The Vermilion Parish Tourist Commission is seeing more visitors than ever. This, after a move from the longtime location on Veteran’s Memorial Drive to a prime spot on Magdalen Square in Abbeville.
"So everything is centrally located in downtown Abbeville, so I think it’s a great location. We’ve already seen a lot more visitors than we saw at our previous location which allows me to tell them not only about Abbeville but about the rest of our parish as well," says Alison Miller, the Director of Tourism for the Parish.
The space also houses the Abbeville Cultural and Historical Museum and Art Gallery. Alison Miller now oversees the tourism commission and the cultural alliance, which have been merged under one roof. She says she’s happy the new location attracts tourists and locals to learn more about the parish.
"It allows me to showcase not only our food and music and attractions but also some of the other great things we have to offer in the parish. The cultural center houses several exhibits. One is on our giant omelet festival, We also have information on historical things about Vermilion Parish, and we have information on where our ancestors came from the Nova Scotia area, and then we also have rotating art exhibits by the talented artists in Vermilion Parish," says Miller.
The city says another perk of merging the two agencies is the open space in the old tourism building, which is owned by the City of Abbeville.
"We have several civic organizations that have been displaced within our city, and we have a vacant building, and what our thoughts were, was to try to provide a really good meeting place so these civic organizations that provide so much for our community, they would have a place for planning, they would have a place for meeting, they would have a place for discussing," says Councilman Francis Touchet.
The old building will undergo renovations before becoming a meeting space. The city council says this will be well worth the work for all the good that comes from the groups who will work there.
