A few years ago, a national study showed the Tallahassee area has many of the qualities most desired by retiring Baby Boomers. Now, there’s an on-line contest to help lure more of those retirees to the Capital City.
Sheila Hampman says she and her husband Arnie had always expected to retire in their hometown of Tamarac, a Fort Lauderdale suburb. Then their daughter moved to Tallahassee and the Hampman’s discovered everything the town had to offer them.
“This is where we want to be, these are the people we want to be with, this is the community we have decided to spend the rest of our years with.”
Retired Baby Boomers like Sheila and Arnie Hampman are now highly prized by communities across the nation. Ron Sachs, who co-chairs the Choose Tallahassee campaign, says the reason for that is obvious.
“Any community that lures even a fragment of one-percent of Boomers to their community will enjoy an economic windfall, not only in their dollars, but in the value they will add to the quality of life.”
A few years ago, the Washington Economics Group ranked twenty American communities in terms of attractiveness to retirees and Tallahassee topped the list. But the Capital City still lacked a crucial buzz factor to promote that fact. On Tuesday, the Choose Tallahassee group unveiled a national online contest called “Home Free”. Anyone fifty-five and older who’s not a Florida resident can enter. The City of Tallahassee’s Rick Minor says entrants go to www.choosetallahassee.com and answer four short questions.
“Contestants can use Facebook, Twitter and e-mail to encourage their friends and family to vote for them. This fan favorite process is called ‘crowd sourcing’. It’s a great way for contestants to spread the word around the country about the contest and encourage participation from their friends and family.”
After a few more rounds of selection, a panel of judges will pick a grand prize winner right after the first of the year. The grand prize is free rent in a Tallahassee home for a year, free golf club membership, tickets to cultural and local sporting events, complimentary restaurant dining and other goodies.
“The grand prize value is nearly thirty-five thousand dollars.”
Organizers say it’s the first effort of its kind by any American community. And Choose Tallahassee Co-Chair Ken Boutwell thinks it may be the smartest economic development move the area’s made in years.
“You know these people come and they create jobs for existing businesses. So we’re not going to bring a business in from the outside. We’re simply saying here’s more demand that’s going to increase our restaurants, the retail stores, it’s going to provide people for our charities, it just can’t be any better.”
And the Choose Tallahassee folks hope all the buzz generated by the contest will convince hundreds – maybe thousands – of people like Sheila and Arnie Hampman to make the Capital City their retirement destination.
