We are fans of Arnie Weissmann's columns in Travel Weekly...and we often link to the ones we find particularly prescient.
We're also big fans of Rockford IL...and were before it was cool to be. We saw the spark years before the media figured it out.
Those two forces recently collided when Arnie took a misinformed swipe at Rockford, basing his opinion on a particularly cruel and absolutely unnecessary 2013 Forbes article calling the city the third most miserable place in America. Rockford's response was masterful...but Arnie clearly hadn't seen it.
Several community leaders in Rockford reached out to Arnie, inviting him for a visit to experience what I called in 2012 the "newly-hip" city.
"First drink's on me," said one...and the DMO's John Groh made the invitation official. And, Arnie accepted.
It's a great story of taking the lemons we are handed...and making exquisite lemon daiquiris.
Well played, Rockford! Exceptionally well played.
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