New faces on tourism board
CRANBERRY TWP — The Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau said goodbye Thursday to four long-serving board members before welcoming four replacements.
Bob McCafferty, the owner of both the North Country Brewing and the Harmony Inn, has been on the board since 2006 and also recently was the vice chairman.
He said he was sad to leave the board, especially given how “neat it was to see how the tourism bureau has grown” since his time there.
He will be replaced as the representative for the restaurant group by Zach Shumaker, who owns ShuBrew in Zelienople.
The board also said goodbye to Kathy Allen, who has been on the board since “before social media and smart phones,” she said.
Allen said she’s served on a number of for-profit and nonprofit boards, and praised the tourism bureau as being the most efficient of them all.
“It is really an anomaly to have a budget increase of 600 percent and the membership increase five-fold,” she said of her time on the board.
She will be replaced as the representative of the bed and breakfast group by Veronica Minke of Locust Brook Lodge.
The board said farewell to longtime member Ed Wadding, who also praised the board.
He said, “This by far exceeds any other opportunity I’ve been involved in.”
He will be replaced as the representative of the arts and culture group by Roxann Booser of the Maridon Museum.
Finally, the board said goodbye to Danielle Hixon, who only was on the board for a year after replacing a member who left mid-term.
She will be replaced as the representative of the hotels group by Rick Antestenis, the general manager of the Courtyard Pittsburgh North hotel in Cranberry Township.
Jack Cohen, president of the tourism bureau, thanked each outgoing member, saying they helped make his job much easier.
After the elections, the board also cemented its leadership with Rodney Schaffer retaining his seat as chairman, Paul Lueken retaining his seat as treasurer and Jake Weiland retaining his seat as secretary.
Todd Wehr, who represents the camping group, replaced McCafferty as vice chairman.
