For SPN

Event encourages local residents to enjoy an evening of live music, yard games and free samples

STEVENS POINT — The Stevens Point Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (SPACVB) announced that they will host a Tourism Takeover on Thursday, July 26, 2018 at the Levitt AMP Stevens Point Music Series at Pfiffner Pioneer Park.

The annual Tourism Takeover event encourages local residents to explore the tourism assets within Portage County and to be a tourist in their own town. The fourth annual Tourism Takeover will be held during the July 26 concert for the Levitt AMP Stevens Point Music Series at Pfiffner Pioneer Park. Live music will take the stage from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. with the opening act Soul Whiskey and headliner Samantha Fish. The event will also feature free samples from the Central Wisconsin Craft Collective from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m., free yard games with UWSP Intramurals and Outdoor Rentals. The public is invited to attend.

“Tourism is a local economic driver, with visitors spending $128.1 million in Portage County in 2017,” said Sara Brish, executive director of the Stevens Point Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. “These events allow us to engage with the local residents who don’t realize that tourism is an important part of the Portage County economy.”

The Stevens Point Area Convention & Visitors Bureau has partnered with CREATE portage county, the Central Wisconsin Craft Collective and Discover Wisconsin to make this event possible. The Central Wisconsin Craft Collective, a partnership between local craft beverage makers, including beer, wine and spirits will be providing samples during the event, for those over 21 years of age. The Craft Collective is a prominent tourism draw to the region, welcoming visitors regularly to the craft beverage sites throughout Portage County.

The evening will also include Discover Wisconsin television, who will be filming the event as part of an episode about the craft beverage scene in Wisconsin and the Stevens Point Area airing in 2019.

This is the second year for the Levitt AMP Stevens Point Music series, bringing free live music to the Stevens Point Area, through the work of CREATE portage county. The Levitt AMP Stevens Point Music Series is supported in part by the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, a private foundation that empowers towns and cities across America to transform underused public spaces into thriving destinations through the power of free, live music.

The Stevens Point Area Convention & Visitors Bureau is an economic and community development organization whose purpose is to expand Portage County’s economy by attracting conventions, sporting events and leisure tourists to Portage County. Millions of dollars from visitor spending and increased tax revenues are generated to increase commerce, sustain jobs, and to create a desirable destination.

For more information on the Stevens Point area, visit StevensPointArea.com. You can also find the Stevens Point Area Convention & Visitors Bureau on Facebook (facebook.com/StevensPointArea), Twitter (twitter.com/StevensPtArea), YouTube (youtube.com/SPACVB), Instagram (instagram.com/stevenspointarea/), and Pinterest (pinterest.com/StevensPtArea).