2009 Wings and Wildlife Festival Wins Award!

The Southern Nevada Birding and Wildlife Trails Partnership held our inaugural Wings and Wildlife Festival of Southern Nevada on March 12-15, 2009, in Laughlin, Nevada.  This was the first time such a festival was introduced to the Laughlin area, and we expected an excellent response from the local communities.  We were very surprised, and pleased, to discover that word of the festival had reached people all across the continent – and many joined us!  Additionally, we received our first award..

(excerpt from..)
Nevadans honored at Rural Roundup for outstanding work promoting rural tourism

FALLON, Nevada: Team-spirited Nevadans from across the state who volunteered their time and talent to promote tourism in rural communities were honored Thursday at the Nevada Commission on Tourism’s (NCOT) 19th Annual Rural Roundup conference.

Kari Frilot, NCOT’s Rural Grants manager, presented the Statewide Excellence in Grants Award to Cherie Westbrook of Laughlin, sales representative for the Laughlin Visitors Bureau, for the first Wings and Wildlife Festival of Southern Nevada held March 13-16.  Westbrook accepted the award on behalf of the 120-member Southern Nevada Birding & Wildlife Trails Partnership, which created the event.

The festival attracted visitors from as far away as Canada, New York, Wisconsin, Montana and Texas.  The partnership was formed after the Laughlin Tourism Committee wrote a grant to research and assess the viability of bird and nature tourism marketing in Southern Nevada.