By Miles Flynn | Southern Indiana Business Report
WEST BADEN SPRINGS — When Brandy Ream took over this spring as executive director of Visit French Lick West Baden, the Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau, the mementos she brought in to decorate her office included a hardhat she received at the groundbreaking for French Lick Resort’s casino way back in 2005. It’s a souvenir she received when she was managing the nearby ski resort Paoli Peaks, and her work there included lobbying for the casino as a member of the Orange Shirts — a group of locals who tirelessly campaigned at the Indiana Statehouse for a casino to bring their hometowns back to life. She’s carried that hardhat with her during her years working at ski resorts across the United States. Now, it’s home again, less than a mile from the casino. While Ream never dreamed of a career outside of the ski industry or one that would bring her back to her Orange County roots, she said it’s not always possible to see life’s plan until it unfolds.
The beginning of a 20-year career on the slopes
Southern Indiana might seem an unlikely place for a career in the ski business to get its start, but Paoli Peaks is just a short jaunt down State Road 37 from Ream’s hometown of Orleans. The creation of the business was spearheaded in the late 1970s by a local physician, Dr. Richard Graber, and Swiss-born Margrit and Felix Kagi were brought in as managers. Ream said she learned a lot from the duo.
“She instilled early on the importance of us marketing and advertising our entire region,” Ream remembered. “… And I’ve carried that with me through the years.”
In fact, it was a year-round focus for the team at Paoli Peaks, which also put out Explore Southern Indiana magazine to highlight what there is to see and do in the area during every season.
Customer service was another tenet Ream took to heart early on, thanks to her experience at
Paoli Peaks. “I learned that you could not take the fact that a guest was coming to see you for granted,” Ream said. “… That was a vision I never lost.”
She said the first question any tourist business should ask is what is it doing to be sure its customers are coming back next year. The key, according to Ream, is always striving to provide a truly unforgettable experience.
Ream worked her way up to manage Paoli Peaks, and when she left, she took the foundation learned there to jobs at Boston Mills Brandywine in northeast Ohio, Ski Bluewood in southeast Washington and to Spirit Mountain in northern Minnesota.
A homecoming and an unexpected opportunity
From its visitor center and offices in the old Oxford Hotel building, directly in front of the grand West Baden Springs Hotel, the CVB operates under contract with Orange County’s government to market the destination using innkeeper tax collections. After the organization lost its executive director, Kristal Painter, when she left to take over as the new leader of the Orange County Economic Development Partnership in late 2020, a months-long search began for her replacement. It just happened to coincide with a major move for Ream.
During her time working at resorts around the United States, Ream said she never really thought of coming home to Orange County. She credits COVID, and the time it gave for reflection, with bringing her back to her roots. “I was forced to be still,” she recalled. One big item that stood out in her mind was how her two teen children had never lived near family.
Once she made the decision to move, that’s when things begin to happen very quickly. Their house sold in three days, she said, and they moved to Paoli in November. “It’s been really good for us,” Ream shared.
She planned to put her newly earned MBA in organizational change and leadership to work on her blossoming consulting business. However, when she learned about the opening at the CVB, she said all of the duties listed represented everything she knows and everything she enjoys. She applied for what she saw as an opportunity to put her experience and passion to work helping all local businesses. “And I’m passionate about Orange County,” she said.
An exciting time for Orange County
Ream sees great things ahead for the destination. Now, the area is experiencing a travel boom, and she feels group travel is poised to rebound after being virtually wiped out during the darkest days of the pandemic.
Visit French Lick West Baden is also helping with the return of local events that were shelved for so long due to COVID. The organization’s grant program has been busy. “It’s an important service we do here at the CVB,” Ream said.
The smaller sense of place grants, of up to $2,000, are offered for happenings such as the annual autumn event Art on the Green in downtown French Lick and local demolition derbies at the Orange County 4-H Fairgrounds. Larger economic impact grants are designed for bigger events that are more likely to lead to more overnight stays, and they’re awarded after applications make their way through a scoring system.
Among the many events Ream is looking forward to are the Senior LPGA Championship in August, the French Lick Block Bash in September, the Wilstem Winter Fest, French Lick Resort tree-lighting ceremonies, and the long-awaited return of THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride at the Indiana Railway Museum.
Helping make Visit French Lick West Baden’s mission possible, after overnight stays and innkeepers tax collections both tanked during the worst days of COVID, is the decision by the Orange County Tourism Commission (the arm of county government that contracts with the CVB) to use innkeepers tax reserves to supplement what would’ve been a string of eviscerated budgets for the marketing organization. The CVB’s budget is figured using collection totals from two years earlier, so the county is kicking in $400,000 of reserves for 2022 to help the organization stay close to its typical budget of $1 million to $1.2 million. Ream said the CVB and county will soon have a better idea of what lies ahead for 2023, too, but she’s still expecting it to be a lean year.
The county’s willingness to step up is just one example of why Ream feels the CVB is part of a great and supportive community. Her board is also engaged and accepting of new ideas, she said, and the major tourist businesses in the area are willing partners. She attributes a lot of that spirit to the fact that the casino license is controlled by Bloomington-based Cook Group, the organization that gave so much to help preserve the historic hotels in the first place.
“We really were blessed to have the Cook Group come in, because you have to understand small-town America,” she explained. Ream said things could have turned out much differently, with a lack of community, if another operator had been successful in securing the license.
For all of those reasons, Ream continues to relish her new role and is excited to see what the future holds.
“It’s the best job in the world,” she said. “… I’m proud of Orange County, and I’m proud of what we do here.”