Press Release
Guilford Preservation Alliance (GPA), a non-profit organization, received a grant for $14,300 from Connecticut Humanities (CTH) to enhance visitor experience that will include the story of Guilford’s rich history and culture. The grant enables the GPA to gather insights from residents about what they consider to be Guilford’s most important stories to share with visitors. They will offer several forums to the community, and then through group discussions, develop plans for a visitor kiosk and interpretive signage.
Dr. Nancy Morgan, a heritage development consultant, will facilitate meetings to be held in September, including a Community Forum, a Student Forum, and two focus groups. At these meetings residents will discuss what they consider to be Guilford’s most important historical stories and what resources they would like to share with visitors.
Shirley Girioni, a co-chair of the Tourism Initiative said, “This grant will allow us to move forward in the planning of our project to welcome and inform visitors about our nearly 375 year history on the Connecticut shoreline. It demonstrates that the CTH has confidence in our vision for the development of heritage tourism in Guilford. We are deeply grateful for their financial support and encouragement.”
In 2011, GPA began the Guilford Heritage Tourism Initiative which recognized that the town’s wealth of historic, cultural, and natural resources as well as amenities such as shopping, dining, and visitation, could be focused to increase economic impact through tourism. In 2012, GPA unveiled the Historic Guilford Walking Tours, which attracted over 300 tour-goers its first year. The Heritage Tourism co-chairs, Shirley Girioni and Rob Vavasour, have worked to build strong partnerships with organizations and agencies throughout the town and state, and have worked together to set goals for the future of the initiative.
