By Doc Lehman
Wellsburg, WV --- Race fans in Florida have been getting the word about something decidedly non-racing, the West Virginia Monarch Butterfly State Festival that will be held at Brooke Hills Park in West Virginia on September 10. And they are becoming aware of the festival through the efforts of dirt Late Model driver Corey Conley of Wellsburg, WV and his recent marketing agreement that aligns him with the West Virginia Motorsports Council Wild & Wonderful West Virginia tourism through motorsports program. Conley of Wellsburg is a current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Rookie of the Year candidate.
Conley entered into a marketing arrangement with the State of West Virginia to market tourism in the state through his Corey Conley Racing team as the popular driver competes throughout the United States competing on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. Conley’s new marketing and promotional arrangement was put together through the West Virginia Motorsports Council and the special marketing program will be known as the West Virginia Motorsports Council Wild & Wonderful West Virginia through Corey Conley Racing. Conley will utilize his dirt Late Model race car to promote and market various tourist attractions, festivals and other community-related endeavors like the West Virginia Monarch Butterfly State Festival.
Conley spent last week at East Bay Raceway Park racing with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. This week he is competing at East Bay Raceway Park driving a Modified racecar. With Conley’s Rocket Chassis #14 competing with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, Conley was able to promote the current program and the West Virginia Monarch Butterfly State Festival all week long via his racecar as well as team members displaying banners and distributing brochures.
“We’ve had a very positive response to the new West Virginia Motorsports Council program and we’ve been able to have some fun making race fans aware of the West Virginia Monarch Butterfly State Festival while we’re down here in Florida,” stated Conley. “This all helps West Virginia with tourism and anything that helps West Virginia I’m all for. It’s a great state and we’re looking forward to having our show car at the festival. It’s pretty cool that it’s in my hometown of Wellsburg.”
“It’s all about auto racing, tourism and economic development,” added Ashley Ness of the West Virginia Motorsports Council. “Corey doing well, the state doing well and all the surrounding counties that have all their projects going on, like the Monarch Butterfly Festival which was one person making something happen and here we go, we’re promoting it and we have a car with the Monarch Butterfly Festival flying around speedways.”
Conley will use his racecar, website, interviews and other methods to promote the West Virginia Monarch Butterfly State Festival and the West Virginia Motorsports Council Wild & Wonderful West Virginia through Corey Conley Racing program.
“The West Virginia Monarch Butterfly State Festival provides fun activities for kids and adults alike to learn more about how they can support the nearly extinct butterfly,” commented Heather Tokas, Coordinator of the Monarch Butterfly State Festival. “The Monarchs lost millions in their population during unseasonable freezing temperatures in Mexico more than once in seven years. Moreover, in the United States and Canada they are annihilated with pesticides and herbicides. I have been raising and protecting Monarchs for 32 years and am thrilled to see so much more awareness being brought into schools and civic groups on how to save the Monarch.”
Tokas, a native of Brooke County, WV is the only butterfly breeder in the state of WV and has been a member of the WV Entomology Society, IBBA (International Butterfly Breeder's Association), Wellsburg Chamber of Commerce, local business owner of Butterflies from Heather and affiliate of the WV Department of Natural Resources. She has raised butterflies for 30 years and decided that the Monarch, which is the WV state butterfly, should have a day to call its own. In 2004 she single-handedly lobbied legislators to create WV Monarch Butterfly Day. It passed as a resolution and will be observed September 10 this year.
“My personal goals for this newly proposed program is to enjoy local people supporting each other and sharing a mutual respect for someone else's dream,” said Tokas. “Together the dreams can be realized. It has been my personal dream to bring awareness to the overlooked beauty that travels thousands of miles to migrate. It is our state butterfly, the Monarch. In March 2004 HR28 was passed by the legislators and it established September 12th as WV Monarch Day. In July of 2005 the WV Tourism Department and Butterflies from Heather established WV Monarch Butterfly State Festival to celebrate WV Monarch Day. This year the Festival will be held at Brooke Hills Park on September 10th.”
Tokas is excited about not only marketing the festival she oversees but also West Virginia tourism in general using motorsports as a marketing tool. “I am excited about the new program being proposed by the WV Motorsports Council and driver Corey Conley's participation to advertise the WV Monarch Butterfly State Festival,” stated Tokas. “He is a good representative of West Virginia and is also from my hometown area in Brooke County. I haven't had the opportunity to thank him in person yet for his willingness to promote this brand new State Festival.”
“It's a great opportunity for Corey as a racer to be in at least 18 national dirt Late Model racing events that will be broadcasted on national television. With him including the WV Monarch Butterfly State Festival on his car it brings more of West Virginia to the track than just racing. The opportunity to expand tourism in WV is inconceivable since Corey is promoting his state this way. This will be seen by an audience that may not have recognized it before. And that creates more support for what the West Virginia Motorsports Council does for the state.”
For additional information on the West Virginia Monarch Butterfly State Festival contact Tokas at: (304) 737-4411 or P.O. Box 246, Wellsburg, WV 26070. Email: btrflyfromh@aol.com Additional information can be found at: http://www.brookewv.org/monarch/index.html
“If I can do anything to help West Virginia then I’ll do it,” stated Conley. “This is a great chance to introduce motorsports to the mainstream and also hopefully attract racing fans to West Virginia to check out all there is to do and see there in addition to the racing we have. On the other side, this is a good opportunity for me to partner with the state and help promote my racing operation, sponsors and the sport of dirt Late Model racing. I’m in Florida now and we have banners and brochures distributed all over the track. Whatever I can do to help, I’m there.”
