This may not impress some people, but . . .

I finally got the Board for Osceola to let me set up an "official" Facebook page for the Village, and after numerous trial-and-error efforts managed to get a "like" box on the main page of the Village's website. O.K., so it may not seem like much, but I am hardly a web programmer, and the interface for the Village's site is not exactly intuitive:

http://vil.osceola.wi.us/

Looks fine, and it won't take people a hour to load because of all the flash.

Congrats!

I've yet to embrace Facebook; however, social media is an effective tool and you've done well to use it here.

We shall see how it goes. Getting that "like" box to work was a pain, though ultimately the biggest problem ended up being silly. I kept generating the code for the link via Facebook's system, but when I would paste the code into the main page of the village site and view it, the link did not appear to be working. I must have re-copied, re-pasted and tweaked fifty or more times with the same results. Then suddenly it magically started to work. It turned out that I was logged in on FB as the admininstrator of the page, and while I was logged in I could not view the link. When I logged out back to my personal account, the link appeared. The "humorous" part is that the link was probably working fine all of the previous fifty tries, but I just could not see it.

Anything too fancy and they would question the budget for things like that.

Well, the Technology Committee did meet last night with some reps from Paragon to see what would be involved in adding downtown wifi service in our area. the bottom line was about $50,000. That might be a tough sell to the rest of the board.

How many visitors do you get to the area annually?

Good question. I am not sure if there has ever been any kind of an analysis. But we are increasing the number of events that attract those from outside the Village limits.

Well, it certainly looks like a pretty place to visit. Are there many motels or B&Bs?

One larger hotel with a smaller B&B-type inn:

http://www.stcroixriverinn.com/

They offer a pretty serious multi-course prix fixe menu on the weekends, but at $60 per person it is just too steep for a small town and I have never tried it. I like to support local businesses, but that is a bit too much -- I can get out of some of my favorite restaurants in the Cities for less than that, round-trip gasoline included!

A price of $60 per person for a multi-course meal seems about right for me. But then fine dining in Calgary is not cheap.

The Inn prices, too, while steep, are actually reasonable compared with prices I see in places near Calgary (e.g., Banff or elsewhere in the Rockies). For an equivalent room type to what the Inn offers, a night in the Rockies could easily run $300, $400 or even $500 per night. Makes for a pricey weekend getaway.

Again, I am talking relative terms. $50 each is mighty expensive in Osceola, and the room prices are pretty steep for the area as well. They must get the business, though.

We stopped and had lunch at one of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants in St. Paul on our way down. $30 for two people, tip included, and I was stuffed.

...after taxes, $1100 a night for a room at San Diego Comicon. I think I spent less on my Honeymoon.

Iago wrote:Again, I am talking relative terms. $50 each is mighty expensive in Osceola, and the room prices are pretty steep for the area as well. They must get the business, though.

We stopped and had lunch at one of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants in St. Paul on our way down. $30 for two people, tip included, and I was stuffed.

That is a great deal. I cant even walk into a restaurant around here for under $40 except for maybe applebees.

Again, $60 per person is not a great deal in Osceola. It might be a great deal in Paris for all I know, but not really relevant to the cost of living in Osceola. One of the nicest newer restaurants in the Twin Cities offers a ten-course prix fixe menu that is $60 for two. I would happily pay that while in the Twin Cities. Paying the same amount for one person in a town of 2700 people is another story.

Well, as you said, they must get the business. It is amazing what travellers will pay. A suite in Vegas, as an example, will go for over $4000 or $5000 per night.

A 10-course meal? I think I'd blow up.

It is a "tasting" menu. Small portions!

Yes, but 10 of them!