Council History
Introduction
A place is more than
a chunk of real estate or a dot on a
map. Without culture, lore, history, and
natural beauty a place doesn't really
exist. It's nowhere.
The Blackstone
Valley has all that in spades. Only
there was a time when people seemed to
forget, even some people who called the
Valley home. A few decades ago, you
could say the region was suffering a
hangover, the result of a long party
called the Industrial Revolution. The
mills that once employed so many stood
vacant, the jobs shipped overseas. The
Blackstone River, the power source for
the factories, was polluted by the waste
they had produced and choked with litter
and trash. Downtowns turned to ghost
towns as residents moved to the suburbs
and did their shopping at malls that
looked exactly like the malls in
Minnesota and California and everywhere
else in America.
All that took an
economic toll. For a long time the
Blackstone Valley struggled with
unemployment numbers well above those
found in nearby Greater Boston or
Providence. Worse, it became anonymous,
a place you travel through on the way to
someplace else.
And that's what gave
birth to the Blackstone Valley Tourism
Council. A handful of true believers,
led by Bob Billington, the agency's
founder and long time director, set out
to change the region's future by
inviting tourists to come visit. At the
same time, they hoped to renew a sense
of pride among those who call the region
home. They wanted folks to remember the
struggles and triumphs of their
immigrant grandparents who worked the
mills, to once again see the river as a
rushing, roaring, natural waterway, and
to see the region's farms as something
more than future space for more sprawl.
"We wanted to let
the world know what the Blackstone
Valley is all about," says David
Balfour, who chairs the tourism
council's board of directors.
What
is it all about?
Any history
professor worth is tweed coat can tell
you about the Valley and the crucial
role the region played in America's
growth. In 1790 a British engineer named
Samuel Slater stepped onto a dock in
Providence. He carried in his head the
plans necessary for building a
hydro-powered textile mill. Writing down
those details would have been dangerous,
because Britain -- the only nation with
such factories -- had made it a crime to
take the technology out of the country.
The young man had no
trouble finding backers and partners. By
1793 they had a mill up and running at
Pawtucket Falls, with machines turning
out cloth around the clock. Soon there
were hundreds more like it up and down
the river, from Worcester to Providence,
all powered by the force of its
fast-moving waters. Immigrants came to
provide the labor, thousands and then
tens of thousands every year, settling
into company housing around the
factories. The bulk of them were French
Canadians from Quebec Province, but
there were newcomers from all over the
world.
The Blackstone
Valley helped make America the world's
industrial powerhouse for a century and
a half. By the mid-1900s, however, the
glory was fading fast. Looking to
exploit cheaper labor, mill owners moved
their operations south or abroad. When
World War II ended, so did the last
great production push, and the
Blackstone Valley began to sag.
The Quest Begins
"When
Bob went to a
meeting of state
tourism leaders to
discuss the regional
tourism council,
one of them got up
and asked 'what are
you doing here.'" |
When Bob Billington
launched the tourism council back in
1985, the Reagan go-go years were in
full swing, but somehow the Valley got
left out. There were jobs aplenty in the
Boston suburbs, but that could be an
hour's drive for some area residents.
Nonetheless, necessity pushed many to
make the long commute.
At that time
Billington was working at his family's
giftware business. Ever the organizer,
he'd convinced other manufacturers in
the area to form an association of
factory outlet retailers. They put out a
brochure and spent some cash on
advertising, and before long, shoppers
began showing up. When Billington found
himself fielding questions from the
visitors about restaurants and Rhode
Island attractions, the light bulb
flashed on again: Promoting the
Blackstone Valley as a destination could
be a real boon to the region's sluggish
economy. He talked with some friends and
some movers and shakers, and the tourism
council was born, right on the kitchen
table of his Cumberland home.
The Rhode Island
Division of Tourism offered a matching
grant to get the enterprise up and
running, but with the stipulation that
local communities kick in the same
amount. That sent Billington on a
rambling quest through Woonsocket,
Pawtucket, Burrillville, Cumberland,
Smithfield, North Smithfield, Glocester,
Lincoln, and Central Falls.
" In the months that
followed, he (Bob) spoke to more than a
hundred groups, from Rotary Clubs and
Kiwanis to church groups and town
boards. Everywhere, the response was the
same: snickers, guffaws, sometimes even
belly laughs. Locals couldn't believe
anyone would go out of their way to
visit their humdrum hometowns. 'A host
would introduce you, and every time
there would be a chuckle in the back of
the room,' recalls Billington.
