this show will help
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inspire you the next time you're looking to escape the
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00:00:28.039 --> 00:00:31.079
daily grind. So quick business note for all of you
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00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:33.560
who listen to this show regularly. First of all, I
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00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:35.439
appreciate you taking time out of your day to listen
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00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:37.479
to these conversations. It just means so much that we've
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00:00:37.479 --> 00:00:39.840
had so many of you listening. This is going to
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be the last episode of Delightful Destinations, at least for
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a little bit. Some things behind the scenes here have changed,
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so we're going to have to hit pause on it
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for a little while. I'm hopeful that we can bring
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the show back in the future. I just don't know
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when that future will be so this is kind of
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bittersweet being our fortieth episode and also potentially our last
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for a bit, But again, thank you so much for listening,
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and I hope that you enjoy this coming episode. On
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this week's episode, With next year being the two hundred
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and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of this country, I
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think it's fitting for us to make a trip back
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to Virginia. Our tenth state, hosted so many historically important
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events in the timeline of the United States, from some
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of the first colonies to pivotal battles and the Revolutionary
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and Civil War. Virginia has been front and center for
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so much of our history. But there's more than history
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in Virginia. There's theme parks, there's outdoor recreation, brewery, delicious food,
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and so many opportunities for fun. This week, we're heading
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to the Williamsburg area. And I say area because my
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guest today not only represents Williamsburg, which is a pretty
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popular tourist attraction already, but he also represents some of
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the surrounding areas as well. With me this week is
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Edward Harris. He's the president and CEO of Visit Williamsburg.
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I'm excited to be here. Thanks for having me.
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So this is kind of funny for me because a
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couple of weeks ago I was interviewing somebody by the
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name of Tom York, who I don't know if you're
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a music fan, but Tom York is also the name
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of the singer for Radiohead. And now I'm interviewing Ed Harris,
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but not the actor Harris. I don't know what it
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is with you travel folks. You seem to all have
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the same names as other celebrities.
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Yeah, I know, it's funny. And in one of my
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earlier jobs, I worked closely with a gentleman named Steve Martin.
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Oh wow, And so you know, not the comedian or actor,
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but Steve Martin, who I worked with in the footwear
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industry prior to coming to tourism. But yeah, at least
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my name Ed Harris. It can be associated with a
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pretty good actor. And I guess it could be worse, right, No.
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It definitely could be worse, for sure.
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And I find that we have, you know, sort of
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similar pathways here as well, because if I'm not mistaken,
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you spent some time living in Baltimore, which is where
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I currently live and work.
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What were you doing here in Baltimore. Yeah.
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So I spent fifteen years working for sneaker brands before
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sliding over to tourism, and one of my chapters was
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with under arm at their headquarters right there in Baltimore.
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It was an awesome, awesome chapter of my career. Worked
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with some really fun people, creative people, and I was
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there during a period of hyper growth for the brand
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of under Armour, and so I have a special spot
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in my heart for Baltimore.
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I did tell my boss that I wasn't sure I
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could conduct this interview with you because you're a Saint
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Joe's grad and as a Villanova wildcat, I'm not sure
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if this is going to work out, but I think
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we'll be okay.
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Oh no, I hate to hear that. I mean, you're
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on the other side of the Holy War, I know,
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but it's all good. It's all good.
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Well, you're you graduate. I'm just curious.
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I'm a two thousand and one graduate, okay, Saint Jo's
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and wound up going back to school later to get
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an MBA up at Boston College.
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Okay, I'm an O three guy. So we were there
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around the same time. I think Saint Jose was much
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better than Villanova back then, so you definitely have the
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edge basketball wise in that era.
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Well, you guys had your own run for sure.
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Well, that team has certainly found something.
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Yeah, well listen to the national championship.
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Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. Well, we don't have to
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keep going down this lane.
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I do want to talk more about what you're doing
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right now, which is working in Williamsburg, Virginia and visit Williamsburg.
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You know, about a couple months ago, I spoke with somebody,
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I think his name is Tom loftis from visit Richmond,
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and he was talking about the Richmond region and all
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the amazing things there, and Williamsburg kind of got brought
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up a little bit in that conversation. But you also
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don't just work for Williamsburg. You have sort of a
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region that you work with.
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Yeah, that's right. So here at Visit Williamsburg, we promote
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the entire historic Triangle. And if you're not familiar with
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what is that, well, that includes Jamestown, which is the
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site of the first settlement. It includes Yorktown, Virginia as well,
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which of course is where the final battle was won,
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which leads to our independence. And so with Williamsburg serving
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as the revolutionary think tank of the day. All three
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give us the right to say that this is where
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America's journey begins, and that's something we're proud of in
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terms of our historical roots.
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When I was growing up, I grew up in New Hampshire.
