Solvang (SolvangUSA.com), affectionately known as “The Danish Capital of America,” has been voted as second-best in the “Best Small Town in the West” in the 2024 USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice Travel Awards, the results for which were publicly announced on April 10. The unique Southern California destination joined category winner Seward, Alaska, and third-place holder, Grants, New Mexico, in the top three spots.

In 2024, Solvang was nominated by a panel of experts and the 10Best editorial team for the USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards in two different travel categories: “Best Small Town in the West” and “Best Main Street.” The travel awards contest and online voting launched for the “Best Small Town in the West” category on Monday, March 4, and online public voting ran through Monday, April 1. (Results for the “Best Main Street” awards category have not yet been announced.)

No stranger to the USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards, Solvang was one of the 10 Best Historic Small Town winners in 2016 and 2018. In 2017, USA TODAY named Solvang as one of “10 great places to enjoy global Christmas traditions in the USA.” More recently, Solvang was nominated for the 2022 USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards in two different categories, “Best Historic Small Town” and “Best Small Town Cultural Scene,” and secured seventh place in the 2022 winners’ listing for the latter category.

Solvang is the only California town represented in the top 10 winners’ list for 2024’s “Best Small Town in the West,” and jostled for first place among the top finishers throughout the voting period. The fourth through 10th place winners in the category are: Cody, Wyoming; Manitou Springs, Colorado; Gig Harbor, Washington; Bainbridge Island, Washington; Williams, Arizona; Durango, Colorado; and Ashland, Oregon.

The annual USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice awards feature the top 20 nominees in contests covering travel and lifestyle topics such as food, lodging, destinations, travel gear, things to do, seasonal family fun, and more. The 10Best Readers’ Choice Award contest launches new categories every other Monday at 12 p.m., revealing each category’s 20 nominees. After four weeks of digital voting, the contest closes on the 28th day at 12 p.m. Rules allow the public the right to vote online for one nominee per category, per day. More information about the USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards may be found at 10best.usatoday.com/awards/about-usa-today-10best-readers-choice-awards/.

Dog-friendly and ideal for kids, Solvang, known for its Danish-American vibe, architecture and design details, pastries and bakeries, and array of wine tasting options, also boasts dozens of unique boutiques, restaurants and gourmet food purveyors. Carefully curated indie booksellers and high-end home goods suppliers mingle with fairy tale-like children’s stores and museum gift shops. Solvang’s foodie destinations offer everything from elevated street cuisine – like locally-sourced fish tacos on hand-made tortillas, and comforting ramen noodles – to European-style pretzels and sausages, to Italian standbys or iconic Danish dishes, to elevated new-Californian fare in the form of MICHELIN-honored menus. Solvang visitors sip small-batch, locally-roasted coffee, shop for exotic, hand-bottled spice blends, or enjoy Tiki cocktails and craft beer, all part of an indulgent and one-of-a-kind, year-round shopping and playing escape.

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Economist, Solvang Chamber of Commerce

Most spending by tourists in California originates in other states and countries. The graph shows that about six dollars in ten came from outside the state in 2018. 

Spending by California residents was $51.9 billion, or 40.6 percent of the total. Visitors from other parts of the U.S. spent $47.7 billion here, or 37.3 percent of total spending. International visitors spent $28.3 billion (22.1 percent). 

Together these visitors from other places in the U. S. and elsewhere in the world spent $76.0 billion at destinations in California, or 59.4 percent of total visitor spending. 

California residents spent 40.6 percent of the $127.9 billion total.

Spending here by international visitors counts as exports from the United States. Tourism in California produces more export value for the United States ($28 billion a year) than do California’s agricultural exports ($21 billion a year). 

Solvang welcomes visitors from California, other places in the U. S., and other countries. Visitors to Solvang find a wide range of appealing goods and services from which to choose.

Go online to Visit California, “California Travel Impacts 2010-2018,” page 5, for details of destination spending in California. Agricultural exports are reported online by California Department of Food and Agriculture, “California Agricultural Statistics Review 2017-2018,” page 105.

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Visit the Santa Ynez Valley (Visit SYV) announced its new board of directors and honored three local industry professionals at its annual meeting on June 13 at the Hotel Corque.

The organization also highlighted 2018 successes, including increased visitation to the valley.

As a tourism business improvement district (TBID), the tourism promotion group measures part of its success by assessing an increase in hotel occupancy, reflected in their annual funds. The valley TBID collected 8.31 percent more money in 2018 than in 2017, and 28.5 percent increase in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018.

