Mazyck honored for growing local tourism

Apr. 6—In following Peggy Mazyck's career path, it's clear as her business skills grew it spurred the growth of the Mercer County Tourist Promotion Agency.

Mazyck, non-profit's president and chief executive officer, recently was named Thiel College's 2023 Business Professional of the Year.

"We have grown," she said of the agency.

Marketed itself as VisitMercerCountyPA, for as long as anyone can remember the Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce had been its paid administrator, and it was based in the chamber's Sharon office. Mazyck had served as the chamber's assistant director in the early 1990s.

"The agency had no independent operations because they had no money," she said.

Then in 1996 Mazyck and key local tourism businesses took a firm grip of the organization. Moving out of the chamber's office, they became their own administrator with Mazyck filling the top slot.

"We stepped out on our own," she said.

The agency was given free, vacant space at the former Howard Johnson's motel in East Lackawannock Township at Interstate 80 and Route 19. Conditions were spartan.

The annual budget was small — $100,000, $70,000 of it coming from the state.

"I knew we had to do something dramatic if we were going to succeed," Mazyck said.

Mercer County joined five other counties in asking the state for their own bed tax. For each night a guest stayed at a local hotel, a tax would be applied. Proceeds would go to their respective tourist agencies. Until then, only Allegheny and Philadelphia counties were allowed to impose the tax.

Once given the OK, other counties climbed aboard, and now it's statewide.

The money flowed.

The 5 percent tax in Mercer County generates around $1 million annually for the agency, which is an independent organization with its own board.

At first marketing the county was virtually its sole focus.

But that's changed.

"Marketing tourism is important," Mazyck said. "But you have to have a product to market with."

Over the years the group has stashed away funds for three "Game Changer" grants. The grants are $500,000 each for the Shenango Valley and the Grove City area and a $300,000 grant for the Greenville area. The grants, all of which remain on the table, are designed to stimulate tangible developments.

"If the program had existed years ago, an example of gamer changer project would be like the Grove City Premium Outlets," she said of the 120-store Springfield Township factory outlet mall. "It attracted new restaurants, hotels and other businesses."

The agency is looking for a development on the order of $20 million and up for the grants, Mazcyk said. A couple projects are under discussion, but nothing is firm yet.

Now with its own office in downtown Sharon, Mazyck continues to create new prospects for the agency and its 150 members.

With an infectious laughter, she seldom talks about herself.

A Farrell High School graduate, Mazyck enlisted in the Army Reserve while a student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She was assigned to the 347th Quartermaster Co. in Farrell.

She worked her way up through the ranks, eventually becoming platoon sergeant for the Product Control Section. She was transferred to the 1036th Army Reserve Force School, also in Farrell. Serving as the training designation of chief instructor/writer, she was eventually promoted to master sergeant.

She later served with the 8th Battalion/80th Regiment, which also is a quartermaster outfit. Mazyck was called up for regular duty in 1990 during Operation Desert Storm, activated to the Quartermaster School in Fort Lee, Va. where she trained soldiers in fuel-supply operations.

After this tour of duty, she returned to the USAR School in Farrell until her retirement from the Army in 2002.

Her service in the Army, along with an MBA from Youngstown State University, gave her strong organizational skills.

Among the other programs she created for the agency:

— Cooperative advertising: $100,000 is annually set aside to share advertising costs with eligible local tourist businesses.

— Tourist Attraction Development Grants: Up to $20,000 for a new tourism development or the expansion of an existing one.

— Revamped visitors guidebook: Instead of being crammed with advertising, a new format was developed that put the focus on stories about local tourism businesses and sites.

— Coupon book: Those interested in discount coupons from local business fill out a form on the agency's website. It also offers people the option of getting email blasts of upcoming events. Currently 20,000 have signed up for the emails.

A recent smash hit has been the Wine and Brewery Trail guidebook, where the agency promotes routes to visit the area's ever-growing number of micro breweries, wineries and distillers.

"We're regularly getting so many new ones I'm thinking we need to create an app," Mazyck said.

Attracting new tourist developments is constantly on her mind.

"We have to offer a different experience to tourists," she said. "Shopping isn't going to be enough. We have to have an outstanding extraordinary experience that will make people drive here who live four and five hours away."