“Well, I wondered if a sort of hands-on weekend-long arts festival might draw a crowd. An event that offered masterclasses or seminars on painting, acting, furniture making, writing, the culinary arts, area history—all taught by noted experts who happen to be residents. It could kick off with the farmers’ market and run Saturday and Sunday. With sufficient advance publicity, the event would have the potential to draw a large crowd—and if press releases spotlighting our local experts were sent out in advance, pre-event media coverage could generate interest in the town in general and whet people’s appetite to visit beyond the festival weekend.”

“Wow! I love it!” Excitement radiated from Marci. “And I think you were the perfect person to suggest it. Those of us who’ve lived here awhile tend not to see the forest for the trees—but Hope Harbor does have an amazing amount of talent. This could be really big!”

Gratifying as Marci’s enthusiasm was, it was only fair to mention the negatives. “It would be a huge undertaking, though—and all of the experts I mentioned would have to be willing to participate. It would be a big time commitment, and I imagine they’re all busy.”

“I’m not too worried about getting commitments.” Marci waved aside that concern. “Everyone who lives here loves this town and wants it to prosper. Volunteers tend to come out of the woodwork if a call goes out.” Her expression grew pensive. “Maybe we could even get Rose Fitzgerald to open up Edgecliff for tours. That would be quite a coup.”

“Who’s Rose Fitzgerald—and what’s Edgecliff?”

“Rose is our resident hermit. She lives just south of town on an estate named Edgecliff that was built by her lumber-baron grandfather. Rumor says it’s a showplace—but few in town have ever seen it. I tried to get her to let me interview her for the Herald once, but she declined.”

“Tours of a private, historic estate could be a big draw.”

“I’ll give it a go. Putting out a feeler is a piece of cake—unlike organizing an event on this scale. That would be a huge challenge.” Her forehead crinkled. “As far as I know, no one in town has any experience with that—me included. The publicity side is more my forte. Still, I’d be willing to tackle it if I didn’t have two-year-old twins. As it is, I don’t have a spare minute to call my own, and the learning curve for organizing an event like this would be formidable.”

“I hear you. Children demand a huge amount of energy, and this would be an ambitious undertaking.”