 “It’s wonderful to be able to reflect back on a good year, but it’s great to be able to show that this year has started out even better,” said Visit SYV President and CEO Shelby Sim.

Sim also presented the organization’s new board of directors slate, who begin serving this month.

The board includes Linda Johansen of Pea Soup Andersen’s Inn and King Frederik Inn, chairman; Andrew Economon of Chumash Enterprises, representing Hotel Corque, vice chairman; Sherrie FitzGerald of Alisal Guest Ranch and Resort, secretary; John Richardson of Santa Ynez Inn, treasurer; Will Henry of PICO; Budi Kazali of Ballard Inn and Gathering Table; Karla Azahar of Santa Ynez Valley Marriott; Jonathan Rosenson of Mirabelle Inn and First & Oak; and Louise Smith of Louise’s Kitchen Table.

Marcy Payne, director of recreation at Alisal Guest Ranch and Resort, was recognized for her 26 years of service in hospitality with the “Spirit of the Santa Ynez Valley” award.

Crystal “Pink” DeLongpre, chef de cuisine at Root246 and Hotel Corque, was recognized for her dedication and passion for sourcing and supporting local growers with the “Ambassador of the Santa Ynez Valley” award.

Giorgio Curti, owner of Amaranto Catering, was recognized for exceptional community support and service with the “Spirit of Community” award.

For more information, go to VisitSYV.com.

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Anyone interested in the future of agriculture is invited to join a discussion of agricultural tourism moderated by John Parke, chairman of the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission, from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, June 20, in Stacey Hall at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Los Olivos.

Parke, the 3^rd District representative on the Planning Commission, plans a “forward-looking” discussion where community members representing many different interest groups explore creative ideas for agricultural tourism and consider how these can coordinate with other forms of tourism, such as bicycle touring or horseback riding.

He also wants to balance the discussion with consideration of what constraints should be placed on agricultural tourism.

Information from the discussion is expected to provide a starting point when the county begins work on a Farm Stay Ordinance later this summer.

For further information, email WE Watch, coordinator of the event, at info@wewatch.net.

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publisher@santaynezvalleystar.com

Two local business and tourism agencies have received honors at the recent Telly Awards, according to their winners list. The the Solvang Chamber of Commerce won Bronze in the General – Local TV category, and Visit the Santa Ynez Valley (Visit SYV) won Bonze for General – Promotional Video. 

“The Solvang Chamber of Commerce launched several special initiatives to enhance the City of Solvang and the ability of its businesses to thrive,” said Tracy Beard, executive director of the Solvang Chamber. 

The award was for the Solvang Chamber’s advertisement featured on KEYT featuring many local women representing their businesses, professional, philanthropic and personal passions and contributions to Solvang and the Santa Ynez Valley.

Visit SYV’s video focused on their promotion of various activities in the valley from visiting Ostrichland USA, horseback riding, wine and beer tasting, as well as the branding of their slogan “Easy to Find, Impossible to Forget.” 

“The Visit the Santa Ynez Valley team (Danielle Laudon Ruse, Marisa Yott, and me) are very proud to have won this award for our first official venture into producing video to promote our region. This is only the beginning,” said Shelby Sim, President/CEO for Visit SYV. 

Notable past local winners of a Telly Award was in 2009 when the Solvang Conference and Visitor’s Bureau won Bronze for their Amgen promotional video in the category of Commercial Regional TV & Multi-Market Cable – Travel/Tourism.

Founded in 1979, the Telly Awards honors video and television made for all screens and is judged by The Telly Award Judging Council; a group of leading video and television experts from some of the most prestigious companies in entertainment, publishing, advertising, and emerging technology.

View all of the winners of the 40th Annual Telly Awards winners at www.tellyawards.com/winners.

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Plus, Solvang visitors generate 53 percent of the city’s general fund revenue, derived from the 12 percent hotel transient occupancy tax (known as TOT) that visitors pay on top of their hotel room rate. For example, a visitor staying in a $100 hotel room pays an additional $12 in TOT to the city. When a visitor stays in a hotel, buys products and services and pays local wages, that tourism “multiplier effect” trickles down into all segments of our local economy.

Our year-round great weather, shops, restaurants, bakeries, attractions and cultural events we enjoy are highly sought-after by us locals and visitors alike. Solvang tourism is a major economic driver and contributes to our enhanced quality of life by providing more outstanding dining, shopping and recreational opportunities than our 5,909 city residents could possibly support on our own.

