RED WING, Minn. — Though Arloa Bach is excited to escape the Minnesota winter and move to the Florida Keys, she will miss her role as director of the Red Wing Visitors and Convention Bureau.
Bach began the job in 2014 during the week of River City Days and said that she never slowed down. Bach has worked in marketing and advertising throughout her career and was excited to market the city of Red Wing.
“Red Wing is an awesome product to sell, it really does sell itself so it was a super fun opportunity to promote the town and learn about it,” Bach said.
During the last five years, Bach has worked to promote the city in a variety of ways and on numerous platforms.
In a report that she gave to Red Wing City Council on Monday, Bach laid out some of the places that the VCB advertises Red Wing: Facebook, City Pages, travel guides, Explore MN and more.
“I have taken so much from this experience and the people. That’s why I’m sad. It’s so sad to leave this job because I love it. Anybody who knows me knows I love this job. So, it’s hard to leave it but I know it’s in good hands,” Bach said.
As she transitions out from the VCB, Paige Anderson is transitioning in as the new director.
Anderson is originally from Charlevoix, Mich., and moved to Minnesota to be closer to her husband's hometown — Ellsworth. The couple's original plan was to live in Ellsworth, but when she started working as the executive director of Potter Ridge Assisted Living, she fell in love with Red Wing.
“I feel like this is home and I haven’t had that feeling since I’ve been home. I just wanted to raise my children here. I think it’s a good place for us to start,” Anderson said.
Like Bach, Anderson comes from a background of marketing and advertising and is excited to use her skill set to promote Red Wing.
“Growing up in a town like Charlevoix taught me how important the tourism industry can be to the overall health of a smaller local economy, and the businesses that rely on out of towners to stay afloat,” Anderson said.
Bach shared as similar sentiment with the Red Wing City Council on Monday when began her presentation with a quote from Maura Gast:
“If you build a place where people want to visit, you’ll build a place where people want to live. And, if you build a place where people want to live, you’ll build a place where people have to work. If you build a place where people want to work, you’ll build a place where business wants to be. And, if you build a place where business wants to be, you’ll have built a place where people want to visit.”
As Bach’s final interview as the director of the Red Wing VCB came to a close, she explained that she will miss her job and the community but that she is confident that Anderson will do well in the role.
“It’s hard, it’s hard to hand this over. But it’s great. I think she’s awesome. Her enthusiasm and love for this community is all you can ask for,” Bach said. “It’s hard to turn over the baton but it’s awesome. I feel good about it.”
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Thank you for taking part in our commenting section. We want this platform to be a safe and inclusive community where you can freely share ideas and opinions. Comments that are racist, hateful, sexist or attack others won’t be allowed. Just keep it clean. Do these things or you could be banned:
• Don’t name-call and attack other commenters. If you’d be in hot water for saying it in public, then don’t say it here.
• Don’t spam us.
• Don’t attack our journalists.
Let’s make this a platform that is educational, enjoyable and insightful.
Email questions to mthorud@orourkemediagroup.com.