CVB wraps up inaugural Austin dining challenge
Published 10:39 am Tuesday, January 20, 2015
The Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau is calling the inaugural Be a Tourist in Your Own Hometown Dining Challenge a huge success.
In July 2014, the CVB debuted the challenge for people to experience at least 30 different dining options within the Austin City limits before the end of 2014. CVB Executive Director Nancy Schnable was excited about how the challenge went after she brought it with her when she started the job about a year ago.
Schnabel
“It was very successful,” she said. “It got people into the restaurants trying new things, so we thought it was good.”
After dining in Austin, the participants needed to turn in 30 different receipts to the CVB office for a chance to win $100 in chamber bucks. The first person to successfully complete the challenge would automatically win $100 in chamber bucks, all other successful submissions were entered into a drawing for additional $100 in chamber bucks. In July, the first winner was Mary McNiff.
On Jan. 19, the CVB drew two more winners from the many entries. The winners were Bridget Tapp and Linda Calhoun. Calhoun announced after being a winner in the dining challenge that she would donate her $100 chamber bucks to the Mower County Humane Society to purchase food for the animals.
“It was fun to see people bring in their receipts, most people visited a new restaurant or a place they hadn’t been in a while,” Schnable said in a press release.
The dining challenge gave people incentive to try new places and experience the more than 60 dining options Austin has to offer. Entries were from Austin residents as well as residents from Glenville, Brownsdale and Lansing. Once all the submissions were added up there was more than $6,000 spent by challenge participants.
“It was good exposure for our local restaurants and a nice reminder of the incredible dining options we have right here in Austin,” Schnable said in the release.
Schnable said the participants had fun and were excited to find restaurants they had never gone to, hadn’t been to in a while, or didn’t even know existed.
“The response was very positive from all the participants,” she said.
Schnable said they will put on the event in 2015, but hinted there will be a new twist to it.
“You’ll have to wait and see,” she said.
