An Update from Our Executive Director, Amanda Davis

Visit Grove City, the official destination marketing organization for Grove City, is charged with marketing Grove City as a premier business and leisure destination, thus enriching our community’s overall quality of life. Thanks to 18 lodging properties, Grove City has the third largest travel economy in Franklin County. Our team leads marketing efforts to attract visitors, group tours, meetings, and events to our city, which creates a halo effect – the more consumers see our marketing, the more likely they are to consider Grove City as a location for a business or home relocation (per Longwoods International’s groundbreaking “Halo Effect” research).

Visitors and residents love Grove City’s abundance of adventures for young and old, big and small; we have adventure for all. From the tallest paintball castle in the Midwest and Ohio’s only National X-ball League team, Columbus LVL, to one of the few parks anywhere sponsored by revered adventure brand Recreation Equippers Inc. (REI), we’ve got adventure bragging rights. Add too that the Dream Field Playground at Windsor Park, one of the only playgrounds in Ohio to earn PlayCore’s National Demonstration Site seal for incorporating the 7 Principles of Inclusive Playground Design™ and it’s easy to see Grove City truly is an Altogether Adventure®. Visit Grove City’s work highlights the inclusive experiences and local culture we are all so proud of. From history to cuisine to art and parks, we study our market and create marketing strategies leveraging Grove City’s unique experience, made possible by the hard-working business owners and community organizers we call our partners. To guide consumers to our partners, we promote the Grove City experience via a comprehensive and ongoing marketing strategy including print, digital, social, sales, our website containing over 700 pages of content, our visitors guide, our visitor center experience, and more. According to TourismOhio director, Matt McLaren, “Themed trails continue to be a popular, engaging way to help visitors explore off-the-beaten-path locations to find diverse and memorable experiences within our state.” In 2018, Visit Grove City launched our first trail branded as a “trek” (a nod to our Altogether Adventure® brand). Since it’s inception in 2018, the Grove City Pumpkin Trek, only available during the fall season, has driven over 600 sales to Grove City businesses. Consumers are challenged to purchase pumpkin flavored, themed, or scented items to earn a free t-shirt and a special gift to those who visit every stop on the trek. In late 2019, we launched the Grove City Pizza Trek to pay homage to the plethora of delicious pies made here. Again consumers are challenged to purchase from local businesses with a minimum number of purchases required to earn a free tee.