Jamestown Tourism Executive Director Searle Swedlund says he’s always perceived the area as one whole unit.
Swedlund proposed changing hours with Tourism and the Frontier Village to better align with the National Buffalo Museum. He says they would look to have their greeter start at 9:30 AM with opening buildings and the space, which would fall in place with the Buffalo Museum’s opening hours.
Visitors to the World’s Largest Buffalo were 69,827, down from 71,300 reported in 2019.
2020 was the first full year of the Frontier Village operating under the advisement of Jamestown Tourism. Swedlund says they saw a lot of growth for the site.
Swedlund says in 2020, they held an artifacting process, established a new visitor center in the Saloon, hosted socially distanced movie nights, painted outside 4 buildings and inside 2 buildings with Civic Center staff, removed failing buildings, and spent around $20,000 in deferred maintenance and repairs.
Overall, Swedlund says 2020 was a remarkable year.
Looking to 2021, Swedlund says they have several goals planned including a Frontier Village strategic development plan, working with Corps of Engineers at Pipestem to add a water trail from Pipestem Dam to Klaus Park, supporting the bison pasture tour, planning to paint the World’s Largest Buffalo, and continuing to support agencies in raising money.