Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Twelve tour operator members from the American Bus Association headed back to Indianapolis Sunday after completing the "Northern Exposure Tour" of northern Indiana. Tour operators were from a variety of places, such as Seattle, Wash., New York City and Nova Scotia.
Mary Kittrell, Kosciusko Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Mike Woolfington, Marshall County CVB, accompanied the group throughout Lake, Porter, LaPorte, St. Joseph, Elkhart, LaGrange, Steuben, Marshall and Kosciusko counties. The bus operator for the tour was Turner of Terre Haute.
The tour was one of several familiarization, or FAM, tours that members of the ABA could select following the ABA Marketplace, which is the motorcoach and group travel industry's leading business event. During the convention portion of the event in Indianapolis, motorcoach and tour owners and operators met with travel industry representatives in prescheduled one-on-one appointments. This is the second time the event was in Indianapolis; last year's marketplace was in New York City.
The Kosciusko County CVB also sponsored a special room at the ABA Marketplace that provided a presentation on Winona Lake. The exhibit included re-creation of a "tent revival," complete with a tent and an impersonation of Billy Sunday. The display also contained additional information and displays of the Billy Sunday Home and the early days of Winona Lake.
The group left Indianapolis Thursday afternoon and headed for Lake County and the John Dillinger Museum. Friday morning the tour continued to Porter County, with its Indiana Dunes and a tour of the Hoosier Bat Co., where 50,000 baseball bats are made each year, including Sammy Sosa's bats. In the afternoon, the tour moved to Laporte County, with a visit to Odyssey 2003, an outdoor sculpture display at Purdue North Central.
The stop in South Bend Friday evening featured the University of Notre Dame, dinner and entertainment at the College Football Hall of Fame and a night at the Morris Inn. Saturday morning was spent in Amish Country, including a visit to the Shipshewana Flea Market and other shops.
The next stop provided a view of the well-hidden architecture of the Ancilla Domini Chapel and a visit to the Swan Lake Golf Course and Resort to look at some of the $13-million renovation recently completed.
The final stop before returning to Indianapolis was Warsaw and Winona Lake. Before dinner at the Boathouse, Brent Wilcoxson gave an overview of Winona Lake. After dinner, the group had a tour of the Wagon Wheel Theatre and stayed at the Ramada Plaza Hotel.
Tom Jaffa, president and CEO of Jaffa Travel and Marketing Services, Seattle, said, "We came on the northern Indiana FAM because my wife (Diane, vice president and partner in the business) wanted to see Amish Country. Before the FAM, I didn't really consider northern Indiana as a possibility for a tour from Seattle, now I'm already considering a 'mystery trip,' flying into Chicago and taking a motorcoach tour of many of the sites we've visited."
When asked what impressed them most, the Jaffas spoke of the genuine hospitality and how welcome they felt. Tom added, "Our business is based on relationships, and we've made a number of very positive contacts."
