Maryville City Manager announced at the December 9 Tourism Committee meeting that the city would be launching the tourism website.

The city has hired a Northwest Missouri State University student intern to help work on the website. There will be a press release with detailed instructions on how to use the “list my business” button for local business owners to get their information on the site.

Tourism committee member Stephanie Campbell suggested the site include a video to detail the steps to list the businesses.

Maryville business owner Holly Kay Cronk spoke about the Make It Maryville Facebook page which had received a $1,000 grant from the committee to promote the December 5 Shop Hop through Facebook advertising and local print advertising.

The site itself had 15,000 visits with 32,000 impressions according to Facebook. She reported her business, Ferluknat Farm and another business owner she had contacted had better sales this year than last. Campbell of Blue Willow reported traffic in the store was steady and sales similar to last year.

McDanel gave the committee an update on the upcoming South Main Street project. The bid process is ready to begin with 63 of the 66 easements obtained. Construction is projected to begin in March, with Evergy maybe doing work earlier to bury the utility lines which run along side the street. Fifteen to 18 months of construction is projected with the only complete street closure to be West South Avenue at Main Street.