So, why is tourism in Solvang important to you? Bottom line, Solvang resident households could each pay an estimated $1,450 more annually in taxes if the tourism industry did not contribute revenues to the city. Loss of this large revenue source could cause the city to cut back on services such as maintenance of streets, roads and parks; public safety protection; and other community services.

Frankly, tourism is the only industry where consumers arrive, spend their money, then leave — making limited environmental impacts yet providing positive economic benefits.

The Solvang Conference & Visitors Bureau is the agency contracted by the city of Solvang to promote year-round tourism here. Let’s join together in recognizing that tourism is essential for Solvang’s continued economic vitality.

Tracy Farhad

Solvang Conference & Visitors Bureau

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Tracy Farhad, Executive Director of the Solvang Conference & Visitors Bureau (SCVB) is pleased to announce that Solvang is one of the 10 Best Historic Small Towns winners in the USA TODAY Readers’ Choice 2018 travel contest. The list of all ten winners can be found here.  Solvang also won this award in 2016 and 2017. 

USA TODAY also named Solvang as one of “10 great places to enjoy global Christmas traditions in the USA”

Farhad remarked, “Solvang is the only community in California to be honored in 2018 as one of the 10 Best Historic Small Towns in this USA TODAY travel contest. Initially, media experts nominated Solvang; then people locally and around the world voted for Solvang online. We’re thrilled to have this recognition, especially since we value and celebrate Solvang’s history year-round. The best way to experience Solvang’s history is with our Heritage Walk Audio Tour App.”

This Solvang Heritage Audio Tour App is a self-guided tour featuring 22 historic attractions and points of interest in a 1.9 mile tour walking route throughout the village. Download the Solvang Heritage Audio Tour free for Apple and Android systems on the Solvang Experience App at www.SolvangUSA.com

Solvang means “sunny field” in Danish and was founded in 1911 by three Danish-American educators who discovered a place in the central coast of California where land was plentiful and their culture could prosper. Solvang was honored with the prestigious “Preserve America Community” award by the national Advisory Council on Historic Preservation in 2009.

In 2018, Solvang celebrates 107 years of its historic, cultural heritage with museums, attractions and seasonal festivals such as the 1804 National Historic Landmark Old Mission Santa Ines; Elverhoj Museum of History & Art; Hans Christian Andersen Museum (the only one in the USA); Wildling Museum of Art & Nature and the Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum as well as historic displays at The Copenhagen House including the Solvang House of Amber. Festivals are traditional parts of Solvang’s historic charm. Danish Days annual festival emerged in 1936 commemorating Solvang’s heritage every September with artisans, folk dancing, three parades, aebleskiver breakfasts and free entertainment for the whole family. Locals and visitors savor the Taste of Solvang every March and Julefest (Yule-fest) during December.

Solvang welcomes over 1.5 million visitors each year, offers more than 35 restaurants, 5 authentic Danish bakeries, 25 wine tasting rooms, 150 retail shops and 18 hotels, inns and resorts along with myriad outdoor recreational opportunities and fun for all ages. Now in its second century, Solvang residents of many cultures still continue to enjoy the same historic traditions as the Danish-American founders envisioned—welcoming friends, family and visitors from around the world to share the joys of “California’s Denmark”.

For additional information, visit www.SolvangUSA.com

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Contributing Writer

Innkeepers Dave and Katie Pollock, owners of ForFriends Inn in Santa Ynez, had never been in the hospitality business before they bought the small bed-and-breakfast property. But they had stayed in many B&Bs while traveling the U.S. and Europe and, as guests, they knew it was the details that make or break a stay.

“Our model is to make it very comfortable and inviting, as if they were coming to our own home,” said Dave Pollock. “This is an authentic B&B for socially active couples that want to come up and have a wine country insider’s experience.”

Photo Contributed
“The name describes the feeling that you get there perfectly. It’s like staying at your best friends’ or relatives’ home where you feel welcome beyond words,” wrote a reviewer from New York.

Each guest receives a “Friendship Pass” that serves as their passport to 40 local wine-tasting experiences, offering two-for-one tastings and discounts at local restaurants, shops and attractions.

“We bring thousands of people to the valley each year, and it’s our distinct privilege to help them become insiders and find out what all the cool things are to do and the history of this place. We are very proud to be part of the Santa Ynez Valley,” Pollock said.

In the heart of Santa Ynez at 1121 Edison St., next to the Red Barn, the inn looks like a private home from the street but includes seven comfortable rooms, most with fireplaces, and one stand-alone cottage.

