Hays CVB
The light poles on Vine Street from 27th to 48th Street will get special attention from the Hays Department of Public Works in the next few weeks as new welcome banners are installed.
Banners were purchased by the Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), whose staff hopes they will do much more than welcome visitors.
“I want the banners to work harder than that,” said CVB Executive Director Melissa Dixon.
“Our goal is for these banners to welcome visitors, but also to inform them of unique Hays attractions, like our historic Fort and the Sternberg Museum of Natural History.”
The banner designs feature bold graphics and bright colors created by Joe McKenna, the CVB’s graphic design intern, who stayed on as a part-time employee after graduating from Fort Hays State University.
One particular design boasts Hays and Ellis County’s title of “The German Capital of Kansas” and features a dancing couple wearing traditional German dress.
When it became difficult to find imagery of dancers in authentic German attire, CVB staff called on a local couple for help.
Leo and Viola Dorzweiler, of the community of Catharine, are special friends of the CVB. Last fall, the couple accompanied CVB staff and Hays Mayor James Meier to Westport, a historic neighborhood in Kansas City, MO, to teach German polka dancing at the area’s first Oktoberfest celebration.
The Dorzweilers, who have been married – and dance partners – for 64 years, obliged a CVB request to pose for pictures: Leo in his lederhosen and Viola in her dirndl. McKenna then used the photos, taken by CVB Marketing Manager Brandon Cooley, for the basis of the German banner design.
The result is an authentic representation that friends of the Dorzweilers recognize immediately.
“When visitors walked by printouts of the German banner design in our office, they’d point and say, ‘Oh, that’s Leo!’” said Dixon.
Previous welcome banners eventually became a casualty of strong Kansas winds. Public Works employees are working with the banner provider, Rupp Arts and Signs, to secure the banners with additional zip ties in order to provide extra reinforcement.
Last Friday morning, Service Division employees Jake Erickson and Mike Bliss were installing the new banners high atop light poles on the east side of Vine, just north of the Hays Welcome Center.
Phase two of the banner project involves a partnership with Fort Hays State to add gold Tiger banners on 8th Street as visitors enter the FHSU campus.
The CVB is funded entirely through Transient Guest Tax, a tax paid by guests on lodging rentals.
The Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau is located in the Hays Welcome Center at 2700 Vine Street.
For additional information on CVB efforts or community events, call 785-628-8202 or go to www.VisitHays.com.