STAFF REPORTS
Clarksville has landed the 2012 convention of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, which should bring more than 1,000 people to the area, the local tourism bureau announced Monday.
“We are very happy to have been successful in our bid,” said Jim Keith, executive director of the Clark-Floyd Counties Convention and Tourism Bureau, in a press release. “We had a group of very dedicated people work on the bid proposal and their efforts obviously paid off in landing the convention.”
The six-day convention — from July 27 to Aug. 1, 2012 — will bring members of the association from across the country back to the location of the nation’s second of 15 signature events held during the 2003-06 bicentennial commemoration of the expedition by co-captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and the Corps of Discovery.
The explorers first joined forces on the expedition at the Falls of the Ohio, where they recruited the nucleus of the expedition, the so-called “nine young men from Kentucky,” enlisted them into the Army and began training prior to their Oct. 26, 1803, departure. Together, the departure and salute to the life of Charles Floyd will be the underlying theme of the meeting and its associated lectures and presentations, the press release says.
Phyllis Yeager, a former member of the convention bureau’s board of managers, carried the bid proposal to a foundation meeting Saturday in Denver and made the formal presentation. She is a member of the board of directors of the foundation, as well as a member of Indiana’s Lewis and Clark Commission-Foundation.
“Phyllis was the perfect person to carry the bid proposal to the foundation,” Keith said. “She has contacts with the board of directors and is highly respected within the Lewis and Clark community. More importantly, she had the drive and inclination to get the job done.”
The foundation’s board voted unanimously to hold the annual convention in Clarksville, the press release says. About 1,200 people attended the 2009 national convention in Memphis, Tenn.
The 2012 convention will incorporate a two-day youth camp at Clarksville’s Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Park.
“This event will help expose the next generation to the Lewis and Clark story and make them ambassadors carrying the story of the importance of our area across the country,” Keith said.
*****************
ON THE WEB
• Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation — www.lewisandclark.org
