FORKS — Growing demand for West End visitor information has led to an expansion project that will add office and work space to the Forks Visitor Information Center.
The $60,000 project is scheduled to begin in July and be completed by “rain time” in October, said Diane Schostak, Forks Chamber of Commerce executive director.
“We’ve outgrown it. The building was built in 1986,” Schostak said Wednesday of the 600-square-foot wood structure on the west end of Main Street, next to the Forks Timber Museum.
Since she joined the chamber, Schostak said marketing and work projects, such as brochures and mailings, have grown substantially, requiring more space.
She has been using a tight space upstairs for her office.
During the past seven years, she said, chamber membership has grown from 100 to 250 members, and mailings have grown from less than 2,000 a year to about 17,000 annually.
Over that same period, she said, revenues from Forks’ 2 percent lodging tax has increased 22 percent, partly boosted by increased room rates.
Schostak said to date the chamber has sent out 10,000 brochures, which could lead to an all-time high this year.
