A fairly new YouTube series was started to help promote the county and its tourism efforts, with Patrick County Tourism’s start of “The People, Places, and Performers of Patrick County.”
James Houchins, director of Tourism, said the idea to create the series came about when he and Assistant Tourism Director Grace Cooper were brainstorming ways to do more with online mediums like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, to help market the county.
“The reason that we started it was Patrick County has such a unique background, history, and diversity. So, we were talking about ways that we promote the county to get people out and bring people in, either here to the Visitor’s Center, or going to particular places,” he said.
Houchins said the main premise of the series was to either have either showcase the people, places, or performers to show how unique the county and its residents are.
“Definitely, our performance background, with a lot of the musicians that we have in the county, and then just the wonderful places that we have here in the county too,” he said.
The series currently has about half a dozen videos, each of which averages about 25 minutes in length.
To decide who to interview, Houchins said tourism officials look at what’s popular or going on in the county.
“I’ll kick a name around here in the office, and then the team here, we just come up with people that we know have been somewhat in the spotlight, especially in different circles,” he said. “We just bring those unique people in, and we’ll interview them in and let them tell their stories.”
So far, Houchins believes the chosen interviewees have been good and diverse.
“There are so many more people in the county, and places that we’ll eventually get to too, but really we just go with what we hear in the streets and see what’s happening and popular in the county too, and we pick from that,” he said.
Houchins said the interviews are informal. He has 10 questions he asks guests, including a little history about themselves, what they do, what inspired them, and other personal questions.
For example, he said the first interview and episode was with Olivia Jo Hutchens, a singer-songwriter from Stuart.
“She had just produced a song and she’s been doing a lot with the bluegrass industry. She’s up and coming, she’s been making a lot of waves in the bluegrass industry, so I got a chance to hear about her in conversations and thought it would be a good one to start off with,” he said.
His office was also working on the Moonshine Heritage Trail, and Houchins said he knew Danny Martin, an author and former Fairy Stone State Park ranger, was doing several things related, including moonshine trail hikes and writing a book called “Corn Squeezins.”
Houchins discussed the various books Tom Perry has written when interviewing him.
“We just talk about what they do and how they have impacted Patrick County, or the ways they’ve been able to help highlight Patrick County with what they do,” he said.
Other interviews were with Lora Mahaffey, Wolf Creek Farm, and Kevin Hubbard of Hubbard 1 Productions.
For future interviews, Houchins said he wants to go to a place like Levering Orchard or Fairy Stone State Park for a sit-down podcast to show the area’s beauty.
“We just have to make sure that they have good internet connection, Wi-Fi, because we try to do it live just so that it catches people,” he said.
While the goal is to have an interview once a month, Houchins said a couple of hiccups at the start of the year prevented that from happening. Still, he believes the community has received the YouTube series well.
“A lot of people have commented that they really enjoyed them. I know that Tom Perry’s went really well. It had a lot of good reactions, and people were reposting it, and just talking about it,” he said, adding people expressed that “they learned a lot too, especially with” Perry’s knowledge of the Civil War and Revolutionary War eras.
Houchins said his favorite part of doing the interview series is being able to learn more about Patrick County.
“I’m a lifelong Patrick Countian, grew up here in the community, and thought I knew a lot, which I do know a lot, but it’s always intriguing to hear it from other people’s perspectives, and especially individuals who come from a different background that I do.
“That’s the most exciting part of it. It’s just the little gems that we unearth when we’re talking with those individuals because everyone has their own unique perspectives, especially when they’re on history in the county itself. So, it’s good to see that from different perspectives, and it just makes you appreciate where you live even more,” he said.
Those with suggestions on who should be interviewed next should email Houchins at jhouchins@co.patrick.va.us.
To watch the series, go to www.YouTube.com/PatrickCountyTourism.