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When I was growing up, the vacation my family would
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do would be every two or three years, we'd make
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a trip down to Orlando and do a trip to Disney.
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But I feel like my parents would sometimes use Williamsburg
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as a threat to us. You know, this goes back
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many years ago, and I don't mean that in like
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a negative way, but like when you're a kid and
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your options are Disney or Williamsburg, your your first impression is, well,
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of course Disney. But now that I've become an adult
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and I've learned more about when there is so much
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in Williamsburg for the entire family, I mean, there's a
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lot of exciting stuff there that people should experience.
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Yeah, and I think the word experience that you just
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mentioned is key because Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown Settlement, Yorktown Battlefield,
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they're all experiential. And what I mean by that is
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these interpreters that you can meet at these sites. You
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can have a conversation and they are in character. They
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are historians, and you can really learn about history through dialogue.
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When you come to a place like the Historic Triangle,
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it's like being in a time machine or in the
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middle of a history book, but it all comes to life.
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But if you're not a history buff, there is so
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much more to do. When you think about Bush Gardens,
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Busch Gardens introduced the very popular new roller coaster this summer.
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It's called the Big Bad Wolf, the Wolf's Revenge, which
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has become really popular this summer. We've become a very
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popular brewery winery scene here. Our food scene has really improved,
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and of course being in the Virginia Peninsula area, there's
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lots of water sports, boating opportunities. There's really something for everyone.
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And that's a cliche that a lot of destinations say,
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but I really believe that about this area in terms
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of if you want to learn about our rich American history,
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you can do that. If you want thrills, you can
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go to ride roller coasters, the food, the wine, the beer,
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the trails, and the boating and there's just there's so
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much to do here.
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Over the last year since we started this podcast, I've
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done about forty ish episodes, give or take. I can't
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remember the exact number, but I've been astounded at how
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many people have been bragging about their food scene. And
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I guess I just didn't realize how much food can
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bring people into an area, you know what I mean,
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Like it can be a deal breaker, right, Like if
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you've got to tie, we can go one place or
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the other, but the food is better somewhere that could
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be there, or people are traveling just to experience food.
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So I think it's so interesting to hear folks like
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yourself talk about the vibrant food scene in there, and
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I think that's awesome that that's been a thing that's
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driving people to come check out areas.
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Yeah, you're spot on, and in the year twenty twenty five,
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if you're going to be a leading tourist destination, you've
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got to have some great restaurants. And we're fortunate we've
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got a wide variety of restaurants and we have a
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very unique side to Williamsburg when it comes to pancake houses.
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I want to touch on this, so I'm glad you're
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bringing this up. This is good.
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Yeah. So, you know, we have an unusual number of
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pancake houses here in Williamsburg, and we're actually gonna celebrate
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that in September on National Pancake Day. This year, we're
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gonna brand ourselves as the Pancake Capital of the world,
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bring our pancake houses out for a big event. We're
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gonna have an eating contest, there's gonna be prizes, you
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can win, live music, and we know the whole community
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is going to come out to support those small businesses.
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And you have like a pancake trail, correct, we do, well,
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we will, Okay, so it's okay.
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Launching on September first, which is the month of National
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Pancake Day, we're gonna have a virtual mobile pass that
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you can download very easily from visit Williamsburg dot com.
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And as you accumulate points throughout the month when you
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visit our collection of pancake houses, you'll earn points that
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can be redeemed for some cool prizes. And so we're
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going to be launching that out quickly here in the
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next couple of weeks, and we're really excited about it.
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We know that having a mobile pass will get people
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around the area to discover businesses that otherwise they may
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not have learned about or thought about.
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Yeah, it feels like every area has their own you know, trails,
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their own mobile passes, and most of them, I find
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tend to tie into beer or wine, right because breweries
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and wineries have become much more popular over the last
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ten ten years or so. But I just was talking
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again to your colleague down in Richmond and they have
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a Mosa trail, which I was like, well, that's interesting,
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Mosa trail. You don't hear a lot of places that
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have something like that, and here you are with the
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Pancake Trail. I love the creativity going on in Virginia
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right now.
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Yeah, I think these passes make it fun, right, you know,
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you know nationwide, there's been this trend of what they
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call gamification for a while now with just the advanced
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video games, and you know, video games are played by
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lots of different ages in this day and age, and
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whenever we can make it fun for people to discover
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the area with a trail that's you know, tied back
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to your phone where you can collect points and have
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fun with it, We're going to be doing more of
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those things going forward.
