Chamber wants to know where guests are from

As fans entered the gates of the East Texas Pump Jacks last Saturday night, Kilgore Chamber of Commerce was on the scene and on a mission.

they were there to collect as many postal zip-codes as possible.

Carol Hinton, director of tourism, counted attendees from 26 Texas cities and six out-of-state addresses.

Among Texas cities were Arlington, Big Sandy, Bullard, Carrollton, Carthage, Commerce, Dallas, Flower Mound, Gladewater, Grapevine, Hallsville, Henderson, Kingsville, Leverett's Chapel, Liberty City, Longview, Marshall, Mesquite, Minden, New London, Overton, Palestine, Rockwall, Tatum, Tyler and White Oak.

"It is evident that the Pump Jacks have some fan base," Hinton said. "There may also be a draw from other cities following their own teams."

Coppell - northwest of Dallas - is home to the Copperheads and McKinney - just north of Dallas - is home to the Marshals.

Other fans at the game were from Alabama, California, Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida and Pennsylvania.

The chamber is scheduled to man the gates again on Friday night.

"I am sure we will have different cities represented at different games," Hinton said.

According to Hinton, the chamber initiated this effort to track results of recent tourism endeavors, including the addition of the East Texas Pump Jacks.

Mike Coston, Chamber president, said the baseball team has definitely been good for tourism.

"It is important that we are getting fans from cities that are far enough away that they may choose to stay in Kilgore's hotels and that they are most definitely fueling their vehicles and feeding their families here," Coston said. "Restaurant business has increased, according to those I have spoken to.."

Coston said Kilgore tourism is doing well.

"Mike Lieberman (East Texas Pump Jacks general manager) has said that Kil- + gore has the best attendance in the league," Coston said, "Raymond Caldwell (TSF festival director) also noted an increase in attendance."

Coston feels that part of the increase may be attributed to a Tyler-Longview advertising campaign that promotes both events.

"I think it is safe to say that the East Texas Pump Jacks and Texas Shakespeare Festival have been good to Kilgore," Coston said.