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Kaptur touts Ohio’s “Bloom Coast” in presentation of Flower of the Year at Cedar Point season opening
SANDUSKY, OH: Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-9) presented the Maumee Valley Growers’ flower of the year, the Purple Trailing Petunia, to the CEO of Cedar Point during the season opening today in Sandusky. The flower will showcase Ohio’s “Bloom Coast” growing out of Cedar Point’s well-known landscaping and theme parks.
Kaptur has been strongly advocating an eco-tourism theme presenting Lake Erie's coast as Ohio's “Bloom Coast” and has enlisted all stakeholders along the lakefront in that endeavor. The City of Vermilion and Lorain County are also interested in being part of Ohio’s “Bloom Coast.”
“Our hope is to broaden tourism on Lake Erie’s south coast and that this partnership will grow into an annual effort, organized by Maumee Valley Growers and Lake Erie Coastal Ohio,” said Kaptur.
“Coastal Ohio is also working with Botanical Gardens, Metroparks, and growers of native species to plan for native species being featured along scenic byways. Perhaps what will come of all this is native species highway plantings and a changing “Flower of Year” for municipalities along the byway.”
Cedar Point attracts over 3 million visitors a year. Yet Lancaster, Pennsylvania with its rural and Amish character attracts over 7 million. Kaptur continued “Lucas and Lorain Counties as Ohio's Flower Capitals anchor opposite ends of Ohio's “Bloom Coast” counties with Cedar Point at the center.
This holds enormous potential to draw visitors to and from Cedar Point to tourist lake-oriented experiences from Toledo to Cleveland, by showcasing the beauty of the “Bloom Coast” through annual, coordinated theme plantings.”
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