Photo by correspondent Corrina Sisk-Casson
Cindy Milligan, director of Regional Tourism and ABC Program addresses
the group about promoting the Sequatchie Valley.
DUNLAP, Tenn. — For a few months, Artist Hands of Sequatchie Territory has been trying to gather area artists into a united group.
More than a dozen people representing groups from Blooms and Baskets Spinners to the Bledsoe Historical Society and city and county officials came to a recent meeting to discuss opportunities ranging from grants to tourism.
“It’s admirable that you are meetings,” said keynote speaker Cindy Milligan from the Southeast Tennessee Development District. “A lot of communities are struggling. They don’t have near the variety of folks [represented here]. And all are different.”
Most discussion was about bringing tourism to the Sequatchie Valley. The development district is creating a self-guided driving tour called the Sequatchie By-Way.
“I think that might be one of the first ways to come together, because that’s going to be a unique effort where everybody is going to be talking together about what we have along this three-county region,” Milligan said. “So that in itself may be a jumping-off place where people come together with their ideas to create more of a partnership and come up with ways of doing things more effectively.”