Norwalk News Round Up

Yeah, I definitely DO think that events of all kinds need to be promoted like crazy. Everybody complains about the lack of tourism dollars in this city but here we sit on a tourism GOLDMINE and nobody does anything to take advantage of it. Sure, the Aquarium is the major draw, because the Aquarium spends the bulk of its money promoting itself. I would then say maybe LMMM comes in at a close second, because they seem to have The Hour in their pocket – and a good thing, too, considering how ignored the LMMM was between the 1960s thru the early 1990s. It’s a wonder that the building is still standing, given the neglect it received all around.

What I’m mostly concerned with are the smaller events, like the ethnic fairs and museum openings and concerts and such. You might see a flyer or two or three tacked onto a light pole, or maybe a brief snippet in the newspaper, but I can tell you from firsthand experience that the local newspapers did NOT fall all over themselves to promote most events that took place in 2009. But there sure isn’t any dearth of tears and whining when it comes to complaining about the lack of tourism dollars spent in this city, is there?

It’s frustrating because the only thing that ever seems to garnish any major play in the papers is a gallery opening. Or a restaurant. Or a restaurant with a gallery. Or an event that has the word “art” in it. When you think of the terrific musicians that are in this town; the great professional dance companies we have, the variety of ethnic peoples who hold their fairs and festivals throughout the summer, the boating (WHY WHY WHY doesn’t Norwalk host a REGATTA???) the seashore, the historic mansions (BOTH of them), the Norwalk Museum, the concerts at the beach; the dance school recitals, the local clubs who hold events, the sports teams — I could go on and on and point out what we’re MISSING here!

We have a fantastic beach – is it promoted like other beaches up and down New England?? Face it, Norwalk is a BEACH town. We should be a tourist destination same as Cape Cod, or Block Island, or any of the other beach resort towns along the New England coastline. But where are our B&Bs? Where are our historic villages and quaint little antique stores? Where are our walking tours of historic homes? Where are our tchochke shops, beachwear stores, souvenir shops? I’ll tell you – they’re NOWHERE.

Another example: Norwalk is one of the only towns in Connecticut to have a Revolutionary War battle fought right it. We should be promoting this to Kingdome Come. But what do we do here? We waste time fighting to “preserve” a derelect building with an extremely dubious claim to one wall’s existence in 1779 and ignore the rest of the history from decade to decade. Where’s our yearly Patriots’ Parade? Where’s our Norwalk Militia reenactors group? Where’s the Norwalk Fife & Drum Corps? I’ll tell you “where” — none of this stuff exists, because Norwalk DOESN’T CARE. They barely even teach about this historic battle in our classrooms! If it wasn’t for Tommy O’Connor’s diligence in bringing it into his classroom, this battle would have been completely forgotten by the majority of residents.

I’ve got plenty of suggestions to give to the Arts Commission. In fact, over the past 15 years I’ve talked to several of the various members at different times about just these very subjects. Heck, I’ve even put my money where my own mouth is and run several events myself. But everything is hampered by the lack of VISION, community support, and willingness to sponsor any event that could enhance the understanding of the town’s place in history while at the same time raking in the tourism dollar. It’s like the idea of aggressively promoting tourism has completely missed the boat in Norwalk.

Like I said, we sit here on a tourism goldmine. When are we going to realize it, and do something about capturing those elusive tourist dollars?