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A PROGRAM OF THE U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOUNDATION
 

IOM Blog

November 16, 2022

Exhibit Creates Visitor Attraction in a Unique Way to Capture the Hurricane Harvey Story

When Hurricane Harvey came roaring ashore the coast of Rockport and Fulton, Texas, the community had less than 20-hours notice of its landfall. Although planning and crisis management had always been a priority of the leadership of the community, the community itself was hit so hard that officials were told it would take 10-years to fully recover. 

To add to that, the storm then moved up the coast to the Houston area taking the attention of the nation with it. The coming weeks, months and years would turn out to be challenging, rewarding, exciting and exhausting. The community leaders banded together in long term recovery and worked a plan. Now, five years later, visitors would not even know the community had been hit by a Category 4-plus hurricane.

One year after the storm, the Rockport-Fulton Chamber of Commerce Tourism Development Council held a Strategic Planning Session to map out the next five years to bring back tourism. One of the strategic goals in that plan was to tell the story of Hurricane Harvey so visitors would know what we went through and to thank the people and donors that came to our aid.

Impressed with the Ground Zero Exhibit in Waveland, MS, the Chamber set out to fund the reconstruction of the inside of its existing Visitor Center. The project would cost $50,000 to $60,000.  A private foundation, individuals and business donors, along with hotel occupancy tax came to the rescue.

With the floor of the Visitor Center being octagonal in shape, this made way for eight panels on a display board. The eight areas were to focus on the timeline of events, news across the nation, donors, gifts, volunteers, debris, and silver linings incorporating as many videos, charts, graphs as needed.

The Chamber Staff created the content of the exhibit and then turned it over to the head of Creative Services for the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, TX to design the project. View opening night here.  

One of the highlights of the exhibit is a visit by George Strait, the King of Country and Western music. He visits the Rockport-Fulton area right after the storm. He and his wife have a home in Rockport. He spoke to the people of Rockport-Fulton just weeks after the storm giving a message of hope and that our community will not be forgotten. Listen here.

The exhibit debuted on the 5th anniversary during a ceremony on the lawn of the Chamber highlighting the Rock Solid people of the Rockport-Fulton area and thanking those across the nation for their support and contributions. Former Dallas Cowboy NFL Player Dat Nguyen helped announce that message with a video.

The community was asked to supply items to add to the exhibit. These “Harvey Remnants” are items around the community brought about through Hurricane Harvey. A list of drive-by remnants was also created and made available here.

A great resource for you is the help desk at the U.S. Chamber Foundation Community Resilience and Disaster Response. Be sure to click here as they reached out to me the Monday after the storm and immediately made a consideration donation to our community’s Go Fund Me Account. It is filled with information to assist you with the Resilience in a Box Program and more. 

For more information on the Rockport-Fulton area, click here.

Avatar photo
Diane Probst, IOM, CCE

Diane Probst, IOM, CCE is a legend in the Chamber industry, having led her state association as Chairman of the Board, authored two books, and led a 5-star Chamber through it all. Her books address “Chamber Basics” and lessons learned after a devastating hurricane hit her community.

It all happened at the Rockport-Fulton Chamber of Commerce where she served as President/CEO for 32 years. Under her leadership, the Rockport-Fulton Chamber held accreditation status for 25 years, 15-plus years at the 5-star level. It was the third Chamber in Texas to receive a 5-star rating, and by far the smallest community.

Probst holds a BBA in Marketing from Texas A&M University. She is a graduate of the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Organization Management, and is a Certified Chamber Executive by the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives. She also completed economic development courses at Texas A&M University, and the University of Oklahoma’s Center for Chamber of Commerce Excellence Program. Probst was chairman of the Texas Chamber of Commerce Executives (TCCE) in 2008, and is the recipient of the 2012 Marvin Hurley Award, TCCE’s highest honor.

She published her first book Chamberology in 2014 and her second, When The Storm Comes: Lessons Learned, in 2019, authored with her daughter, Alyssa Wilson. It offers organizations 10 areas to focus on after a disaster strikes their community.

Probst takes pride in inspiring a Chamber professional’s potential for building and maintaining a 5-star organization. She looks forward to teaching the Institute Session “Unleashing the Leader Within You” at the University of Wisconsin this summer.

She and her husband, Mike, have two daughters. Alyssa (Doug) Wilson and Ashlee (Cody) Lynch. They have six grandchildren, all under the age of eight.

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