The night he made a
pitch to the North Smithfield Town
Council still sticks in his mind. "They
told me, There's no tourism here. And
they threw me out," he says. "They threw
me out." |
In the months that
followed, he spoke to more than a
hundred groups, from Rotary Clubs and
Kiwanis to church groups and town
boards. Everywhere, the response was the
same: snickers, guffaws, sometimes even
belly laughs. Locals couldn't believe
anyone would go out of their way to
visit their humdrum hometowns. "A host
would introduce you, and every time
there would be a chuckle in the back of
the room," recalls Billington.
The night he made a
pitch to the North Smithfield Town
Council still sticks in his mind. "They
told me, There's no tourism here. And
they threw me out," he says. "They threw
me out."
But within a few
days Town Council member Ken Bianchi
rang him up. He worked for the state's
Department of Economic Development, and
he'd discussed Billington's sales pitch
with folks in his office. They'd all
agreed the effort sounded worthwhile. He
encouraged the young man to talk with
town officials again.
So Billington went
back. And they gave him the money.
Paying the Bills
Soon a board of
directors formed, and in the fall of
1986 they hired Billington as the
fulltime director of the Blackstone
Valley Tourism Council. Of course, they
had no idea how he'd get paid. Getting
money to run the operation was his job.
As a father with two
small kids and a mailbox that kept
filling up with monthly bills, he knew
he had to hustle. The freshly-passed
state tax on hotel rooms provided some
money for tourism groups, but for
several years that amounted to no more
than a few hundred dollars. Eventually
he wrangled $10,000 in job-training
funds from the Rhode Island Department
of Employment and Training, money set
aside to assist Vietnam-era veterans. As
a former Coast Guardsman, he qualified.
In those early years
Billington found that rallying support
sometimes remained an uphill battle.
When he showed his face at meetings of
the governor's advisory council on
tourism, some members from the state's
beach towns were bemused. They dismissed
his efforts as a lost cause. And when
Billington surveyed members of the
Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce,
none showed any interest in tourism.
"The
primary beneficiary
is the local
community. Look at
the bike path, for
example. The primary
benefit is to local
people who can go
there everyday." |
The big boosters
proved to be corporations and businesses
that saw no direct gain from bringing
tourists to the region, companies like
Amica Insurance, Fidelity Investments,
and Credit Union Central Falls. "These people were convinced that first and
foremost tourism is good for the
community," Billington says. "The
primary beneficiary is the local
community. Look at the bike path, for
example. The primary benefit is to local people who can go there everyday."
Billington also
gives a nod to Rick Alger, former mayor
of Cumberland, who helped the Blackstone
Valley Tourism Council win recognition
as a non-profit educational corporation,
a designation that made the organization
eligible for certain grants.
Some Strong Partners
Fortunately, there
were others with the same goals and the
same drive.
When the
environmental movement first swept the
country in the early 1970s, many local
activists looked to their own backyard.
With help from the National Guard, they
organized clean-ups of the Blackstone in
both northern Rhode Island and central
Massachusetts. Over the years volunteers
have hauled many tons of garbage from
the river's shores.
And in 1985, Rhode
Island Senator John Chaffee authored
legislation to create the Blackstone
Valley National Heritage Corridor, which
follows the river in two states. That
brought the National Park Service to
region to help the states, the
municipalities, and non-profit groups
establish parks, museums, and bike
paths. Ask almost anyone involved in
civic affairs, and you'll hear how over
the past 25 years the Corridor has
strived mightily to bring about a change
of direction in the Valley.
Rolling on a River
Northern Rhode
Island has no mountains, no ocean
beaches. Nothing in the Blackstone
Valley is the biggest, the highest, the
oldest, or superlative in any other way.
The Valley's got history, to be sure,
but the same can be said of every town
and city in New England. As Billington
and his colleagues discovered, it's the
once-shunned Blackstone River that makes
the region a unique destination. Get a
bunch of school kids off their bus and
put them on a riverboat, and their field
trip becomes something more. It's an
adventure.
The council's first
watercraft was the Blackstone Valley
Tourism One, a 16-foot inflatable raft
secured through Navy surplus. In 1989
Billington invited news reporters and
public officials to climb aboard for
tours that revealed the river was on the
way to becoming a surprisingly beautiful
urban wilderness.
A year later Warren
boat builder Luther Blount leased the
tourism council a glass-bottom water bus
originally built for tourist trips in
tropical climes. Cynics suggested those
who traveled the Blackstone would have a
great view of sunken shopping carts and
discarded automotive parts. But the
river tours -- launched near School
Street in Pawtucket -- proved to be a
huge success. Busy weekends saw more
than 300 people clamber aboard for river
trips. More access landings were added
in Central Falls, Cumberland,
Woonsocket, and Uxbridge.
