The Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau presented several awards during the virtual Toast to Tourism event Thursday evening, including ambassador of the year.

Honored as 2021 Ambassador of Tourism was Vicki Hinterberger, a Butler County businesswoman.

Special recognition was presented by Jack Cohen, bureau president, to individuals who helped the industry through what county Commissioner Kevin Boozel called a “pothole” of a year that has seen many industries struggle.

Among those honored were Clint Champagne of Clint Champagne Appraisal Services in Butler and Patti Jo Lambert of the Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival.

Outgoing ambassador for 2020, Bob McCafferty, North Country Brewing and Harmony Inn owner, toasted the work of the bureau and the award winners.

Cohen noted that Hinterberger, president and general manager of Butler Radio Network, was an “advocate for years for tourism in our county.”

“Thank you,” she repeated multiple times, looking surprised as she was presented her award.

Bureau chairman Ed Tanski praised the efforts of county officials to provide the financial injection necessary as a result of the “terrible pandemic.”

“We missed congregating with people we love, friends and family,” said county Commissioner Kim Geyer.

She praised the enterprising efforts of restaurants to provide outdoor seating, canopies and tents, and other creative solutions to help sustain their businesses.

The work the commissioners did with the state and federal recovery plan funds helped sustain the tourism industry here, Boozel said.

Leslie Osche, chairwoman of the board of commissioners, commended the work of the county to ensure that federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security money, provided in the form of grants, helped sustain restaurants when they needed it the most.

“There was no possible way as a provider of services to get through this alone,” Boozel said.

What helped provide some needed injection was the outdoor tourism industry: a theme chosen for the Toast to Tourism event.

“This is a time to celebrate the great outdoors and take advantage of county parks,” Osche said.

People took advantage of the “assets in Butler County when we couldn't gather indoors,” she said.

Cindy Adams Dunn, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, praised the many state parks and their work to draw record-breaking crowds during the pandemic.

“It was a great year for the outdoors, more essential than ever before,” Dunn said.

State park visits were up 30% in 2020 over 2019.

Thirty-seven million people visited state parks in 2019, and that number rose to 47 million in 2020.

There are 12,000 miles of trails in the states and their use was up. In Butler County, the total number of visitors at Butler-Freeport Community Trail was up 350% in 2020 over 2019, Dunn said.

Outdoor tourism provided a big economic boost, in which Pennsylvania ranks fifth in the country, Dunn said, a $29 billion industry in the United States that employs 251,000 workers.