Salem is 'Still Making History'

Destination Salem, a nonprofit partially funded by the City for promotion of tourism, unveiled a new branding effort at its annual meeting Thursday at the .

Focusing on Salem's storied past and its cultural offerings, an advertising firm came up with a new logo and the tag line "Still making history."

Kate Fox, executive director of Destination Salem, said the branding and marketing of Salem is aimed at driving "repeat customers" from around the region to take advantage of Salem's museums and restaurants and shops.

The City is contributing $187,000 in 2011, out of Destination Salem's annual budget of $451,000.

"Our retailers, our restaurants and tourism stakeholders are all working in the same direction to promote tourism," Mayor Kimberley Driscoll, an ex officio member of Destination Salem's board of directors, said in her remarks.

State Rep. John Keenan, former co-chairman of the tourism committee, said he will still be working to promote the City, including in his new role as chairman of the state energy and utilities committee.

"As you see those double (utility) poles coming down," a bugbear for residents, "remember who your new chairman of the energy committee is," Keenan said.

"It's been a big year for Destination Salem," said Tina Jordan, the outgoing Destination Salem president, and director of the .