By Vicki Prichard
NKyTribune Reporter
When Bev Holiday heard meetNKY president and CEO Eric Summe describing the recipient of the meetNKY Star of Tourism award during the annual meetNKY meeting last Thursday, she had no idea that the award was meant for her.
“I have to tell you, when they started the presentation and they said, “she…” I knew it was a female but had no idea it was me,” says Holiday.
In that moment she looked across the room at a female colleague whogave her a thumbs up, certain that she was the recipient.
When her name was called, she says her “mouth just dropped.”
“The mayor looked at me and said, ‘I can keep a secret,’” says Holiday, who is the community liaison coordinator for Newport.
Recognized for her decades-long career as an advocate for Northern Kentucky, Holiday, who remains one of the most welcoming faces to the region, was clearly one of the first to greet visitors.
“The fun part has been meeting so many people over the years,” says Holiday.
Her first involvement with the Convention and Visitors Bureau was in the early 90s when the bureau needed photographs for their brochures and hosted a photography contest.
“I was on the committee and that was how I got involved,” says Holiday.
At that time, the Convention and Visitors Bureau was located on Philadelphia Street in Covington. Holiday managed the Welcome Center staff, the first to extend a hearty welcome to visitors who stopped in for maps and brochures.
She was also the proprietor of the Kentucky Haus Artisan Center, which was located at the Center and carried a complete collection of craft items made in Kentucky. It was the only shop of its kind in Northern Kentucky.
“We felt like at Kentucky Haus we were that Welcome Center, because for a lot of people we were the first place they stopped,” says Holiday.
In 1981, First Lady Phyllis George Brown promoted Kentucky crafts, using her contacts as a national television sportscaster and former Miss America to broadly promote Kentucky artisans. As a result, Kentucky crafts were carried in stores such as Neiman Marcus and Marshall Fields. The Kentucky Crafted advertising campaign began in 1990.
“I gained an appreciation for handcrafted items,” says Holiday. “If it hadn’t been for Kentucky Crafted it would have been hard to start that shop because I went out there and got the list of who the artists were and actually had her [George Brown] on my distribution list and invited her to events.”
Learning about tourism
At the time, tourism was new to Holiday, previously a successful banker.
“I had good people along the way,” says Holiday about her banking days. “Mer [Grayson] was an absolute wonderful person to work with. He saw me in the teller line and gave me the opportunity to advance.”
When she was 29-years-old she was elected to the city of Union’s board of trustees. She served on the counsel for six years, then the Boone County Planning and Zoning Commission. Today, she says, the knowledge she gained at that time is invaluable for her work in Newport.
Tourism in those early years presented a whole new learning experience, and one she would watch evolve.
“It was all new to me because I had not seen tourism on the forefront like that,” she says.
She and the staff at the Welcome Center stayed informed on all events in the region and were invited to new venues such as bed and breakfasts, which were growing in popularity at the time, so they could provide first hand information to visitors about what the Northern Kentucky had to offer.
“The motor coach business was very busy then, so several times a day we would have motor coaches pulling up. They would come in and would see what was here and get back on the motor coach and go to their next spot,” she says.
But by the early 2000s, technology was changing the way people traveled.
“People weren’t coming to get maps and flyers because everything was starting to go online,” says Holiday.
As a result, the Welcome Center had outlived its use and was closed. Holiday, meanwhile, moved to Newport along with her Kentucky Haus shop, and ultimately a new opportunity to be involved in regional promoting that she so enjoys.
“I’m the community liaison coordinator, working with economic development with the city manager, Tom Fromme,” says Holiday, who has held the position for five years.
In her role, she feels a kinship with meetNKY.
“They are family,” she says. “They do so much for us. I can’t tell you how many times they mention Newport, whether it’s the aquarium, the levee, New Riff or Hofbrauhaus.”
And, as the region celebrates a dynamic year for tourism, Holiday has context for what that means.
“You think about all those years when the Drawbridge Inn was the place for everybody in the state for all their meetings, and all the things going on,” says Holiday. “Those were really good years for us. But now, to think of 2015 as beating all of those years, that’s pretty spectacular.”