Horse enthusiasts, antique collectors and those just looking for something to do all made their way to Dinky's Auction Center this week during the Southern Indiana Carriage, Antique, Machinery and Horse Auction which wrapped up its sales Thursday. While the auction may have been the only event this week, the whole month of September has brought visitors from across the U.S. to Daviess County. With those visitors also comes an increase in revenue for area businesses and an influx of innkeeper's tax.
The entire county benefits from this jam-packed month of festivals and special events including the Amish Quilt Sale held at Simon J. Graber, the Montgomery Ruritan's Turkey Trot, Washington's Art, Wine and Cheese Festival, the White River Valley Antique Show, Chandelier Barn Market and the horse auctions.
Knepp’s Restaurant said they look forward to the horse sales every year. They prepare extra food and have back-up staff on duty since business booms in September.
Internet Sales and Marketing Coordinator for the Gasthof Village, Cameron Sanders, said that the horse sale brings in a variety of visitors from all over the country.
"It bumps our business up tremendously. We had a very good turnout over the weekend and the weekend of the Turkey Trot and Chandelier Barn Market, we had at least 1,500 people alone just that weekend," said Sanders.
Sanders also stated that the hotel is booked a year in advance for September and the hotel has been at full capacity.
"Wednesday night is our senior night for dinner at the restaurant. Usually we have about 300 people in and out, but we had over 250 extra people Wednesday evening," said Sanders. "Tuesday evening, we had 439 people come in to eat that day. Normally, it’s around 80-90 people on Tuesday nights. It really benefits us a lot."
Sanders also commented that on Sunday, the Gasthof served a table of people that had risen at 2 a.m. to make the trip to Daviess County so that they would be able to eat 30 minutes before closing time. And, they then stayed in the area for the horse sales this week.
The positive from all of the festivals and the visitor inflow is that it allows Daviess County to keep its tourism booming. Innkeepers tax is collected from every hotel room in Daviess County when someone stays overnight. A 5 percent over and above the room's cost is collected in tax. For a $100 room, the county's Visitors Bureau makes $5 to be used to promote the county.
Executive Director of the Daviess County Chamber of Commerce, Samantha Bobbitt, who also manages the Visitors Bureau, along six other board members communicate at their monthly meetings about the four top drivers for tourism in our county. They include:
*Ag and Culinary Tourism: A form of farm and food directing market.
*Arts and Cultural Tourism: Art, Architecture, and traditions shape the identity and way of life of an area.
*Heritage Tourism: Characterized by the people, places and activities that represent the past.
*Outdoor Recreation and Sport Tourism: Driven by access to outdoor activities and abundant resources such as parks, forests, waterways, bodies of water and land masses.
"We try to promote different festivals and activities that are going in the county so we can bring more people back in. Tourism is something that helps bring in money from outside the community into our community and helps us to be strong and use other people's money so we aren't spending our own," said Bobbitt.
Daviess County ranks 26th in the state for tourism, according to the 2012 Economic Impact of Tourism in Daviess County.
Bobbitt said, "Industries, festival events, etc. for tourism is a business entity and the whole idea is to draw people from other areas and bring them here."