Garry Gibbs hired to lead Lorain County Visitors Bureau

The Lorain County commissioners this week hired former Elyria City Councilman Garry Gibbs as the new head of the Lorain County Visitors Bureau. Commissioners voted unanimously to hire Gibbs to run the agency, which is funded through a bed tax on all hotels in the county and encourages travel and tourism in the county. "I appreciate the vote of confidence that all three commissioners gave for me," Gibbs said Friday. He said he was looking forward to working with county leaders, and he had worked with Commissioner Matt Lundy in the past when Lundy worked in former Elyria Mayor Bill Grace's administration and Gibbs was on Council. Gibbs, who also is running as a Republican for an at-large seat on Elyria City Council this year, will earn about $75,000 annually, according to county officials. A graduate of Elyria High School and the University of Toledo, he worked for The GRA Group for 29 years. Gibbs said he has 30 years of experience in travel and tourism and is "excited about the new challenge." "The main mission for the Lorain County Visitors Bureau is product awareness for travel and tourism for visitors and our own residents," he said. "It is to promote the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of Lorain County, whether the Foundry Bar and Kitchen (in Elyria) or the Black River Landing events (in Lorain), concerts in the summer" or the Avon Heritage Duck Tape Festival. Gibbs said he also hopes to make Lorain County a "major player" in secondary tourism markets, drawing visitors from Cleveland or Sandusky or Toledo. He noted that the NFL draft is coming to Cleveland soon, and Lorain County "should be promoting bringing visitors from Cleveland out this way" who are interested in football, perhaps to visit the Riddell plant in North Ridgeville for a tour and see where football equipment is made. The Cleveland Air Show and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies also might be able to draw some interest as people going to those events sometimes stay in Lorain County hotels. Parties and functions based on those events might be perfect for Lorain County to host, Gibbs said. "We don't need to reinvent the wheel, but we can show that Lorain County can be a destination of choice," he said — especially if early plans for a convention center in the county get off the ground or if Elyria Mayor Frank Whitfield's recent talk about resurrecting a Main Street Elyria-type organization comes about. The county is working on what officials said is a new, more user-friendly website to replace the former visitors bureau website at VisitLorainCounty.com. That website currently links to an Indonesian-language online poker business after the county did not renew the domain name, as the Chronicle-Telegram first reported in a story April 8. In regards to Elyria, Gibbs said he wasn't the one behind the appearance of two billboards on East Bridge Street in the city in mid-March that were put up by the city's Republican Party and criticized economic development in the city. "Will the last person leaving Elyria — Turn out the lights," read one sign, while also urging residents to "make a difference, get involved." The other read: "Welcome to Elyria. The largest ghost town in Ohio. Population declining. Take it slow you might miss something." Democrats on Elyria City Council responded by saying the billboards pushed a "false narrative" of the city's economic development. At the time, Gibbs told The Chronicle-Telegram it wasn't just downtown Elyria but other areas of the city that have been neglected. On Friday, Gibbs said he was in the room when Elyria Republicans discussed the billboards but he wasn't the driving force behind them. The party "is trying to show they're different, that there are issues with the city," he said. And while the billboards did "get people talking, got people to come forward," Gibbs said he's now focused on the job ahead at the county visitors bureau. "All the (Republican) candidates (for Elyria City Council) knew what was going to be put on the billboards," Gibbs said, declining to comment further on the issue. A former 3rd Ward Elyria councilman, Gibbs served on City Council for 20 years before losing to Democrat Mark Jessie in 2013. Also a former mayoral candidate, Gibbs ran again for Council against Jessie again two years ago in the 2019 general election but was defeated. Gibbs is the second Republican candidate for Elyria City Council to be hired by county commissioners for a directorship post since commissioners Michelle Hung and David Moore gained a 2 to 1 majority on the county commission over Lundy. Commissioners previously hired attorney James "Jim" Miller as executive director of the Lorain County Port Authority. Miller is running unopposed in the primary for the 4th Ward seat on Elyria City Council. He will face incumbent Democrat Kenny Oswald in November. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him @daveobrienCT on Twitter.