Tour Lake County officials reflect on successful 2025, eye enhancements in 2026
Published by: The News-Herald
By Chad Felton
Original article found here
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in a series looking at what Lake County communities, agencies, and school districts experienced in 2025 and what they are facing in 2026.
It’s been another successful year for the Lake County Visitors Bureau, now known as Tour Lake County.
The organization again took home several statewide marketing awards, launched a winning countywide community event and secured its spot on a handful of standout lists, including the Willoughby Western Lake County Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the Year.
Additionally, Executive Director Neil Stein was named Business Leader of the Year by the Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce and was listed on the Cleveland 500.
Props
The official destination marketing organization was once again recognized at the Ohio Travel Association’s Conference on Travel, taking home seven statewide marketing awards, including four first-place and three second-place awards.
After earning 10 awards in 2024 — more than any organization across the state — this year’s awards tied for the most received by any organization. “Being recognized by industry experts and our peers across Ohio for our creative and original marketing campaigns is one of the highest honors we can receive,” Stein said. “Our talented team works together to continually set — and raise — the standard for destination marketing.
“These awards are a testament to Tour Lake County leading the way in creative tourism promotion, and we couldn’t be prouder of this recognition.”
Summer success
Tour’s inaugural Lake Erie Sand Sculpture Tour was “a smashing success,” with more than 20,000 visitors across the four county lakefront parks: Osborne Park in Willoughby, Headlands Beach State Park in Mentor, Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park and Madison Township Park.
Each site featured large, artistic sculptures by Northeast Ohio and internationally acclaimed professional sculptor Carl Jara, who has appeared in four seasons of “Sand Blasters” and “Sand Wars” on the Travel Channel.
Jara, who has competed in more than a dozen countries and three dozen states, earning more than 100 medals, including 14 from the World Championships, was more than happy to participate in the event.
“Being able to take a great, existing event that began at Headlands Beach State Park and grow it to showcase more public art pieces in these additional lakefront parks in Lake County gives me great pride,” he said.
The 2026 Lake Erie Sand Sculpture Tour is scheduled for July 11. Fan favorites
Tour’s ever-popular Taco Trail, with more than 2,000 individuals signed up, complemented the inaugural Hot Chocolate Trail, which wrapped in February, with 1,700-plus participants.
This year, the trail featured 17 spots, up from 11 locations in 2024, spanning Wickliffe to Madison Township, and showcased several recently-opened coffee shops and restaurants, including Blu Bee Café in Painesville Township, Monarca Ice Cream and Coffee in Madison Township, Halcyon Ledges restaurant in Perry, and Señor Masa in Mentor.
Elyse Downie, Tour Lake County’s events and engagement manager, has worked to expand and improve this year’s trail.
“There’s nothing quite like a warm cup of hot chocolate to capture the spirit of the season,” Downie said. “This time of year, our charming small towns really come to life, offering that beloved Hallmark-style warmth to visitors and locals alike.”
Tour’s food events continued to invite taco enthusiasts to explore 20 family-owned taquerias and restaurants scattered throughout the county.
Following the success of the 2024 Taco Trail, which grew by more than 25 percent and attracted pass holders from more than eight states, the 2025 Taco Trail offered new prizes and restaurant deals.
“We also want participants to keep an eye out for new restaurants, including Don Tequila in Wickliffe and the relocation of El Paladar de Mexico to The Tower located on the Square in Downtown Painesville,” Stein said. “What better way to explore Lake County than by tasting delicious new flavors and trying tacos along the Taco Trail?” Continued growth, looking forward
Stein noted that Tour’s footprint has steadily increased, thanks in part to its evolving social media presence.
“We grew our Facebook following from 18,000 (people) last year at this time to currently over 23,000, an increase of more than 25 percent,” he said. “And our Instagram account grew from about 8,500 last year to almost 12,000, currently, an increase of about 40 percent.
“Our website traffic in our key months of April through September was also up over 95 percent, and our dedicated blog/story page saw an increase from about 25,000 page views the year before to nearly 100,000 page views this year.”
In addition to Grand River Valley marketing, Stein noted that the organization is planning a new general marketing campaign and slogan for 2026.
“This will continue our emphasis and focus on Lake County’s beaches, lakefront parks and access to Lake Erie,” he said. “We anticipate people will want to take a seat for the unveiling of this marketing campaign.”
The organization is also working on “making some tweaks and enhancements” to its long-running Arts and Culture Grant programs, which haven’t been refreshed in about four or five years. “One thing we’re looking at, related to some of these events, is running a paid marketing campaign around specific events or groupings of events,” Stein said.