Southport Magazine

Like so many others during The Time of COVID, Southport’s Department of Tourism has had to reach deep into its pocket of creativity to find ways to fulfill its mission. Director of Tourism Randy Jones and his staff have focused on finding ways to convey the idea that it’s safe to return to Southport’s local businesses and to help market vendors reach customers. 

The Southport Safe program and the Southport Virtual Market evolved as a response to the city’s and its businesses’ needs, and the work of putting the two together has allowed the Tourism Department to learn new skills and develop a greater appreciation for what small businesses face during a pandemic.

It was great for public relations, said Randy, reaching out to businesses. “Someone from the city was there, saying, ‘We’re here to help you,’” he said. Lisa Anderson, Assistant Director of Communications and the projects’ in-house filmmaker, agreed, saying, “It was great knowing we were able to help. It was a chance for our department to give back to our community.”

Businesses sign up, and Southport Safe holds them to a list of protocols, along the lines of ones issued by the state of North Carolina and promoted by the Chamber of Commerce in a similar program, that serve to fight the chances of contracting COVID in the establishments. 

“We wanted to make customers feel comfortable. They could be asking themselves, ‘Is it safe to go around shopping and out to dine?’ Really, there is a lot of variety in how seriously people and businesses are taking it,” said Lisa. 

Randy said he was struck by how the businesses that signed up were already following all the COVID-mitigation procedures before he even had a chance to lay out the city’s version. He said he thinks people should know how much the owners of these establishments truly care. “I saw that the important things were never in question. They did everything without question,” he said. “They care about us and that made us want to care about them.

“Our object was twofold,” he said. “We wanted to not only highlight, but reward those following the Southport Safe guidelines correctly.”

YouTube turned out to be the perfect place to share these stories. Lisa shot the videos over the course of a few weeks and Sharon Venis put a special website together to highlight Southport Safe and the Virtual Market. “We are lucky to have the in-house talent,” said Randy. 

“This was my maiden voyage,” said Lisa. “You learn something new everyday. Now we have all the tools, but it’s been a learning experience.” Randy added that Lisa was helped along by the fact that she has “a good eye.”

“It has been a lot of work, but it is so rewarding to be a part of keeping this community going,” said Lisa. As they got going, she said she really wanted to do the businesses proud. “I was going to be certain to highlight each one and impress upon people as we enter the holiday season, the importance of shopping local.”

Randy said this project gives them a chance to show the community what these business have been going through. Each business owner is featured in a video interview, where they have a chance to open to the community. 

“Part of this is giving the community the opportunity to see what they’re going through,” said Randy. The experience gave Lisa a new perspective as well. “It opened my eyes to how scary it is to wonder if your business will be open next week or next month,” she said. 

She said she was moved by Matt Thorne, owner of The Saucy Southerner, calling out small acts of kindness he’d experienced from the community. “We wanted to let people know that they can give back. If you want to be a blessing, our local businesses are a great opportunity,” Lisa said.

Participating shops also received signs to display prominently in their windows. “The window signs are a good visual marker that they are taking things seriously,” said Randy.

The other half of the project aims to help businesses in trouble as well. Without the markets usually held in Southport, many vendors find themselves in dire straights. The Southport Virtual Market lets participants introduce themselves and offer alternative methods to get products to buyers. 

The short videos were all shot in Franklin Square Park. With the help of Downtown Southport Inc, Lisa said they set up three mock vendor tents and rotated filming between them. But it was not without its bit of learning as well. 

“We were learning,” said Lisa. “The second day we filmed, it rained and the debris trucks were out picking up debris.” 

“We didn’t realize how many big trucks go through Southport until we were out trying to film,” added Randy. 

All in all 33 brick and mortar stores and 13 vendors were filmed and featured on the website, southportnc.org/southport-virtual-merchant-showcase/

Randy said the future will hold more using technology and social media to bring Southport into people’s homes. 

“A silver lining [of the COVID crisis] has been all the great things we have learned about going virtual. We can bring our message into people’s homes. People are learning about ways to get products into their homes during these trying times,” he said. 

Having shot all the video necessary for these projects has left the Southport Tourism Department with an unexpected bounty, stock footage they can use to promote the town’s businesses moving forward.

“We want to look at new and innovative ways to partner with our businesses” Randy said.