Kathy Wolfe

Wolfe started her position as Director of the Armstrong County Tourist Bureau almost two years ago. Besides a degree in Marketing, her experience included helping out with advertising and making brochures for varies activities that her son was involved with. I met with her and was able to discover some of the exciting plans the tourist bureau is planning for the area. First of all, Kathy is in the process of organizing a movie premier for "Mothman Prophecies" that will be hitting movie screens on January 25. Since the movie was filmed in Kittanning she would like the premier to be held there as well. Kathy has been in contact with the local theaters, film office in Pittsburgh and the movie company in California trying to make this event happen. In addition, she was thinking about holding a "Mothball" to go along with the event.

The movie brought in not only a surge of business during the filming, but the town's charm drew them back. Now that the movie is done being filmed and things are back to normal in Kittanning, people have returned to shop and visit the town.

Another exciting event that is being planned for May is a train robbery to be held in Schenley at the Kiski Junction Railroad She said that they had a private event last year, the "Schenley Shakedown", and the turnout was tremendous. Kathy said that she searched for script ideas on the Internet and was fortunate enough to find someone who was willing to give her a lot of ideas. From there, she sat down with some of the board members and wrote the script. A barbecue dinner was prepared by AJ's and there were two bands for additional entertainment. A drama was acted out on the train ride as bandits riding horses overtook the train and robbed it. This was so popular that it may end up being an annual event. It certainly sounds like a lot of fun and I know that I'll be checking it out myself.

Throughout the summer the tourist bureau helps with festivals, fairs, and car shows. They also have a Country Home and Garden Show in April. Kathy said that they team up with other people to help promote events, businesses etc. within Armstrong County. They are also a great source for information. They are currently working on the 2002 Visitors Guide. They usually print about 50,000 copies a year. Anyone can receive a copy by calling 1-800-VISIT-PA, stopping in the office or by email. Kathy is also currently involved with putting together a tour book for this area.

The Armstrong County Tourist Bureau calendar of events can be found at http://www.armstrongcounty.com