UPDATE June 2009: We need to assign writers for the guide soon, and since the entire guide is written by the proverbial infinite number of monkeys with the infinite number of typewriters, we are basically putting TONS of newspaper on the ground here at the office. Please get your suggestions in for stories soon!
Two years ago Time Magazine punted on their “person of the year” award, deciding that their person of the year was: You.
It was quite the splash – the cover was a mirror, so whoever was holding it was the person featured. The New York Times talked about it, as did CNN. Newsweek even had the “conventional wisdom” graph give it the controversial sideways-double arrow.
All those publications have since been replaced by twitter.
On an iphone, it actually reflects...
In that tradition, the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau, gatekeepers of all things wine country in Sonoma County, have elected to stop guessing what it is YOU want in the 2010/2011 Visitor Guide. Instead, you are going to write it.
Call it crowdsourcing, wiki-guides, VisitorGuidetwopointoh, or open-source guide books. Just don’t call it laziness, because that’s what the boss has been saying.
This year we had great stories on the Dry Creek General Store, the Russian River, the dramatic coastline north of Jenner, how to read a wine label and more.
(If you want all of the stories, you have to order the guide and Craig will mail you one. Go here to get one.)
So – What are the undiscovered stories of Sonoma County?
Who is begging for a feature? If not a feature, who is worthy of a sidebar, or at the very least, a “charticle?”
(Hey wine country blimp- no rides, no mentions! Call me?)
Ideas in comments! Any and all shall be entertained!
(And if you write for cheap, and by cheap I mean free, let us know. Because that’s about our budget on this.)
And look for the @SonomaVisitorGuide in 2011 on whatever has replaced twitter.
Comments...
5 CommentsThis is awesome. I think taking past visitor and resident ideas gives an insider perspective from folks who’ve done all of the traditional tourist to-do’s as well as some not so traditional. I think they also can give new light to something traditional and make it something that visitors would love to see again and again.
I look at Sonoma real estate at least every other day, visit once or twice per year and have family that live in the valley. It’s my favorite travel destination and hope to one day call Sonoma home. I will also be in Sonoma the last two weeks of May this year. I’ll definitely be giving some thought to this and provide some ideas.
I do have one idea already that I want to let bake a bit more before I submit but it’s something I’ve been looking for and as of right now, I haven’t quite found what I’ve been looking for so perhaps I’ve found a not yet discovered niche that would be great for the future guides.
Cheers! Great idea!
Thanks, Carrie
I would love to read an article with a holiday guide for wineries, restaurants etc… for Easter, Christmas, New Years. It would even be better if you highlighted special events over the holidays that were kid friendly. For example Rosso and Bianco winery has an easter egg hunt for the kids while the parents can taste champagne!! Wish I had known about that earlier as that sounds really really nice!
Also, after commenting I realized that since I do not have a photo that you defaulted to a paper bag for my head. That makes me very sad. How about putting your grape logo there instead!?!
Christy – we will work on changing the image, but in the meantime, you can customize your display image by registering your email and uploading a photo to http://www.gravatar.com. Hope the helps!
I’d like to see more about where/how to experience SoCo’s stunning nature–perhaps an article on eco-tourism: Farm Trails, ecoring.org, farm stays, Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, Hikes through Landpaths/Open Space District, Coastwalk, nature preserves, etc., etc.
It seems a new so-called “wine country” is popping up every day. Ok, maybe you can plant some vineyards in some God-forsaken spot of the world. Perhaps you’ll get good wine. Maybe a few nice restaurants will pop up as well. But does that make it a good wine country vacation? Do they have an ocean and redwoods and river? (For that matter, does Napa?) I think not. Sonoma is the best place for a wine country vacation because we have so much natural beauty to offer in addition to food and wine.