Friday, September 15, 2000

Coca-Cola memorabilia a big draw

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Collectors meet in Kentucky

The Associated Press

        ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. — Having Coca-Cola is certainly bringing smiles to the faces of local merchants and tourism officials here.

        Cola-Cola memorabilia collectors began pouring into Elizabethtown this week for the Mid-South Chapter of the National Coca-Cola Collectors Club Septemberfest. The event draws more than 400 registered participants and several hundred guests and has become one of the area's biggest money-makers.

A radio/CD/casette stereo shaped like a giant Coca-Cola can attracts the attention of two women at the Coca-Cola Collectors Club Septemberfest in Elizabethtown. (Associated Press photo) | ZOOM |

        The event began Wednesday and continues through Saturday.

        Collectors set up shop in their rooms at the town's Days Inn, selling items dating as far back as 1910 and priced between 50 cents and $5,000.

        The event is open to the public, along with auctions today and Saturday.

        “Those people have been faithfully coming to Elizabethtown for years and years, and they don't mind spending their money,” said Sue Preston, manager of Days Inn.

        The annual convention, in its 24th year, has attracted visitors from as far away as Japan. Many spend thousands of dollars in the community and will continue coming to the area because of the hospitality.

        “They really roll out the red carpet for us here,” said guest Bill Taylor. “We have gotten to know people here pretty well, and we get treated like kings and queens. That makes a big difference to us, so we don't mind spending our money while we're here.”

        Earlene Mitchell, who coordinates the local event, said the group continues to come to Elizabethtown because organizers are impressed with the city.

        “All it takes is one bad experience to get a convention to pack up its bags and not come back,” she said. “They've been good enough to us to keep us coming back for 24 years and many years to come.”

        It's a trend tourism officials hope will continue, said Sherry Murphy, executive director of the Elizabethtown Tourism & Convention Bureau, which gave the collectors group a $900 donation to cover expenses.

        “We don't want to lose a group like that,” she said. “They have a real impact on the local economy while they're here.”
       

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