ROANOKE, Va. – There's a new trail in the Roanoke Valley and it's one where you'll hardly work up a sweat. The Cheers Trail leads visitors to all the breweries and wineries in town. It's a new effort from Visit Virginia's Blue Ridge to help promote tourism in the area.
When you go on vacation, they say to ask where the locals go. Now, this is a way of putting all that local knowledge into a central place for people to explore the Roanoke Valley. The best part of all is you get discounts along the way.
The questions are coming and the beer is flowing for trivia night at Vinton's Twin Creeks Brewing. It's still one of the younger breweries in the region, but they're in good company.
"We always say it's more 'co-opition' than it is competition, and the reason that is, is because we all use pretty much the same four basic ingredients, but it's infinite possibilities," Twin Creeks Brewing owner Andy Bishop said.
The Roanoke Valley has become home to nearly 30 breweries, wineries and more, and word is getting out about what the area has to offer.
"We see more and more people coming here for the craft beverages," Visit Virginia's Blue Ridge spokeswoman Catherine Fox said. "It's the hook, it's kind of a trend, so in looking at that, how are we going to bring more people to our area?"
The Virginia's Blue Ridge Cheers Trail is how they'll do it, marketing the breweries, wineries, distilleries and even a meadery the region has to offer. A special virtual passport ties them all together, allowing VBR to analyze and engage people to stay longer and spend more.
"We'll have an opportunity to communicate with them. Once they register and are at a specific location, we should be able to give them some sort of message," Fox said.
The passport offers discounts on drinks and merchandise, as well as freebies just for spending and checking in. So if you start at one brewery and then follow the trail to, say, Twin Creeks, the trivia regulars will be more than happy to see you there.
"Anytime you can get the word out and share the collective advantage from having all this great product from all these great breweries in town, it only benefits the entire valley," Bishop said.
To help promote the program, VBR is offering a special T-shirt with the Cheers Trail logo on it for anyone who checks into five locations with the passport. You can find out more by visiting vbrcheerstrail.com