Washington, D.C. – Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area (SSNHA) is featured in a
new online resource intended to help communities across the nation promote their unique
historic and cultural attractions. Produced by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and
supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the online toolkit
includes profiles of more than 80 communities achieving success despite the challenges
posed by today’s economy.
“We’ve found that real-life stories like Silos & Smokestacks are meaningful role models” says
Amy Webb, director of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Heritage Tourism
Program. “Cultural heritage tourism attractions want to hear from others in the trenches,
facing similar challenges. These survival stories showcase how many communities are
succeeding in the face of an economic downturn.”
This user-friendly web site allows visitors to search for stories by region of the country, type
of attraction or organization, and/or the survival strategy or strategies that the story illustrates.
The toolkit also includes links to other online resources to help cultural and heritage tourism
attractions and organizations stay afloat during tough times. The toolkit can be found at
www.preservationnation.org/survival-toolkit and was developed from hundreds of hours of
outreach to national and state leaders in cultural and heritage tourism over the past year.
For more information about the Cultural Heritage Tourism Survival Toolkit, contact the
National Trust for Historic Preservation at cht@nthp.org.
SSNHA is one of 49 federally designated heritage areas in the nation and is Affiliated Area of
the National Park Service. The Heritage Area covers 37 counties in the northeast quadrant of
Iowa. Interstate 80 borders it on the south and Interstate 35 borders it on the west. Through a
network of sites, programs and events, SSNHA interprets farm life, agribusiness, and rural
communities—past and present. To learn more about Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage
Area, please visit www.silosandsmokestacks.org.
Topics: Press Releases
