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May. 19, 2011
After nearly eight years in the making, the Garrett County Heritage Area is close to certification. GC Chamber of Commerce president/CEO Nicole Christian presented an update report on the issue to the county commissioners on Tuesday afternoon. The GC Community Action Committee’s Christine Carter also attended the meeting.
The chamber, with assistance from Community Action, is overseeing the heritage project and will manage the area and its plan, once certification is achieved.
The Maryland Heritage Areas Program was created by the state in 1996, and the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority (MHAA) was established as its administrator. Garrett County was recognized as a proposed Heritage Area in 2003.
The purpose of the program is to link resource preservation with economic development and tourism.
“Maryland’s Heritage Areas are locally designated and state certified regions where public and private partners make commitments to preserving historical, cultural, and natural resources for sustainable economic development through heritage tourism,” Christian said.
Reading an MHAA description, she added, on the local level, Heritage Areas focus community attention on often under-appreciated aspects of history, living culture, and distinctive natural areas, thus fostering a stronger sense of pride in the places where Marylanders live and work.
“If you think about this definition, this is Garrett County to a ‘T,'” Christian said. “So it only makes sense that we are in this process of moving toward becoming a certified Heritage Area.”
She noted that heritage tourism is on a good, upward trend.
“We see this as a real opportunity – a way for us to grow this industry,” the president said about certification.
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