That success
prompted the tourism council to launch a
fundraising campaign with the goal of
buying a riverboat of their own. In 1993
the 49-passenger Blackstone Valley
Explorer began plying the waters. As of
2010, more than 300,000 visitors have
experienced the river tour.
"The riverboat was
never a moneymaker," says Billington.
"It's a place-maker, an image-maker for
the Valley. The Explorer really made our
reputation. I've always called it 'the
Convincer.' We've taken everybody on
that boat -- our mayors and town
administrators, all the members of the
congressional delegation, the US
secretary of the interior, everyone. It
convinces them the river has something
to offer." |
"The riverboat was
never a moneymaker," says Billington.
"It's a place-maker, an image-maker for
the Valley. The Explorer really made our
reputation. I've always called it 'the
Convincer.' We've taken everybody on
that boat -- our mayors and town
administrators, all the members of the
congressional delegation, the US
secretary of the interior, everyone. It
convinces them the river has something
to offer."
To mark the new
millennium, the tourism council took up
another fundraising drive to buy yet
another vessel, an English canal boat
dubbed the Samuel Slater, the only one
of its kind in the country. It's a
covered water craft that can be used for
tea tours, corporate charters, birthday
cruises, and even as a floating bed and
breakfast. "Imagine," says Billington,
"people are staying overnight on the
Blackstone River."
The tourism
council's efforts have also inspired
people to explore the river and its
tributaries on their own. On any warm
and sunny weekend afternoon there's no
shortage of visitors paddling along in
kayaks and canoes, frequently using
routes developed and promoted by the
tourism council. And you'll see
fishermen casting lines into the current
as well. The area's waterways now teem
with wildlife. Birdwatchers spot hawks,
blue herons, mergansers, wood ducks, and
mallards, all once rarely seen in the
region. Deer sometimes wander along the
shore. In the early morning you might
see a raccoon at the water's edge
washing a soon-to-be-devoured crayfish.
Pollution and litter
have not entirely disappeared, but
neither have the volunteers and the
agencies that are committed to making
the watershed a more pristine place.
Through the years the tourism council
has worked with a hundred organizations
on clean-up efforts. During one notable
campaign, the Great American Clean-up of
2003, a group effort resulted in the
removal of 3,000 old tires from the
river's shores.
They Come by Land
Visitors also
explore the region by land, of course.
In the early years the tourism council
developed motor coach tours, and got
Conway Bus Service and other companies
to run them. For a time they were
popular with senior citizens groups, but
there was less interest once reservation
casinos opened in Connecticut.
Other ventures also
met with up-and-down success. A one
point the tourism council purchased a
British model double-decker bus to take
visitors to the sites. The tours were a
hit, but unfortunately the high cost of
insurance put a stop to the effort. The
Blackstone Valley Trolley was, however,
a huge success, running profitably with
the help of Conway Tours for nearly a
decade. Several years ago the council
sold the vehicle, for about the same
amount as the purchase price.
Trips aboard the
Providence & Worcester Railroad have won
a following. Residents and visitors
alike board passenger cars for fall
foliage tours and Christmas excursions
inspired by Rhode Island author and
illustrator Chris Van Allsburg's Polar
Express. The tourism council also
created self-guided tour brochures and
maps -- dubbed DeTours -- for those who
prefer to explore by car or bike.
Cyclists can peddle along more than ten
miles of scenic bike paths that follow
the river from the Valley Falls section
of Cumberland to Hamlet Avenue in
Woonsocket.
More Success
As word spread about
the Valley as a tourist destination,
some distinguished visitors found their
way to the region. They've included the
mayor of Belper, England, and other
dignitaries from his city, which was the
center of that country's 18th-century
textile industry. The visitors indicated
they had forgiven runaway son Samuel
Slater. And in 1994 President Bill
Clinton and then-First Lady Hillary
Clinton dropped by to help celebrate the
200th anniversary of the founding of
Slater's Mill. Billington visited the
White House as well, to discuss tourism
and economic development with the
president. Congressman Patrick Kennedy
helped arrange the visit.
Along the way
Billington found time to earn a
doctorate degree in tourism development
from Johnson & Wales University. Today
he and others at the BVTC are using
their expertise to promote a new
economic concept -- Sustainable Tourism
-- that encourages development of the
hospitality industry while respecting
local culture and the environment. The
Blackstone Valley Tourism Council is now
part of the Global Sustainable Tourism
Alliance, an organization established by
the United Nations.
Touring the Valley
A history of the
Blackstone Valley Tourism Council would
not be complete without a look at the
towns and cities along the river. Let's
take a little ride.
In Woonsocket, many
credit the tourism council with
encouraging residents to open the Museum
of Work and Culture, where visitors and
locals alike learn about the trials and
successes of immigrant mill workers.
