May 18, 2023 2 min read

Kotula, tourism agency deserve praise

I am writing this letter to praise Jeff Kotula, president of the Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency, and his staff for the work they do to bring people into the area to take advantage of what we have to offer.

In particular, I am thinking about the pickleball tournament being offered this month, which has been so well covered in the Observer-Reporter{/em}. Were it not for the Tourism Promotion Agency, this tournament would never have happened.

The Agency was instrumental in having courts at Washington Park constructed in the first place. They are becoming more popular by the day. The Agency provided a good deal of the original funding to have the courts built and have them entirely fenced. This year, they provided additional funding to have pickleball court lines painted on the tennis courts at Washington Park, and to buy portable nets for all of those courts. This has provided access to 16 courts for special events, and for the use of local residents.

The tournament being held by the Washington Park Pickleball Club (WPPC), now numbering over 105 members, will bring 187 participants to Washington, nearly 100 of them from outside of Washington County, this weekend. Without the funding and support of the Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency a tournament of this size would never have been possible.

This is but one example of the work being done by the Tourism Promotion Agency to draw people into Washington County, but it does illustrate the impact they are having on the lives of people who make Washington County home.

Stanley Myers

Washington