By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The Olive Hill Tourism Commission was established late last year, and the members of the commission have been working on the best way to promote tourism in the city. Olive Hill Tourism has funded several projects and is considering more, but tourism commission president Jeremy Rayburn said they are taking a measured approach and are not rushing the process. This is their approach, he said, in spite of the fact that the relatively new commission has little to no external regulation.
“There was supposed to be an ordinance that stated we (the tourism commission) couldn’t spend anything over $20,000 without the city’s approval,” Rayburn said. “But that resolution sort of slipped through the cracks.”
Rayburn said that he plans to let the city know everything the commission votes on anyway, regardless of whether or not that resolution is in place.
“The city needs to be kept in the loop,” he said. “I think it would be kind of shady if they weren’t. That way they know where the city’s tax money is going.”
Rayburn said the things the commission has voted for so far have mainly been sponsorships of events like last year’s Bigfoot Festival that pulled in over 5,000 people to the downtown area and other events such as the Policeman’s Block Party. The commission has also matched funds for the renovation of the caboose at the Depot, a project that is ongoing.
“We also gave money to Trail Town to build bridges for their new walking trails,” Rayburn said.
“The caboose is supposed to be done by the end of the month,” he added. “I have been in there and looked at it, and saw how they were progressing.”
The caboose project consisted of a complete restoration to its original state, Rayburn said. This included sandblasting of metal parts, replacement of some panels, and a fresh coat of paint in the originally available colors.
Rayburn joked that he wasn’t a huge fan of the yellow to be used, but at one point in the past the Caboose was yellow.
“If you go back and look at the old C&O colors,” Rayburn said, “They were blue and yellow. I would have preferred a blue caboose, but it is what it is.”
Trail Town was the organization to originally spearhead the caboose restoration project, Rayburn said. The organization was able to secure funding via a donation from McDonald’s, and then the Olive Hill Tourism Commission agreed to match the funds contributed by that corporation. The project, he said, began last summer and is now nearing completion.
Rayburn said there have been other things the commission has contributed to as well, such as city Christmas lights which, he said, will be an annual expense. Something the commission will be voting to address in the future (possibly the spring of 2026) is the downtown area.
“We need to get that area situated and cleaned up,” Rayburn said. “We didn’t get to it last year because we ran out of time.”
The Olive Hill Tourism Commission is open to ideas and projects that will encourage people to visit Olive Hill, Rayburn said.
“You always want to leave something better than the way you found it,” he said.
But there is a way to go about it, and people and organizations need to be aware that any idea they bring to the commission for funding will need to be voted on by commission members at regular meetings, or in some cases at special, called meetings. So, it is in everyone’s best interest, he said, to plan ahead accordingly.
Olive Hill Tourism Commission Meetings are on the first Tuesday of the month, at 5:30 pm, at the Olive Hill Police Station. All meetings are open to the public, and a time is typically set aside for public comments.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
