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Old Country Store hosts statewide tourism meetings

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Brooks Shaw and the crew at The Old Country Store and Casey Jones Village have had company over this week.

Sarah Beth Urban is the CEO of the Tennessee Hospitality and Tourism Association, and more than 60 board members and other members of the association from across the state were in town for their quarterly meeting.

“There’s a lot of work that gets done that starts after lunch [on Monday] with meetings, a networking event [Monday night] and then more meetings [Tuesday] morning before we all go our separate ways,” Urban said.

Urban coordinates all of the tourism groups across the state and communicates with different state government officials in Nashville on their behalf.

She said it’s a big job to represent the interests of the tourism industry as a whole across the state since the needs of places like Graceland, Sun Studios, the Civil Rights Museum and Beale Street in Memphis are different from the needs of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, which is different from Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, which is different from Rock City and Ruby Falls in Chattanooga, which is different from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

“The group is so diverse and there are so many different opinions that it can be difficult to make sure everyone is happy,” Urban said. “But at the same time, we’re the second-largest industry in the state, and collectively, we are a group that needs our voices heard at the Capitol.

“So it’s my job to ensure that happens.”

Agriculture is Tennessee’s No. 1 industry.

Shaw said it’s been nerve-racking to have the number of visitors the complex has hosted this week along with some of the places represented by the group.

“We’ve got people representing Dollywood and the Tennessee Aquarium and other big-time players in the state in tourism coming to our place, but we’ve also got I guess what you might call smaller players but they do what they do the right way,” Shaw said. “So we want to definitely put our best foot forward for everyone here.”

Shaw took some of the group who came in early on a tour of the Village, showing them the souvenir shop and ice cream shop, the remodeled Dixie Café, the train museum and the farm.

“I received a number of positive comments that suggests to me that we’re doing things right here,” Shaw said. “And I appreciated that coming from them.”

Urban also said that Madison County’s tourism is something else in the Jackson area that’s growing.

“When you think about Casey Jones Village and the Rockabilly Museum and the new facility downtown at the Carnegie and other things within a short drive of here like Pickwick and Discovery Park and The Dixie, Jackson has a lot to offer,” Urban said. “And there’s more coming, and that’s something worth celebrating, and we’re glad to see it expanding the way it is.”

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news