Making the Most of Opportunities

Collaborate: Racial and political tensions are still a reality for many communities, and Kentwood is no exception. To combat this, Task Force leaders held meetings that involved all the people—Sweet Home members as well as town leaders—to distribute duties equitably. Since the event showcased African American folklife, the black community concentrated on their presentations, panel discussions, show-and-tell, and selling folklife items at the event. White community members supported the folklife festival by taking care of logistics including parking, security, insurance and traffic control.

Find the Fit between the Community and Tourism: In this process of going directly to the community and finding out what matters to them, tourism developers are producing a product created by the locals for the locals, says Calcote. “It was not something developed to merely attract visitors, but something of real importance to the community itself.” The conversations with locals allowed Task Force members to better understand the community’s sense of values and allowed the community to decide what part and how much of itself it wanted to share with outsiders.

Make Sites and Programs Come Alive: It doesn’t get much more alive than this. Gospel singing, home cooking, doll-making, apron-sewing, woodworking, broom making and storytelling activities fill all the senses during the two days that Sweet Home presents its Folklife Days. Participants and visitors interact on a personal basis and traditions and legends are passed directly from one person to another.

Focus on Quality and Authenticity: Louisiana’s new tourism development model, fashioned directly from experiences gained through the Sweet Home Folklife Days, is more effective than traditional methods because it takes an anthropological approach, says Calcote. It is a cultural tourism method based on the real lives of real people. “The strength of this process,” explains Calcote, “is that communities, regardless of racial, ethnic, social or economic factors, can develop a tourism product in its natural setting. Culture does not need to be borrowed or built.” The real life experiences provide the authenticity for heritage tourism.

Preserve and Protect Resources: Preserving and protecting the endangered folkways, or folk traditions, of the Sweet Home congregation was the foundation of the entire tourism effort that succeeded it. Through the program, the Sweet Home congregation is not only preserving its folkways, but is teaching indigenous crafts, life skills, music, and cooking traditions to new generations.