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Gracious Me! A Garden Gnome Hits the Slopes of Utah
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Published on Friday, February 05, 2010 - 12:00 PM






Salt Lake City, UT - Look carefully, and you might see a garden gnome with a British accent zipping around Utah's ski slopes this week.

Utah squeaked ahead of Lake Tahoe, Calif./Nev., in this week's voting in the Travelocity "Cabin Fever: Finding a Cure" contest. Fans of the two western U.S. ski regions cast online votes for where to send the popular television commercial character for his latest ski trip. When the dust settled, Utah staged a last-minute come from behind win by the narrowest of margins, by only 64 of 285,482 total votes cast to finish ahead of Tahoe by only 0.02%.


Click image to enlarge

The Roaming Gnome knows how to tackle the steeps.
(photo: Travelocity)

The Roaming Gnome has arrived in Utah to visit friends and locals, pose for pictures and participate in some of the most popular activities that Utah ski resorts have to offer, including not only skiing but also ice skating, snowmobiling and snow tubing. As with all celebrities, he will have a "personal assistant" who accompanies him along the way. He's zipping around Park City-area slopes this morning, working off last night's Deer Valley Seafood Buffet.

"We Won!" Ski Utah tweeted on Wednesay. "Way to go Utah fans! Tahoe folks, you're welcome to come Ski Utah anytime! Gnome, we'll see you on the slopes!"

Tahoe tourism officials were gracious in their defeat. “The competition did what it was designed to do for Travelocity while engaging the regional tourism industry, locals and our visitors in a friendly competition,” Bill Hoffman, executive director of the Incline Village/Crystal Bay Visitors Bureau and chair of the Reno-Tahoe Regional Marketing Committee said. “Frankly, we hope the Roaming Gnome knows that he always has a place in Tahoe as do the skiers and riders that call Utah, or for that matter any ski area, home."

Hoffman added that the contest generated positive publicity for both ski regions. “The added attention Tahoe received through this promotion is something we can’t measure, however it did give us an opportunity to share why Tahoe is a great place for ski and ride and what we have to offer year round,” he said. “Additionally it showed that as a region we take our destination marketing seriously."
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