For more information on Corey Conley visit: www.CoreyConley.com For more information on the West Virginia Motorsports Council visit: www.wvmotorsportscouncil.com
-Prepared by Lehman Motorsports Services
Wellsburg, WV --- Race fans in Florida have been getting the word about something decidedly non-racing, the West Virginia Monarch Butterfly State Festival that will be held at Brooke Hills Park in West Virginia on September 10. And they are becoming aware of the festival through the efforts of dirt Late Model driver Corey Conley of Wellsburg, WV and his recent marketing agreement that aligns him with the West Virginia Motorsports Council Wild & Wonderful West Virginia tourism through motorsports program. Conley of Wellsburg is a current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Rookie of the Year candidate.
Conley entered into a marketing arrangement with the State of West Virginia to market tourism in the state through his Corey Conley Racing team as the popular driver competes throughout the United States competing on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. Conley’s new marketing and promotional arrangement was put together through the West Virginia Motorsports Council and the special marketing program will be known as the West Virginia Motorsports Council Wild & Wonderful West Virginia through Corey Conley Racing. Conley will utilize his dirt Late Model race car to promote and market various tourist attractions, festivals and other community-related endeavors like the West Virginia Monarch Butterfly State Festival.
Conley spent last week at East Bay Raceway Park racing with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. This week he is competing at East Bay Raceway Park driving a Modified racecar. With Conley’s Rocket Chassis #14 competing with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, Conley was able to promote the current program and the West Virginia Monarch Butterfly State Festival all week long via his racecar as well as team members displaying banners and distributing brochures.
“We’ve had a very positive response to the new West Virginia Motorsports Council program and we’ve been able to have some fun making race fans aware of the West Virginia Monarch Butterfly State Festival while we’re down here in Florida,” stated Conley. “This all helps West Virginia with tourism and anything that helps West Virginia I’m all for. It’s a great state and we’re looking forward to having our show car at the festival. It’s pretty cool that it’s in my hometown of Wellsburg.”
“It’s all about auto racing, tourism and economic development,” added Ashley Ness of the West Virginia Motorsports Council. “Corey doing well, the state doing well and all the surrounding counties that have all their projects going on, like the Monarch Butterfly Festival which was one person making something happen and here we go, we’re promoting it and we have a car with the Monarch Butterfly Festival flying around speedways.”
Conley will use his racecar, website, interviews and other methods to promote the West Virginia Monarch Butterfly State Festival and the West Virginia Motorsports Council Wild & Wonderful West Virginia through Corey Conley Racing program.
“The West Virginia Monarch Butterfly State Festival provides fun activities for kids and adults alike to learn more about how they can support the nearly extinct butterfly,” commented Heather Tokas, Coordinator of the Monarch Butterfly State Festival. “The Monarchs lost millions in their population during unseasonable freezing temperatures in Mexico more than once in seven years. Moreover, in the United States and Canada they are annihilated with pesticides and herbicides. I have been raising and protecting Monarchs for 32 years and am thrilled to see so much more awareness being brought into schools and civic groups on how to save the Monarch.”
Tokas, a native of Brooke County, WV is the only butterfly breeder in the state of WV and has been a member of the WV Entomology Society, IBBA (International Butterfly Breeder's Association), Wellsburg Chamber of Commerce, local business owner of Butterflies from Heather and affiliate of the WV Department of Natural Resources. She has raised butterflies for 30 years and decided that the Monarch, which is the WV state butterfly, should have a day to call its own. In 2004 she single-handedly lobbied legislators to create WV Monarch Butterfly Day. It passed as a resolution and will be observed September 10 this year.
“My personal goals for this newly proposed program is to enjoy local people supporting each other and sharing a mutual respect for someone else's dream,” said Tokas. “Together the dreams can be realized. It has been my personal dream to bring awareness to the overlooked beauty that travels thousands of miles to migrate. It is our state butterfly, the Monarch. In March 2004 HR28 was passed by the legislators and it established September 12th as WV Monarch Day. In July of 2005 the WV Tourism Department and Butterflies from Heather established WV Monarch Butterfly State Festival to celebrate WV Monarch Day. This year the Festival will be held at Brooke Hills Park on September 10th.”
Tokas is excited about not only marketing the festival she oversees but also West Virginia tourism in general using motorsports as a marketing tool. “I am excited about the new program being proposed by the WV Motorsports Council and driver Corey Conley's participation to advertise the WV Monarch Butterfly State Festival,” stated Tokas. “He is a good representative of West Virginia and is also from my hometown area in Brooke County. I haven't had the opportunity to thank him in person yet for his willingness to promote this brand new State Festival.”
“It's a great opportunity for Corey as a racer to be in at least 18 national dirt Late Model racing events that will be broadcasted on national television. With him including the WV Monarch Butterfly State Festival on his car it brings more of West Virginia to the track than just racing. The opportunity to expand tourism in WV is inconceivable since Corey is promoting his state this way. This will be seen by an audience that may not have recognized it before. And that creates more support for what the West Virginia Motorsports Council does for the state.”
For additional information on the West Virginia Monarch Butterfly State Festival contact Tokas at: (304) 737-4411 or P.O. Box 246, Wellsburg, WV 26070. Email: btrflyfromh@aol.com Additional information can be found at: http://www.brookewv.org/monarch/index.html
“If I can do anything to help West Virginia then I’ll do it,” stated Conley. “This is a great chance to introduce motorsports to the mainstream and also hopefully attract racing fans to West Virginia to check out all there is to do and see there in addition to the racing we have. On the other side, this is a good opportunity for me to partner with the state and help promote my racing operation, sponsors and the sport of dirt Late Model racing. I’m in Florida now and we have banners and brochures distributed all over the track. Whatever I can do to help, I’m there.”
For more information on Corey Conley visit: www.CoreyConley.com For more information on the West Virginia Motorsports Council visit: www.wvmotorsportscouncil.com
-Prepared by Lehman Motorsports Services