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I think the era of the relaxing vacation is over right,
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Like I think every vacation now people want to see
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the unique things where they're going to be. They want
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to experience, to use that word again, they want to
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experience the region. I mean, I think back to being younger,
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and you know, if you went to the beach, what
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you did was you went to the beach and that
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was it. You sat on the beach all day long,
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you got sunburnt, you went back to the hotel, you
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came back and did it again. But now it feels
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like when you're going somewhere, it's okay, I want to
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check this place off, or I saw a unique speakeasy,
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or I saw that there's like all these different things.
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And I really enjoy that because I think it's bringing
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people into the unities and bringing them into small businesses
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and getting them to check out things they wouldn't otherwise
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have done before.
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Yeah, I totally agree with that, and that's what I
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love about moving here and living here. It's just just
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the wide variety of things you could fill up your
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day with. But at the same time, if you're looking
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to relax, many of our golf courses also have spas.
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We have a few awesome resorts here, and so if
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you're looking to kind of just relax or play around
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a golf we've become known for that too. So yes,
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there's enough to fill a jam packed itinerary for a
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week here. But if you need some downtime to kind
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of chill out, there's that too.
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You mentioned Yorktown earlier, and Yorktown obviously plays a massive
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part in the history of this country, and I know
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ken Burns has been working on something for Yorktown. You've
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got some big stuff planned for.
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That, absolutely, ken Burns. He's releasing his new twelve hour,
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six part series which is all about the American Revolution,
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and what a perfect time to be launching that ahead
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of the two hundred and fiftieth Commemoration of the United States.
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Yorktown is going to be one of those places where
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you can see a sneak peak of that documentary, which
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will officially roll out across the nation in November. Also
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in Yorktown, though, if people are interested in planning and visit,
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they will be one of the hosts of the Tall
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Ships Festival, which is going to bring in these massive
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older ships that you can watch tour throughout Harbor's on
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the East Coast during the commemoration year of twenty twenty six.
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They'll be in Yorktown in June of next year, so
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Yorktown is very excited about that as well. But yeah,
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coming up in September Ken Burns the documentary, you're gonna
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be able to see some of that in Yorktown.
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That's amazing. I will say.
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Living in Baltimore being a harbor town, we've had the
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tall ships roll through here before, So anyone who's listening
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that maybe has not experienced that before, it really is
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something to see. I mean, it's it's a remarkable experience
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to go check those out. So yeah, I mean, if
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you can make it to Yorktown next year in June
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of twenty twenty six to witness that, I mean, it's
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definitely something to put on the calendar. Let's go back
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into history a little bit too, because most of the
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people that I've spoken with from a tourism standpoint have
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tended to be along the mid Atlantic and East Coast
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just based on where I live and the people that
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we've connected with, And there is just so much history
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on this side of the country because this is where
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the first people really came and this is where the
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country was founded. But Virginia, my gosh, I mean, there's
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just it's a million thing. Everywhere you turn, there's another
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historical landmark that you could be a part of. And
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as you mentioned, we're coming up on the two hundred
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and fiftieth anniversary here.
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Absolutely, And I'm a native Philadelphian and so when I
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first moved here a year ago and people found out
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I was from Pennsylvania, more than one person was quick
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to remind me that for out of the first five
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US presidents are from Virginia, of course, and then I
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should always remember that. And so history is taken very
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seriously here, not only in Williamsburg, but across the state,
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and it's special, it's important. I'm proud to be able
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to represent a destination that has so so many rich
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historical roots for our nation.
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I would imagine that you all have and you don't
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have to give me specific events right now, but that
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you have events pretty much all year long next year
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to celebrate this.
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Yeah, you can come to our our website at visit
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Williamsburg dot com and we've got a great lineup of
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things every month throughout the historic Triangle. So whether you're
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here in Williamsburg or you want to pop over to
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Jamestown or Yorktown, it's going to be a big celebratory
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year for sure.
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I saw something else here that I was kind of
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intrigued by. I should have clicked the link to learn
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more about it, but I want to hear from you
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the visit Williamsburg American Birthday Quilt project tell me more
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about that.
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Yeah, this is an exciting one. We are inviting people
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from across the country to participate in the Great American
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Birthday Quilt, and it's relatively simple. We're looking for twelve
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by twelve squares designed by people that reflects their American journey,
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and it spans the entire country. These squares are going
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to be stitched together into a two hundred and fifty
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foot Birthday quilt that will be on display here in
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the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center next summer. And we're already
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receiving all kinds of interesting creative squares that are coming
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in and some of them have stories attached to that
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are fascinating. And so to have a quilt that weaves
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together personal stories of Americans from across the country is
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a really cool and fun project to be working on.
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We're going to be having some activations come up this
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fall in places like Washington, D C. And Philadelphia to
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generate more squares from people to finish out the quilt.
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Because you need plenty of squares if you're going to
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make it two and fifty square feet.
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Is that what you were saying. I mean, that's right.
