Selma tourism board approves marketing pushes, sets timeline for 50th Railroad Days

Selma Tourism Advisory Board members on Friday, Dec. 13, approved a package of marketing materials and set timelines to help plan the town’s 50th Railroad Days celebration, including increasing the town’s Livability Magazine ad, approving a 4-by-9 visitor calendar for 2025, and advancing a visitors guide layout for production.

The decisions came at a special meeting called to focus on marketing and the 2025 Railroad Days timeline. Board members and staff said the board will forward recommended ad and billboard decisions to the Town Council for final approval where required.

Why it matters: Selma’s tourism board is moving early to secure advertising, printed materials and event logistics for a larger 50th-anniversary Railroad Days. The board members said fundraising, vendor staging and route planning will determine how much of the expanded programming can be delivered and when.

At the meeting, Nikki, a tourism staff member, presented marketing performance figures from the Livability Magazine placement and the region’s digital outreach. “From May to November, we had 16.8 views for the digital magazine with an average retime of 3 minutes and 20 seconds,” Nikki reported, and said that average session duration on the community website was about 1 minute, 30 seconds. The board discussed using savings from unspent billboard reprinting funds to pay for a larger Livability ad; the larger placement was described in the meeting as a $2,085 difference from the smaller ad previously budgeted. Council had given tentative approval contingent on the tourism board’s formal recommendation that day.

The board approved multiple printed pieces. Members voted to approve the Selma 2025 4-by-9 calendar (the board noted 35,100 copies were printed last year and discussed printing a smaller initial run with a midyear reprint if needed). They also approved a revised rack card that adds the Visit Selma Instagram handle and adjusts some event date listings. The board approved sending a recommended Livability ad design — the version with four photos across the bottom and with the words “Visit, Explore, Stay” changed to white type — on to the Town Council for its consideration.

On a separate item, staff described a proposed double-gatefold visitors guide with a large map showing downtown, Exit 97 and Exit 98 and the U.S. 301 corridor. The guide would include dining, shopping and events; printing estimates presented to the board were $4,000 for 10,000 copies and larger options for wider distribution to welcome centers were discussed. The tourism staff said the guide should be printed annually to keep business listings current.

Railroad Days planning was a lengthy portion of the meeting. Board members outlined a multi-day approach for the 50th anniversary, discussed concentrating carnival rides and larger attractions away from the downtown core to avoid prolonged street closures (Railroad Street was named as a possible site for larger rides), and proposed expanding food offerings, seating and family-friendly amenities to keep visitors downtown longer. The board also discussed staging for model-train displays, the possibility of temporary heated/cooled tents for indoor exhibits, and options to rent or secure a family-size trolley or train for on-site circulation.

Operational items and next steps agreed by the board include forming subcommittees for sponsorships and marketing, main stage and entertainment, vendors and food trucks, parade and registrations, and attractions; staff will circulate a written outline of subcommittee roles and a draft timeline. The board set a deadline of Dec. 31 for members to submit comments on proposed wayfinding placements and materials, and scheduled a follow-up meeting for Thursday, Jan. 19 at 9 a.m. to work on the full week plan for Railroad Days and the budget items the town will need to consider in January budget discussions.

Votes at a glance:
- Approval of meeting agenda — outcome: approved (mover/second not specified).
- Approve moving budgeted funds to increase the Livability Magazine ad to the larger size (difference cited as $2,085) — outcome: approved; recommendation to forward to Town Council for final sign-off.
- Approve revisions to the rack card (add Visit Selma Instagram, adjust dates) — outcome: approved.
- Approve Selma 2025 4-by-9 calendar for production — outcome: approved.
- Recommend the Livability ad design with four photos and white type for “Visit, Explore, Stay” to Town Council — outcome: approved.
- Approve visitors guide double-gatefold layout for production; staff to develop content and printing estimates — outcome: approved.
- Motion to adjourn — outcome: approved.

Board members and staff emphasized that the town’s formal budget cycle (staff said budgets are finalized in July) will determine how much additional programming can be funded; board members were told to prepare cost estimates and fundraising plans to accompany the requests to the town. The board asked staff to gather vendor cost estimates and to return to the Jan. 19 meeting with more complete budget numbers for expanded attractions and yearlong marketing placements.