Ready to celebrate
Historic Triangle hopes 400th anniversary has long-lasting effects

by Donna C. Gregory
for Virginia Business
July 2006

Jamestown’s 400th anniversary is still months away, but Williamsburg business owners Billy and Sharon Scruggs already are prepared for crowds of tired, hungry tourists.

The couple recently expanded their nine-room bed and breakfast, the Fife and Drum Inn, on Prince George Street by opening a restaurant and adding a family-friendly cottage to accommodate more overnight guests.
The restaurant, Retro’s, is designed to offer quick lunches for people visiting Colonial Williamsburg during the Jamestown 2007 celebration. “I think we’ll have an influx of families and many, many bus groups,” says Sharon Scruggs.

Like a massive army preparing for battle, the entire Williamsburg region is gearing up for next year’s anniversary. Businesses and attractions of all sizes in the Historic Triangle of Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown have invested an estimated $500 million to upgrade facilities for the event. Despite the frenetic activity, some folks are wondering: Will the return on investment be worth it?

One believer in a profitable outcome is Jeanne Zeidler, executive director of the Jamestown 2007 steering committee. “I think we are on a path to do something that will make us all proud,” says Zeidler. “Things are beginning to happen and people are beginning to pay attention.”

Television and print advertisements already are running in major markets publicizing the anniversary celebration that potentially could draw international attention.

One vehicle for publicity is the Godspeed, a reproduction of one of the three ships that brought English settlers to Jamestown in 1607. In May the ship set out on an 83-day voyage along the Eastern seaboard to promote many regional festivities scheduled through September 2007. The ship will make stops in Philadelphia, New York City and Boston, each with an accompanying Landing Party Festival, designed to focus attention on the significance of Jamestown in U.S. history. “The ship is traveling to major tourism markets for Virginia, so we’re hoping to reinforce what is already a very healthy industry,” says Zeidler.

Event organizers expect the anniversary to attract 2.4 million tourists. That total includes people who will visit the Godspeed during its East Coast tour.

To date, the Jamestown 2007 steering committee, which is actually a subcommittee of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, has secured three “founding colony sponsors,” including Norfolk Southern Corp., the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and Verizon Communications, to help cover the costs of the $32 million celebration.

But for all the committee’s recent momentum, some critics say its efforts are too little, too late. “[The anniversary] was supposed to be an event of international significance,” says Ivor Massey Jr., former president of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA). Now, he says, “we’ll be lucky if Jamestown 2007 is even an event of statewide significance.”

Massey’s criticism stems from the amount of private dollars raised thus far. During initial planning, the steering committee had hoped to bring on a dozen major sponsors to pay for 12 signature events, but they were unsuccessful in part because prospective sponsors didn’t understand the significance of the Jamestown 2007 celebration.

After changing its marketing strategy, the committee began to promote the event as “America’s 400th anniversary,” a move they hoped would generate more national interest. The tactic also failed, says Massey. “The results speak for themselves. They don’t have much private money raised. So guess who’s going to pay for whatever goes on? The taxpayer!”

The lack of sponsors means the state will ultimately spend about $19 million on the anniversary celebration, according to Jamestown 2007.

Yet some say the investments to improve the region’s historic attractions and programming are already paying off. “In 2005, for the tourist season, which is March through September, we did see gains of about an 8 percent increase in [the number] of room nights” at hotels and motels, says Dick Schreiber, president of the Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance.

Additionally, Colonial Williamsburg reported an 11 percent increase in attendance in April compared with the same period last year after introducing its “Revolutionary City” program. That’s good news, because attendance at Colonial Williamsburg had declined from about 900,000 paying visitors during the early 1990s to 707,333 paid admissions in 2004.

“We had been concerned for a number of years that attendance was declining at historic sites and based on research, we felt we needed to provide an opportunity for our guests that was more engaging, that had relevance to their lives today,” says Colin Campbell, president of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

“ The Revolutionary City” attempts to accomplish those goals by engaging visitors in an outdoor drama with re-enactors creating scenes from before and during the Revolutionary War.

Colonial Williamsburg has also invested about $220 million in construction during the past decade, including a major restoration of the Williamsburg Lodge and Conference Center, which will reopen this September. “I think [2007] is going to have a very positive effect, but, you know, we are not waiting for 2007,” says Campbell.

Neither are historic attractions at Jamestown. In May, Historic Jamestowne (the site of Jamestown) opened a $4.9 million exhibition facility called the Archaearium, which showcases archaeological discoveries from the ruins of the original settlement. The Archaearium is the centerpiece of a $63 million master plan, developed by the National Park Service and APVA Preservation Virginia, which also includes the opening of a new visitor’s center in preparation for the 400th anniversary.

The Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, which operates the state-owned Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center, also is implementing an $80.4 million plan to upgrade its facilities for Jamestown 2007 visitors and beyond.

Jamestown Settlement (a reproduction of the colonial village) has added education and visitor services wings and improved its parking lots, entrance and plaza to handle the expected increases in visitors during 2007. New permanent galleries will open this fall, effectively doubling the amount of space previously available for exhibitions. Jamestown Settlement is already seeing a rise in its attendance numbers. As of April, paid admissions were up by 10 percent compared with the same time period last year. In 2005, the settlement reported 431,361 paying visitors.

In October, the Yorktown Victory Center is expected to unveil a newly renovated entrance gallery and a long-running exhibition titled, “The Legacy of Yorktown: Virginia Beckons” in conjunction with the 225th anniversary of the Battle of Yorktown.

“ People who come to the Historic Triangle are going to walk away with a really good experience and a really different experience,” says Schreiber. All the effort will have a long-lasting impact on the region, Zeidler predicts, by increasing the awareness of the importance of the historic sites — “not just for 2006 or 2007, but for years beyond that.”

It doesn’t hurt to have a good backup plan, though. Because so much of its economy depends on the fancies of tourists and historic tourism has nationally trended downward in recent years, the Williamsburg area is looking to diversify. Initiatives are under way to capitalize on the region’s proximity to the College of William & Mary and to Hampton Roads.

Last April, the James City County Technology Incubator opened in Ironbound Village, not far from Discovery Business Park in New Town. That mixed-use development combines housing with retail and office space using concepts of New Urbanism. “The spirit of this is an attempt to try to grow [our] own technology-driven companies,” says Keith Taylor, James City County’s economic development director. “It is our hope that we can capitalize on some of the entrepreneurs in our area.”

The incubator will lease space to emerging technology companies, offering support and networking opportunities as they attempt to gain a foothold in the marketplace.

With a little more than 2,000 square feet of office space, there will be room for only about six tech firms initially. “I don’t think it’s going to be a question of being able to fill the incubator, but more a question of selecting the right companies that have the highest probability of success,” says Taylor.

“ A larger facility might be considered later on,” adds Tim Early, incubator director.

As part of Williamsburg’s push to attract tech firms, plans are in the works to create five “technology zones” that will offer financial incentives to companies that meet certain criteria.

Additionally, developers are taking notice of the region’s high quality of life. This month, Roseland Property Co. will break ground on High Street, a $200 million mixed-use development along Richmond Road near Colonial Williamsburg. The complex will combine mid-rise condos, town houses and luxury apartments with retail and office space, and will be anchored by a seven-screen, 1,200-seat cinema café.

Quarterpath at Williamsburg is also in the development pipeline. Centered around a new medical campus, this mixed-use project will include single-family homes and town houses along with supporting retail.

“ We’re never going to forget that tourism is our economic engine and we still want to play to our strengths,” says Michele Mixner DeWitt, Williamsburg’s economic development manager, “[but] we are going to look in other directions.”