- By Doug Levine
- Around Town
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"Education is our core industry in Ithaca, so it's natural for us to host an event like this," said Fred Bonn, director of the Ithaca/Tompkins Convention and Visitors Bureau. Ithaca is home to both Ithaca College and Cornell University.
"We were astonished to find that no other community anywhere in the United States has ever taken the initiative to honor teachers like this," Bonn said. "Even so, it's caught us by surprise to see the response."
With the help of local hotels, restaurants and retailers, Ithaca will roll out the red-carpet for teachers and their families Feb. 17-24 with an event called "Winter Recess."
Organizers expect 700-800 teachers to take part in some or all the week's activities, which feature more than 75 scheduled events at 41 locations throughout the community. Most events are free. Teachers and their guests also qualify for discounted lodging, dining and shopping at more than 55 local businesses.
Among the week's highlights are a talk with author Louis Sachar, whose children's book, "Holes," won a Newbery Medal; a visit to Cornell University's Spacecraft Planetary Imaging Facility for a behind-the scenes look at the Mars Exploration Rovers mission; and a private tour of the Museum of the Earth, which features one of the nation's largest fossil collections.
But there's also skiing, winery tours, spa trips and shopping.
"When we first started putting this together we were thinking of it as a week of workshops and training. But after we started talking to teachers, they told us they weren't interested in earning teacher credits. This was a vacation week and they were looking for rejuvenation and relaxation, but with some dynamic educational programming," Bonn said.
The teachers' festival grew out of discussions last summer on how to market Ithaca as a winter tourist destination, Bonn said.
"We had some educators on our planning committee who suggested doing something for teachers," said Bonn, who found that 80 percent of the state's school districts have next week off as a midwinter recess. "They already had the time off, and our demographic research showed they had the discretionary income. We realized we had the perfect target market."
Bonn said the festival will produce multiple benefits for Ithaca beyond simply boosting its local economy for the week.
"We will get people thinking about Ithaca as not just a tourist destination, but a winter tourist destination," Bonn said.
And just as importantly, the event will introduce educators from around the state to the Ithaca College and Cornell University campuses, who in turn can then recommend the schools to their top students, Bonn said.
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