2012 Winter Texan Travel Fair

Thank you so much for your support of the 6th annual Coastal Bend Travel Fair held recently in Aransas Pass.  It was a great success with over 900 attendees and 35 vendors, including eight new ones!

This annual event has recently become one of our biggest fund raisers of the year, second only to Membership Dues.  The numbers shown in attendees and the success of the Travel Fair could not be accomplished without the teamwork demonstrated by the volunteers, members and participants who had booths to promote your attraction/business/community.

Over 100 door prizes were given away throughout the day including caps, tee shirts, tickets to various member attractions and events, boat excursions, gift cards, gift baskets, bottles of wine, books, locally-produced foodstuff such as canned pickles and pralines, golfing opportunities, barbecue tools, complimentary accommodations at Coastal Bend hotels and lodging and much more.

These door prizes have been a huge draw to the event; thank you to everyone who made these donations possible.

For the past two years, many of our attendees agreed to participate in the brief surveys taken at the door as they entered.  This year, we had 644 people answer these surveys.  We learned that, aside from Texas, the largest contingent of attendees came from Minnesota followed by Canada and Iowa.

Most of the folks were made aware of the event through newspaper ads although some stopped just because of the information posted outside on the Aransas Pass Civic Center sign. The majority of the attendees were staying locally in Rockport and 195 folks were first-timers to the event. I also talked to several of the folks who have been attending the Travel Fair since back when we first started in 2007 at the Paws & Taws Center in Fulton.

Thanks to the following "survey takers":

Roy Neese of Corpus Christi

Richard Bullock of the Coastal Bend Council of Governments (COG) in Corpus Christi

Rosemary Vega of the Aransas Pass Chamber of Commerce

Linda Cobb of the Aransas Pass Chamber of Commerce

The TCBRTC members who worked the door handing out the new 2012 TCBRTC Tourism Guide booklets, door prize tickets and goodie bags performed a vital service for us all.  They were:

Lisa Dombroski of Grunwald Printing Company of Corpus Christi

Carla Ligon of US Hospitality in Corpus Christi

Van Williams of TexMaps in Bayside

Jim Sambol of Cup Graphics in Corpus Christi

Jennifer Thomas of Slowride Guide Services & Kayak Rentals in Aransas Pass

And, of course, all this activity at the door would not have been possible without the help and coordination of Ann Neese, Executive Director of TCBRTC from Corpus Christi.

The all-important goodie bags (used by our attendees to stash all the printed materials about your attraction/community/business) were provided by:

Radisson Beach Hotel of Corpus Christi, thanks to Carla Ligon of US Hospitality

Port Aransas Chamber of Commerce, thanks to Ann Vaughan and Jane Marslender

Alice Chamber of Commerce, thanks to Juan Navajar

Goliad County Chamber of Commerce, thanks to Mona Foust

GBRA - Coleto Creek Park & Reservoir, thanks to Wilfred Korth

More thanks to Patti Young of the Coastal Bend Wildlife Photo Contest for the wonderful exhibit of wildlife photos on display throughout the day and to Samantha Rodriguez of the San Patricio County Economic Development Corporation for the various tasks she so willingly performed all day long to make things run smoothly.

Thanks also to our DJ/Announcer Bill Dammann/Ramblin' Man Karaoke of Rockport and to Ann & Roy Neese for driving all over the Coastal Bend to distribute the Travel Fair posters in RV parks and other places frequented by Winter Texans.  Their efforts really paid off!

And, once again, a big thank you to Wilfred Korth of Coleto Creek Park & Reservoir who was the first Travel Fair chairman back in 2007 ~ what a great idea you had, Wilfred!  We all thank you.

Last but not least, kudos to Rosemary Vega of the Aransas Pass Chamber of Commerce for running interference for us as we struggled to meet the challenges presented by the change of management at the Aransas Pass Civic Center.  And, FYI, the snack bar/concession stand the day of event was run by Beauty & the Bistro Catering of Corpus Christi.

While the event is still fresh on our minds, we ask that you let me know your comments and suggestions about the 2012 Travel Fair.  We will use this information to help in planning our 2013 event.  Please send to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Thanks again to everyone who helped to make the 2012 Coastal Bend Travel Fair such a great success!