Marshall County Visitors Guide

I received a copy of the Marshall County Visitors Guide in the Culver Citizen last week.  Then I received a copy in the Pilot News.  Really!?!  Yes, this is a rant…

Lets start with a little history…  Easterday Construction Co., Inc. has been a member of the Culver Chamber of Commerce since well before I came to join the company.  I served on the board for several years, during which time we were asked to budget for a page in the Marshall County Visitors Guide.  I had the distinction of being the sole no vote on that item every year.  I saw no value in it for the majority of our membership.  The cost of this ad at more than 25% of the annual Chamber budget seemed ill-advised considering some of the other programs that we were successfully pursuing.  Needless to say I was overruled.  The arguments for supporting the guide were mainly two:  1)  Culver was prominently displayed in the guide and 2)  It was designed to reach an audience outside Marshall County to attract tourism.  My rebuttals were that Culver was prominently displayed anyway since our town is the primary tourist destination for the County and that with the advent of the Internet, how often was a paper guide book of value?

Receiving two copies of the guide in the same week frustrated me on a several levels.  Not only do I feel this was a colossal waste of time in ‘Preaching to the Choir‘ and thus negating argument #1 above, but having looked through the document it is an embarrassment.  Spelling and grammar errors throughout made me cringe, but let me just concentrate on the Culver specific items:

1. The guide is not dated, but it gives specific dates.  It is apparently only designed to encompass 2015, but since it arrived at the end of May we have ignored more than a third of the year including some significant Culver events like the Winter Fest that aren’t on the calendar (page 6-7).
2. The Culver paragraph on the dining page (page 8) would be frustrating if you weren’t from Culver.  “…try a slice of Indiana’s best pizza…”  Where?  “…even Asian-Pacific rim…”  WHERE!?!  I understand being fair and non-specific, but does confusing your audience really do anyone a service?  Would it not be appropriate to include a line about Lakehouse Grille having their hamburgers voted as some of the best in northern Indiana?  The phrase “Indiana’s Best Pizza” is from Papa’s ad on the next page.  I know that, but would someone unfamiliar with Culver make that leap?  And that’s not to mention that the sentence from which I lifted those phrases has a missing word…
3. The Culver pages (30-31) leave something to be desired.
   1. Neither page lists links to the Culver Chamber of Commerce or the Culver Visitors Center websites.
   2. There is a picture of the Vaughn Equestrian Center at the bottom of the page, but without a label.  The Culver Academies paragraph talks about the school on its 1800-acre [sic] campus, and then stating “The building resembles castles from long ago…”.  Ummm…  if it is referring to the Vaughn Equestrian Center, that’s not clear and makes it sound like it is the only building on campus.  If they are referring to various Culver Academies buildings that fit that description, shouldn’t it have been “The buildings resemble…”?
   3. The correct phrase is “Top of the line“.
   4. I don’t know the song “count the stars”.  I guess I need to pay more attention because the birds are singing it here.
4. “…Must Dos…” on page 34 really should be “Must-dos”  to make the colloquialism clear and keep it from looking like we’ve thrown in a random Spanish 2.
5. The Original Root Beer Stand highlight on Page 34 has some serious punctuation issues and an extra “a” in the first sentence.
6. The golf highlight on page 34 leaves you guessing which course as 36 holes and which is a member of the Pete Dye Golf Trail.
7. The ad on the back page for Culver Academies reads oddly.  “…intentional and differentiated leadership programs…”  Intentional?  I suppose that’s as opposed to an inadvertent or unintentional program?

I know that it’s easy for me to take pot shots at this from the side lines.  Lord knows you’ll find errors throughout my blog and webpages despite my best efforts.  I guess I expect more from a professionally prepared document like this one.  I’m disappointed…