Skip to Main Content

Creating a Niche Tourism Trail - Wednesday Webinar, October 9

Sep 27, 2024

Wednesday Webinar #2: Creating a Niche Tourism Trail

Join us on Wednesday October 9th at 9:15 AM for a presentation by Jessie McNaughton from NY Fiber Trail to learn how to create a niche tourism trail from scratch. Register now!

Jessie will be sharing how she created the NY Fiber Trail, a season-long self-guided tour of 78 yarn shops, fiber farms, yarn mills and textile studios throughout New York State. She will go into her inspirations (her retail yarn shop customer's willingness to travel & the success of the many NY tourism trails such as the Finger Lakes wine trails and the Haunted History Trail) as well as how she translated those ideas into a successful niche tourism opportunity.

Why You Should Attend This Session:

  • Hearing how a niche tourism trail was created from scratch
  • Using existing successful events & ideas as a blueprint
  • Tapping into your industry's best customers to give not just your business, but the industry as a whole, a boost

Key Takeaways:

  • Other businesses in your industry are not competition, they are colleagues. Connection and networking makes us all stronger.
  • Don't underestimate the power and willingness to spend of your customer base! Your businesses' & industry's biggest fans want to discover new places & opportunities to enjoy their niche.
  • Reinventing the wheel is not necessary. Use existing, familiar ideas/events as a blueprint to create an engaging incentive for your industry's biggest fans to travel and spend on what brings them joy.

About the Presenter:

Jessie McNaughton

Owner of Lift Bridge Yarns

E: jessie@liftbridgeyarns.com 

P: 607-591-0820

Jessie McNaughton, owner of Lift Bridge Yarns in Fairport, NY, is one of the organizers of the NY Fiber Trail. Inspired by her customers love of finding new yarn shops to visit on their travels, the many successful tourism trails in NY like the Finger Lakes Wine Trail, and her love of the vibrant and varied fiber community and industry in New York, she dreamed up the NY Fiber Trail. Her aim is to help support and grow the amazing local businesses that have sprung up around New York State wool, yarn and fiber.


The NY Fiber Trail is all about experiencing the vibrant NY fiber community. Participants follow this self-guided summer-long tour, exploring new yarn shops, working fiber farms, yarn mills and textile studios to finding their new favorite fibery spaces across New York State.

Register Below:


NYSTIA is hosting weekly virtual workshops in an informal, "coffee and conversation" format from 9:15 am to 9:45 am every Wednesday from October 2nd to December 11, 2024.  

NYSTIA Wednesday Webinars are briskly paced, informative and themed to provide tactical 'know how' and 'how to' insights into best practice tourism-related marketing/management.

We encourage NYSTIA 'Members-with-Members' to invite their members to register. Each webinar is recorded and archived for post-event access.

Check out our Spring 2024 Lunch & Learn Webinar series wrap-up for recaps of all 16 webinars presented January through May, 2024. Each recap includes a bullet-point summary, slide decks, and a video recording.

Any questions should be directed to Brooke Wilson - Brooke@nystia.org.

- Brooke Wilson

Sign up for our webinars below:

Select Which Webinar Dates You Want To Participate In

Please select all available dates below

with Mark Luciano, Brookfield Renewable U. S.
with Jessie McNaughton from the NY Fiber Trail
with Seth Orozco from Sojern
with Bridget Cerrone from Advance Media NY
with Elissa Mitchell from Corporate Communications
with Bob Provost, NYSTIA President & CEO
with Jonathan Keslow from Epsilon
Please Use The Submit Button Below When Finished