The Wood County Economic Development Commission (WCEDC) received the finished Wood County Travel Guide at the Jan. 25 meeting. 

The guide is a 28-page pamphlet covering all Wood County and the many attractions in each part of the county. The brochure highlights each Wood County city with photos and information.

Steve Eggleston and Kent Huffman presented the new travel guide which will be distributed in various parts of the state.

“We have 7,500 copies to be distributed. Please take a look and let us know if there is anything you think we should get next time or if we left something out you feel should be in there,” Huffman said. “We need to look at doing this every year or maybe every other year.”

Eggelston said, “We are going to have it everywhere. Kent and I will physically be delivering the guides to various entities. We will have them all over Lake Fork and of course, there will be some at the Wood County airport. There are some great places to put these guides. This is a great enhancer for the county. We believe the brochure will be well-received.”

Huffman added, “The next version should be easier. The first time you do something like this you try to cover all the bases and we got pretty close. The next time the process will be faster and easier. Even if we add a lot more material, at least then we will have a starting point.”

Eggleston said, ‘It’s one thing to develop something, like a website or any social media, but the big thing is to maintain it. That will also be a review from a marketing standpoint. We must look at everything we have including websites and social media to see where there are issues so we can address them.”

Interim Executive Director Jim Berry said they had received 33 potential candidates for the director’s position.

“We (the search committee) provided our top five candidates,” Berry said. “The judge (Kevin White) will interview candidates for the job. We have not closed the opportunity to apply at this time. We may have a superstar come in and blow us away.” 

County Judge Kevin White was in attendance. “After narrowing our candidates down, we should have a top two or three to interview,” White said.

The commission heard a report from assistant airport manager Erin Mason.

“Our airport is the only one in Texas owned by a county and two cities (Mineola and Quitman). We are looking for 2023 to have even more clients. We have a Young Eagles program which is an event where kids from 8 to 18 can enjoy their first flight. It is free of charge and we had over 70 young people involved this year,” Mason said. “It’s really a great event. It teaches the younger generation about aviation and the different jobs and careers available.”

The airport has a new apron where aircraft are parked, unloaded or loaded, refueled, boarded or maintained.

“Since I came on we have had a steady and increasing number of aircraft coming in and out of our facility,” Mason said. “There are people going on trips, coming in for business and for tourism. We have a lot of people come in from Dallas. People come for fishing, hunting and the different lakes. We have surrounding counties who don’t have airports like ours use our facility.”

Extending the runway from 4,000 feet to 5,000 is in the works in the future. The longer runway will allow larger planes to be able to use Wood County on a regular basis.

“It would also enable for larger aircraft to land year-round,” Mason added. “The Wood County airport would not be where it is today without the support of our community. I am blown away on how far we have gotten with a volunteer board. These folks all have different jobs and careers, but they really work together to bring this community this airport.”

The next meeting of the WCEDC will be Feb. 22 at a site to be determined.