"Back when I was teaching history at
Woonsocket High School, Bob Billington
used to come by to ask us about
materials that could be used in tours,"
recalls Ray Bacon, now the museum's
co-director. "When the city and the
Rhode Island Historical Society
established the museum back in 1987, he
was very much involved."
In North Smithfield,
Ruth Pacheco recalls how the tourism
council helped brain storm activities
that boost community spirit. "We were
looking for a unique way to celebrate
New Year 2000," says the owner of
Hi-on-a-Hill Herb Farm. "Bob Billington
suggested a town-wide photograph. We
rang the old mill bell at precisely 12
noon, and several hundred people
gathered on the steps of the
Congregational Church. The Fire
Department brought in their boom to lift
up Christine Keene so she could take the
shot."
In Burrillville,
Town Planner Tom Kravitz raves about the
tourism council's Culinaria Food Tours,
which take visitors to an area
restaurant -- like Thai Time in his town
-- to enjoy a meal and learn something
about the region's rich ethnic
diversity. "They've certainly had a
positive influence here," Kravitz says.
"And not only with restaurant
promotions. They've done a lot to call
attention to the walking trails we've
developed in Pascoag and other areas of
town."
Glocester business
woman Rose LaVoie, formerly owner of The
Purple Cat Restaurant, thanks the
council for bringing crowds of visitors
to town and directing them to local
establishments. "They've had farm tours
and they've brought folks to Brown &
Hopkins, our country store and the
nation's oldest," she says. ?They've
done wonders for the state's northeast
corner, which otherwise always seems to
be ignored."
In Smithfield, folks
talk about the BVTC's work to promote
the Smith-Applybee House Museum, one of
the few 17th-century stone-ender homes
left in the region. "They've brought
busloads of visitors here," says Maggie
Botelho, the museum's treasurer. "We're
mainly a volunteer organization, so
their efforts are a big plus."
In Lincoln, the
tourism council is a top promoter of
Hearthside Homestead, a 19th-century
stone mansion turned museum and one of
the state's architectural treasures.
"The council put together a self-guided
tour -- the Great Road DeTour -- that's
really made this a destination," says
Kathy Hartley, president of Friends of
Hearthside. "And they've included us in
many of their bus tours. We would never
have grown so quickly without their
help."
In Central Falls,
state Senator Betty Crowley points out
how the tourism council is reminding
people there's more to their community
than bricks and pavement. "The Sunday
afternoon river tour on the Explorer is
a great trip," she says. "They take you
to areas that almost seem like
wilderness. You see birds and wildlife
and for awhile you forget you're
surrounded by a city."
Mike Cassidy,
recently retired as Pawtucket's city
planner, has followed the council's
efforts since day one. "I remember how
people laughed when Bob Billington said
he was going to put a boat on the
river," he recalls. "Now it's a huge
success. And it's done a lot to get
people concerned about restoration of
the river."
In Cumberland, folks
are excited about plans to revitalize
Broad Street, a three-mile thoroughfare
that also extends into Pawtucket and
Central Falls. The tourism council has
teamed up with a number of organizations
to boost businesses, add landscaping,
and hold public celebrations and events.
It's just one way
the BVTC has helped the region's economy
grow, says David Balfour, a lifelong
Cumberland resident. "Tourism was once
something this area ignored, but it's no
longer forgotten," he says. "It's a
major industry. And don't let anyone
tell you the jobs generated are just
flipping burgers. A hotel manager making
a hundred thousand a year is part of the
tourism industry, too."
And he's quick to
point out that the economic benefits
stretch way beyond luring visitors to
the region. Rhode Island is working hard
to develop a new economy, based on such
industries as financial services, health
care, high technology, and
biotechnology. The Knowledge Economy,
planners call it. To bring those
companies to the state, executive must
be convinced this is a location where
educated, affluent employees would want
to call home. The Blackstone Valley
Tourism Council and its partners have
transformed the region into exactly that
sort of place.
"Do you think for a
minute," Balfour asks, "that a major
company would ask their employees to
live here if it was not the kind of
place they'd want to visit? Would a
company like Fidelity move here, and ask
their workers to move, if the Blackstone
were still a dirty, polluted river? I
don't think so."
There's still more
work to do, of course. Some communities
in the region still struggle with
poverty, environmental degradation, and
other issues. And the current recession
has hit Rhode Island hard. But over the
past 25 years enormous progress has been
made, and over the next 25 years, it
will continue.
"The Tourism Council
works to redevelop the Blackstone Valley
as a great place to work, visit, and
live," Billington says. "And I think
we're achieving that goal."
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