‘Unusual to the Core’ is space’s new tourism slogan | Winchester Star

WINCHESTER – Winchester and Frederick Counties are “unusual to the core”.

The 2021 tourism campaign was launched on Thursday morning in Winchester-Frederick County Visitor Center, 1400 S. Pleasant Valley Road, in a special presentation to dozens of invited representatives from area governments, businesses, and community organizations.

At the heart of the launch was a video with Winchester Mayor David Smith, Frederick County’s Board Chairman Charles S. DeHaven Jr., and Vice Chairman Bob Wells, and Virginia Tourism Corporation CEO Rita McClenny.

“When you look at the reasons people come to visit, it’s really all about your heritage – music, agriculture, history, food,” McClenny said on the video.

“We have some of the most beautiful scenery,” said Wells. “We also have an abundance of farmers markets and orchards.”

“There are great opportunities for visitors to hike, walk, cycle and horse-ride,” added DeHaven.

It was no accident that DeHaven and Wells cited the numerous outdoor activities in the northern Shenandoah Valley. Justin Kerns, executive director of Winchester-Frederick County’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, said COVID-19 has saved many travelers from being closely with others, which is why destinations that offer a range of outdoor activities always do over time have become more popular last year.

Smith used his time in the video to discuss some of the other attributes of the region.

“There’s shopping, there’s restaurants, everything,” he said. “We have Civil War history too, Patsy Cline, and that’s just a couple of things.”

Amanda Carter from Creative charretteThe New York-based marketing agency that launched the Uncommon to the Core campaign said the goal is to bring Winchester and Frederick Counties to people within driving distance who want a getaway. To do this, print, broadcast, streaming, and display ads for the northern Shenandoah Valley are served primarily in locations such as Baltimore, Northern Virginia, Washington, DC, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

“That’s about two years,” Carter said on Thursday.

Kerns said that work on the “Uncommon to the Core” was well advanced when the COVID-19 pandemic hit a year ago, which is why the transport was temporarily suspended. Now that people are receiving vaccines and hopefully the coronavirus threat is subsiding, the time has come to launch the new campaign.

Now that it’s done, Carter said she was optimistic that the new funding will be key to strengthening the local tourism industry.

“Uncommon to the Core is a business tool for economic growth and vitality in the region,” she said. “All the things that are great and special about the community went into this plan.”

For more information on Uncommon to the Core and what to see and do in Winchester and Frederick Counties, visit visitwinchesterva.com.