Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tourism Historical Sites topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Prison tours draw visitors statewide; Historical Society details promotions, marketing and replica gallows unveiling
Summary
The Lansing Historical Society reported more than 1,200 visitors to prison tours since March 1, said it used a $25,000 city grant to buy billboard advertising, plans directional signage and is unveiling a replica gallows at a media day.
Tom Young, representing the Lansing Historical Society, briefed the council on the society’s prison tours and related outreach efforts and thanked the council for last year’s $25,000 appropriation.
“Our tours this year…from March 1 to right now, we've had over 1,200 visitors,” Young said, adding visitors come from outside the region and some tours are staffed by paid guides. He described regular tours on Friday–Sunday and paranormal “ghost tours” held Saturday nights that have drawn special-interest visitors. Young said the society has started paying tour guides this year and is recruiting additional volunteers.
Young told the council the Historical Society spent the $25,000 with Lamar Outdoor Advertising on four months of billboard placements in prominent Kansas City locations; he said the campaign generated strong response. “We had to sign up for 4 months, and that was for the 25,000,” he said, and noted Lamar was offering a two-month special that could be cheaper for future budgeting.
The society asked about sign permitting to place brown reflective directional signs to direct visitors from Kansas Avenue to the depot where tours start; Young said he would coordinate with the city regarding a sign permit. He also said the society recreated a replica of the original gallows from blueprints after the museum in Topeka would not release the originals. “We actually got blueprints of the actual size, and we created a replica that's nearly spot on,” Young said; he added the replica’s trapdoor is nonfunctional.
Young invited council members to a media unveiling of the replica the following morning and said the Kansas City Paranormal Group will host a special event at the prison in August with guest appearances from television paranormal teams.
Why this matters: the prison tours are bringing tourism and visitation to Lansing, the Historical Society used a city grant for regionally placed advertising, and the group is seeking city guidance on directional signage and permits.
