Businesses Rewarded For Enticing Tourists To Calaveras County

Angels Camp, CA — The top honor went to Calaveras Big Trees State Park, which not only won the overall award but finished first in another category as well.

The Calaveras Visitors Bureau (CVB) recently announced its 2016 winners of the Innovations in Tourism Awards at its annual dinner at the Hotel Leger in Mokelumne Hill. Each year, the CVB honors businesses that have gone above and beyond to attract visitors to Calaveras through new or unique ideas, products or services. Businesses were nominated in six categories that include event, attraction, lodging, restaurant, retail and recreation. The business with the most votes was Calaveras Big Trees State Park, which also won in the Lodging category. The park was recognized for its new cabins and renovated visitor center.

The CVB provided this list of winners:

• Attraction: Brice Station Vineyards for their Hilltop Concert Series and Shakespeare on the Vine, as well as for excellent social media engagement on Instagram.
• Event: Calaveras Arts Council for their Ovations Series, free Music in the Parks, and their new Ride4Art as a fundraiser for arts in local schools.
• Retail: Sierra Nevada Adventure Company for helping to develop the popularity of disc golf in Calaveras County, inspiring more courses to open up, donating outdoor recreation photography for promotion on social media, and for providing top quality equipment, assistance and advice for visiting adventurers.
• Recreation: Moaning Cavern Adventure Park for their Zip Line Pumpkin Smash, Caroling in the Cave with Rappelling Santa and other Concerts in the Cave, bringing Wi-Fi to the bottom of Moaning Cavern for social media sharing, and attempting a Pokémon Go lure drop – offering a discount on walk tours to Pokémon Go players.
• Restaurant: Alchemy for their world class selection of specialty beers and related beer blog, as well as highly regarded special events, including wine and beer pairings.