At the heart of the ForFriends experience is connection and conversation. The inn staff members learn the names of each guest and introduce them to one another upon arrival. A hosted afternoon happy hour with cookies and cordials as well as communal breakfast are chances to chat and make new friends. The three-course breakfast, served at two large dining tables, includes fruit, homemade granola, and an egg dish.

“One of our taglines is ‘Arrive as guests, leave as friends,’” Pollock noted. “We really designed the whole operation to live up to that tag.”

Guests can borrow a picnic basket to take along on their wine-tasting adventure or get help with private wine tour reservations, and everyone receives a personal thank-you note on departure.

The Pollocks purchased the inn in partnership with another couple five years ago and then bought out their former partners at the beginning of 2017. Pollock has recently worked to increase the property’s digital marketing presence, and he notes that the days of hanging out a vacancy sign – even in a small town – are long gone.

Guests have responded to the personal touch, rating ForFriends 5-out-of-5 on both TripAdvisor and Yelp, an impressive feat.

“From the moment we arrived we were treated like friends and honored guests,” wrote a recent visitor from Massachusetts.

“The name describes the feeling that you get there perfectly. It’s like staying at your best friends’ or relatives’ home where you feel welcome beyond words,” wrote another from New York.

For more information: www.forfriendsinn.com.

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By Kenneth Harwood

The number of hotel rooms in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties grew by 917 in the five years from January 2012 to January 2017, a net increase of 4 percent, but the rates of growth differed in the three coastal counties.

Santa Barbara County continued to offer the most rooms, followed by San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties, but the greatest growth in both number of rooms and percent gain was in San Luis Obispo County. Ventura County had fewer rooms in 2017 than in 2012, and a negative growth of 1 percent in number of rooms.

Growth of 4 percent in the three counties was the same as the rate in Santa Barbara County. Rate of growth in San Luis Obispo County was 8 percent, double the average rate of the three counties.

Supply of rooms in 2017 is slightly outpacing demand for rooms in both the tri-county area and the nation. Growth in number of rooms follows years of historically low interest rates for owners. Hotel occupancy rates are beginning to fall, thus pressing down room rates, revenue per available room, and profits.

Changes such as these are typical of years-long business cycles in many industries. If demand for rooms is smaller than supply, it seems likely that growth in number of rooms will slow until demand is greater than supply. Then we can expect the increase in number of rooms to resume.

To read the census of rooms by STR Hotel Research, go online to industry.visitcalifornia.com and click on Research. An example of recent declining room occupancy rate is also online at STR: US hotel results for week ending 18 March.

Dr. Kenneth Harwood is the economist for the Solvang Chamber of Commerce.

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The Solvang Conference & Visitors Bureau (SCVB) is a not-for-profit organization formed in 1986 to promote the City of Solvang, its Northern European culture, cuisine, shopping, arts and attractions of the village known as “California’s Little Denmark.” According to Executive Director Tracy Farhad, the SCVB is seeking two new members to serve a two-year term of office on the Board of Directors starting in January 2017. The applicants must be either an active business owner or executive level manager, or the property owner of a tourism-related business in the commercial area of the city of Solvang for a minimum of two years prior to December 31, 2016.

Members of the Solvang Conference & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors encourage the development of new promotional programs; oversee the strategic marketing plan and advancement of Solvang’s tourism industry. Applicants must be willing to commit to attending regular monthly SCVB board meetings, held on the fourth Thursday of each month at 8:30am at Solvang City Hall. (The meeting schedule is subject to change with prior notification and some special meetings are required throughout the year.)

Individuals interested in a Board of Directors position should send a one-page statement describing the applicant’s vision for Solvang tourism promotion, their unique contributions and a brief biography to Executive Director Tracy Farhad via email to tracy.farhad@SolvangUSA.com or via letter mailed to her at Post Office Box 70, Solvang, CA 93464; no later than close of business on December 8, 2016.

The current five SCVB board members were ratified and installed at the January 25, 2016, Solvang City Council Meeting as follows: President Jeff Paaske, Solvang Restaurant; Vice-President/Secretary Kim Jensen, Ingeborg’s Danish Chocolates; Treasurer/CFO Susan Williams, Wandering Dog Wine Bar; Directors David Rasmussen, Rasmussen’s; Angie Horn, Hamlet Inn & Atterdag Inn and Honorary Board Member Dr. Kenneth Harwood, Economist, Solvang Chamber of Commerce. Jeff Paaske and David Rasmussen terms are coming to a close in January 2017.

Please feel free to contact Tracy Farhad directly for any additional information or assistance by calling 805-688-6144 or by email at tracy.farhad@SolvangUSA.com

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