On a bright fall day, Tony Weachock, Schuylkill Haven, was riding his bicycle on the Schuylkill River Heritage Trail. While cycling, he took a photograph showing his point of view of the path flanked by trees and dotted with hundreds of yellow, brown and red leaves. That shot would become representative of Schuylkill County for 2014.
"He does a lot of biking and hiking and kayaking, and he generously gave us that shot for the cover of this year's visitors guide. It was taken in southern Schuylkill County," Regina Gargano, executive director of the Schuylkill County Visitors Bureau, said Tuesday.
For the third year in a row, the Schuylkill County Visitors Bureau has published its annual visitors guide in-house. Through a bit of networking, Gargano said the bureau was able to get a 52-page guide, the same size as the one published last year, at a better rate.
The bureau had 100,000 copies of its 2013 guide printed by Seiders Printing Co., Pottsville, through a facility in State College, KB Offset, at a cost of "approximately $32,000," Gargano said.
The bureau had 100,000 copies of its 2014 guide printed by Times Printing Co., Random Lake, Wis., at a cost of "just under $29,000," Donna Setlock, the bureau's office manager, said Tuesday.
"The Pennsylvania Association of Travel and Tourism have a lot of vendor connections and they introduce us to a lot of vendors in the tourism industry," Gargano said.
The 2014 guide came in last week and the bureau is working to distribute copies to businesses and tourist attractions across the county and at state welcome centers and visitors bureaus in counties, including Dauphin, Cumberland, Susquehanna, Luzerne, Lehigh, Chester, Centre, Pike, Bucks, Columbia, Montour, Allegheny and Erie, Gargano said.
Copies are also available at the bureau's office at Union Station in Pottsville.
The guide includes more than 10 local photos - some were submitted, with the others taken by Keri A. Johnson, the bureau's communications coordinator. On Tuesday, she pointed to a few she took, which included photos for an ad for Roma Pizzeria and Restaurant, 116 W. Market St., Pottsville, on page 30. The photos show highlights of the restaurant's recent renovation and expansion project.
"Mark Major shot this photo," Johnson said, pointing to a photo of bicycle riders in a City Cycle event in the City of Pottsville on page 3.
Through the years, the bureau has considered numerous options to publish its annual guide. In 2010, it hired an independent firm to print the 2011 guide at no cost. But the bureau was not pleased with the results, Gargano said previously
When the 48-page 2011 "Official Schuylkill County Visitors Guide" was released in February 2011, some county residents called the bureau to complain because it contained photos that were not representative of the county.
So the bureau developed its 2012 guide in-house. With positive feedback, the bureau continued the trend.
Gargano is in charge of advertising sales. Donna Setlock, the bureau's office manager, handles the billing. And Johnson uses Photoshop and other software to do the layout.
The bureau's board of directors has a Visitors Guide Committee that approves of the final product before it goes to print. Its members include Jerry Enders, Noreen O'Boyle, Dave Crouse, Cindy Nettles and J. Clair Zimmerman.
The guide also contains information from more than 60 local advertisers and a fold-out map of the county.
"Don't forget to mention the QR code," Johnson said, pointing to the black and white square icon the size of a die at the upper right-hand corner of the cover.
QR codes are a type of barcode that can be read by many cellphones and smartphones.
This is the first year the visitors bureau put one on the cover of its visitors guide.
"If you wave your smartphone over it, it will take you right to our website," Johnson said.