The “Old Town” Mariposa show Vision,

Strategic Partnerships

For the past seven months we have been promoting “Old Town” Mariposa on the Central Valley Buzz show, broadcast on KAIL-TV in the Central Valley area from Bakersfield to Modesto. The purpose of the show is two-fold. First we want to promote a “positive” image of our Community to the world and secondly, we want to promote the Hwy. 140 entrance to Yosemite National Park and visitation to OUR Mother Lode region. The “show” also “airs”, on-demand, on our YouTube Web sites.

In the conversation with folks from the Central Valley Buzz, I began to understand the “reach” of this technology and its commercial potential. We have been promoting “Old Town” Mariposa and the surrounding area.  As a result of our promotion, we’ve seen a positive impact with increased visitation and business activity in Old Town this summer.

In general, our visitor traffic volumes in Mariposa along the Hwy. 140 corridor are reflected in the Yosemite Gate Counts. In general, and for many reasons, the 140/Arch Rock Entrance figures are low compared to other entrances to the Park.

With a little research, I’ve attached some background information, I’ve been able to look at this issue and put some ideas into perspective. The recent Yosemite Gate Counts for September 2014 pretty much tell the story and explain the trend (see attached). With only 19.7% of the people visiting the Yosemite National Park through the Highway 140 corridor, via automobile, we rank dead last in terms of SHARE of Park visitors!

The upside is that we get almost half the bus visitors BUT of all the visitors coming to the Park, only 11.7 arrive via a bus! Of course, these numbers are for September 2014 but they also include the 2013 numbers for comparison. Month by month, year by year these numbers are part of a long term trend!

OUR local tourism programs are working well for the Park but someplace along the line the town of Mariposa is coming up SHORT! Mariposa is the economic base of our County's job/business stability. As a “town”, Mariposa is the center of County employment. Our school system, and hospital add to the Town’s economic/employment stability but the visitor economy has a huge impact on private business development/stability in the town of Mariposa and the immediate surrounding communities.

The “Old Town” productions have had an impact on our visitor traffic, particularly for visitors from the Central San Joaquin Valley, and we want to expand that market. In this regard, we are looking at forming strategic partnerships with businesses and institutions in the City of Merced and designating, on our little “show” Merced as the GATEWAY to Yosemite Valley and the Southern Mother Lode area of Gold Country.

Our exploration into multi-media productions and modern communications systems, we have “stumbled” into something pretty big and it’s time we began to fully develop its potential. Over the years, Mariposa has developed a “strategic partnership” with the Oakhurst/Hwy 41 area. For many, “shopping” in Oakhurst/Fresno is the primary source of goods and services. In many “Market Studies” that I’ve seen for development in Oakhurst, Mariposa population centers are considered part of the “Market Area” for Oakhurst businesses. There is an economic connection to the Oakhurst area but it is mostly one way with respect to the flow of dollars.

When looking at strategic partners, it seems that Mariposa has more to gain from forming alliances with Merced and its immediate Central Valley neighbors. There are some strong historical linkages with Merced and today, with U.C. Merced, there are some strong modern day connections.

We are thinking strategically; it’s all about “market share”. We have 1.5 million people in the viewer-shed of the KAIL-TV broadcast area of the Central Valley, in addition to the network that we’ve developed on the Internet YouTube Channel. The Oakhurst/ Coarsegold area has 20 to 30 thousand. Our strategic partners are in the Central Valley, with respect to “market focus”!

This Central Valley “market” has been a traditional source of “off-season” and “on-season” visitation to the area and it can be a source of other economic benefits. From the perspective of audience for our “Old Town” Mariposa show, we have three; 1) Mariposa and the County in general (including Yosemite), 2) the Central Valley and 3) the World (via the WWW). From the perspective “viewership” and building audience, our program needs to focus on the Central Valley and Merced, as the transportation hub (Yarts, Amtrac, the Merced Airports) that directly links OUR town to the world and the I-5/Hwy 99 auto traffic corridors. Our show can be key to how we connect with all visitors to our community and we have strong economic, social and educational ties to Merced and these Central Valley Communities who are the “gateways” into the 140 Mariposa/Yosemite region.

From the perspective of “Old Town” Mariposa and our vision for a “community” television channel, Merced can also be a “strategic” partner. As a transit gateway to our community and Yosemite Valley, Merced becomes the first point of contact with visitors to our region and the place where we, as a community, can begin to make a positive impression. Our “Old Town” story, our history, our art and culture can all be part of this “entry” into the Mariposa/Yosemite Valley “experience”. Aside from the “visitor economy”, there is the mainstream “connect” in trade and commerce, education, jobs and economic development.

The University of California Merced Campus and Yosemite National Park are the two most powerful economic engines in the entire Central Valley region and Mariposa is strategically located between these two centers. Our “Old Town” program can support both of these centers in their missions and help them get their respective messages out into the public arena within our “market” area.

At present, there is no “local” Merced Television Channel; Fresno and Stockton are Central Valley the television broadcast hubs for the region. Like Mariposa, Merced has the potential to develop “community” TV that can be Internet based on-demand and capitalize on the evolving technology. Merced does have several Radio stations that can support of “Old Town” message to the driving public.

The Merced Sun Star is a daily (six days a week) Newspaper that is distributed in Mariposa and other Merced County communities and is linked, via ownership, with the McClatchy newsgroup (Fresno, Modesto, Sacramento BEE Newspapers) and has a Web presence that is expanding with the technology and journalism practice. The strategic linage between these Valley newspapers, and their ventures into on-line publication, provide us with a new opportunity to tell our “Old Town” Mariposa story and promote our community to people of the Central Valley.

The orientation of Mariposa’s strategic “gateway” partnerships with Oakhurst, Groveland and LeVining is NOT working for the benefit of Mariposa County as a whole and the community of Mariposa in particular. Most of the economic benefit of regional tourism at these entrances fill the county coffers of Madera, Tuolumne and Inyo Counties. Increasing our “market share” of Park visitation via the 140 corridor is NOT part of the present focus of our County and its “promotion” efforts but that does not “limit” private initiatives like the “Old Town” show.

Our “Old Town” program is not governed by these past relationships/commitments of Mariposa County agencies and we will, in coming months, be working with Mike Briggs, Chuck Leonard and a variety of business and government leaders in Merced to build our market/viewer base in the Central Valley. We will be focusing OUR efforts to build strategic alliances with various agencies and individuals in the Merced area.

“Strategic linkage” is a business concept that can play an important role in strengthening our overall economic health in and around Mariposa. In the fledgling enterprise of Mariposa Community Television, our vision needs to examine OUR strategic linkages.

There are a number of research initiatives underway at U.C. Merced that have broad public interest and a “local” Mariposa connection. In a practical sense, many of our High School students are enrolled in Merced Jr. College and we have a strong connection with the Alliance work-force economic development partnership for business support for our local economy. There are other “connections” that can be developed but most of these transcend the focus of the Multi-Media communications activities of our little show. We can, however, begin to turn some of our other local institutions/agencies towards the West, instead of the present day Eastern (Oakhurst/Fresno) focus.