Tour Marion With Annual "Amazing Treasures"

Memorial Day weekend will mark the start of the fifth year of  the Marion Area Convention Bureau’s Marion’s Amazing Treasures summer playing card promotion. The award winning promotion will feature a new selection of local historical treasures as well as a selection of ones better known.

“Each year we are amazed at how many different historic possibilities we are able to put on the playing card,” states Diane Watson, director of the Marion Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

New to the card this year, the Jacob Howser homestead. Mr. Howser was instrumental in bringing Prince Imperial to Marion. Although the home is not open to tours, you can see the farmhouse that sits just across the road from River Valley High School. Another is the Caledonia boyhood home of Warren G. Harding. The green box is located at the historical marker that sits out front of the house.

The summer promotion was originally started to offset remarks about local people not taking advantage of the history and attractions available in their own community. Creating a game out of discovering local history made a lot of sense. The promotion appeals to groups, families and individuals alike, and runs from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend. Giving participants all summer to get as many validations as possible.

The card offers possible rewards when it is returned with the appropriate number of validations at summer’s end. This year the Marion Family YMCA is again offering a family membership for the first prize drawing level. Other prize levels will be awarded, too.  The playing card is made possible through partnerships with Primrose Retirement Communities, Storad Label, Kingston Residence, VFW Post 3313 and the Marion Star.

Playing cards can be picked up at the Marion Area CVB, area partners and listed attractions or can be downloaded from the CVB web site, www.VisitMarionOhio.com after clicking on the Marion’s Amazing Treasures V icon.

The Marion Area Convention and Visitors Bureau mission is dedicated to promoting the Marion area’s many historic and unusual attractions, with the purpose being to bring economic growth to the Marion area.