Highway 95 towns work to build tourism

From Lovelock in the north to Indian Springs in the south, the 15 communities along Highway 95 are lonesome for tourists.

In a bid to attract visitors,Nevada Silver Trails, Inc., a non-profit group, formed to unite the merchants along the desert corridor.

"Communities along Highway 95 need to rely on each other and support each other," says Ron Wolven, chairman.

"We're all tied together by the highway."

Wolven works with a group of about 40 volunteers, organized in the summer of 2004, to make the idea a reality.

They've secured grants: $25,000 from the Nevada Commission on Tourism and another $5,000 from Bechtel Corp,which operates the Nevada Test Site.

With the funds, the group built a Web site,www.nevadasilvertrails.com.

It printed placemats with maps and games, distributed to restaurants along the highway.

It printed 100,000 four-- page circulars to be distributed to highway merchants and town chambers.

It created 10,000 CDs that describe each of the 15 communities along the road.Media celebrity John Tyson narrated, and Lt.

Governor Lorraine Hunt did the introduction.

It arranged to receive pro bono marketing strategies from the master's of business administration students at the University of Nevada,Reno.

The Nevada Commission on Tourism is talking about expanding the program throughout the state, says Wolven.

"This is the only direct route to go from Reno to Las Vegas," says Jeanie Ashe, director of marketing at the Nevada Commission on Economic Development and an advisor to Silver Trails."I would love to see them create a complete environment for each city so people don't just blast through."

"I'm so impressed with this group," says Ashe."They've done all this with their own sweat and blood."