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Two hundred and fifty feet long is the quill. And
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everybody seems to be participating in the early going, everything
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from you know, middle schoolers to senior homes. People want
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to be involved with this creative project.
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If you want to find out more details or if
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you want to submit something, where should people go to
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find that?
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So people should come to visit Williamsburg dot com. In
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the search bar, you can search for America's Birthday Quilt.
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If you're interested in the Pancake festival, you can search
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for pancakes. But we have a great website. It's constantly
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being refreshed. Our Calendar of events page is always being
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updated on a daily basis, and there's always something happening
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that's fun to do in the Historic Triangle.
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I was spending some I'm on your website actually and
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I need to ask you one question here. Your helper
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on the website is bo Shington. It looks like a
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sheep and it's dressed like what would be George Washington,
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sort of closed, but it's a sheep, so it's Boshington.
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Can you tell me more about this?
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Yeah? Sure. So our marketing team is always coming up
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with creative ideas, and if you were to visit a
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place like colonial Williamsburg in town, you would see you know, sheep,
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you would see baby sheep. And they've become sort of
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a mascot locally because there are a bunch of them
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and they're really cute animals to look at too, And
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so we're having fun by adopting that that idea and
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bringing it into the virtual world with our website and
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our chatbot to give it a little bit of personality.
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Before we speak to people.
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I always try to do a little bit of research
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on the areas myself, just to have a little understanding,
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especially if it's an area I've never been to before,
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kind of like the Williamsburg region. And I saw something
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pop up from Travel and Leisure that said it was
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the most underrated travel gem in the US, and I
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think that's an interesting title to have.
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What are your thoughts on that?
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Well, of course I'm going to agree with that one.
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But but we've got, like I was talking about earlier,
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we've got such a variety of things to do here
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beyond the history, which is special. I mean when you
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talk about bush gardens and like I said, the trails,
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the water sports. We're also a college town. William and
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Mary is here. It's the second oldest college in the
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United States, right behind Harvard, So it's got this young
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vibe to it throughout the school year, very creative place
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to spend time, and year round, there's there's things, there's
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things to do. I mean, there's great things that experience
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around the holiday season where the whole area transforms into
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a Hallmark commercial with candle light windows and authentic natural
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wreaths that are made that are placed on all the doors.
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In Colonial Williamsburg. We have our ghost tours, which has
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become very popular in September and October at night, walking
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around Colonial Williamsburg and taking in those ghost tours is
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an awesome experience. I mentioned the golf which is very
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popular year round, and it's just I'm just so excited
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that I get to represent a place like this.
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You've been I guess lucky enough in your time as
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an adult to work in a lot of different places
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and for a lot of different companies. You've been in
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this role for about a year. You think you're staying
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here for a while.
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I do, yeah.
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I mean, this place is so special and the future
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is so bright here. I mean, not only are we
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going to celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth commemoration next year,
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but we have a two hundred thousand square foot indoor
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sports and events center which is also going to open
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next year, and that will be transformational too, as families
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come in for volleyball tournament's, football, soccer, etc. And discover
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or rediscover all that this area has to offer.
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There are usually about two types of people that I
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speak to from your position. One is the person that
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grew up in the area that they are representing, so
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they have this love for that area that they just
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want to get out there to the world. And I
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have others that have transplanted to take a really good
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job opportunity. But I can hear it in your voice
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how much you're kind of a combo of both. Despite
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the fact that you did not grow up in the
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Williamsburg area. I can hear the passion, I can hear
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the love that you have for that area and just
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the way that you tell the story and the way
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that you talk about the things. And I feel like
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Williamsburg is very lucky to have a person like you
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representing them.
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Well, thank you, I appreciate that. But I really am
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the lucky one to get to steer this organization and
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be able to, you know, put out the kind of
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storytelling that we can in terms of our history and
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fun things to do and the wide variety of you know,
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food and beverage options, et cetera. We have so much
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cool stuff here. And to be the leader of the
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group that gets to tell that story through advertising, our
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social media channels all those things every day, it's one
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of the it's the best shob in the world.
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Really well and listen, it's been an absolute pleasure talking
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to you and learning more about Williamsburg in the region
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that you represent. Can you tell me one more time
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where people go if they want to find out information
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or if they want to start planning their trip.
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Yeah, definitely, come to visit Williamsburg dot com and look
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for us on Facebook. Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest. I
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think I covered them all. Follow us on our YouTube channel.
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There's a lot of awesome content you can find on
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those those platforms.
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Edward Harris, President and CEO of Visit Williamsburg, thank you
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so much for your time.
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I appreciate it.
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Thanks for having me.
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Big thank you to Ed Harris for his time. Again.
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You can find out more about Williamsburg, Virginia at visit
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Williamsburg dot com. And that's it for this episode of
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delightful Destinations. Until next time, be well,
