For the Ottawa Visitors Center’s birthday this month, we’ve launched the 30 Stories for 30 Years interview series! We’ve been meeting with some past and present OVC Board members, and some others, as we look back on 30 years in the Middle of Everywhere, and eagerly look ahead to the future. Our birthday celebration is set for April 24th! Stay tuned to our blog for more interviews and Facebook to keep updated.

This special entry features Denny Butte, a former OVC employee! To start things off, he explained a bit about his time with the visitor center.

“Yep, I was an employee. Sat out there at the desk and answered the phone and greeted visitors. That’s what I did. Mostly over there, when it was the mansion. And the help was to move over to here,” Denny said.

(Photo of the OVC under construction)

We’ve touched on this before in some of these interviews, but for those who don’t know – The Ottawa Visitors Center hasn’t always been located at 1028 LaSalle St. For a time, we were located in the Reddick Mansion’s carriage house. Denny spoke more on what he enjoyed while working at the OVC.

“The debate reenactment was a special time. It was 2008, the 150th anniversary of the debate, was really quite a deal, and the big hats we put out, that was pretty special, and then just some of the visitors I met, just anecdotally stories, people coming in. Had a doctor from South Africa come in, and he needed to transfer money into his payroll in South Africa, and didn’t know how he could get a hold of South Africa. I had an app on my phone for overseas calls, because my wife’s from Germany at that time, and I just let him use my phone to call South Africa and transfer…”

Visitors are truly what make this work fulfilling. We see people come in from out of town, state, and even the country. You never know what stories or insights the next visitor who walks in might tell you! Denny continued.

“And the Loopers. We used to get a lot of the Loopers coming in from Heritage Harbor and meeting them and stuff. That was always special. And all the events like Morel Fest. The Wine Fest we used to do was fun. That was a big deal. Fifteen years ago, I mean, we’d get a lot of wine vendors and the jazz, lobster… The lobster was big.”

It’s no surprise that Ottawa has been home to a variety of iconic events throughout the years. As a long time employee of the visitors center, Denny has plenty of experience with events, attractions, and tourism. We also spoke with Denny about what tourism, in relation to Ottawa, means to him personally.

“Tourism means to me? It’s great to have the tourism. I mean, it’s great for Ottawa’s economy, the people that come in. It’s switched, I think, more from tourism to just a dining destination, which I think is fantastic,” he said. “I mean, all the restaurants we have now, and you go by through town and look at the stickers on cars and where they were purchased from. I mean, they’re from all over the area, from the suburbs, and it gets pretty neat. That’s part of tourism.”

It is always exciting to see the fruits of your labor when sharing your community! Given that it’s our birthday month, we want to take a reflective look on the past. We asked Denny how he thinks tourism has come along in Ottawa throughout time.

“Oh, I think it’s improved a lot over the years. I think in the last couple of years, all the advertising on WGN, I think has helped a lot, with John Williams. As I turn the radio on. Sometimes that’s all I hear, and I think it’s fantastic.”

Working with WGN and John Williams has just been amazing! We’re so happy to be working with them and spreading the news about Ottawa. And isn’t there always something exciting going on? We had to ask Denny if he could choose a personal favorite event.

“I think the debate reenactment was my favorite. It was pretty neat. And we had an old lady at the debate wearing a dress that her, I think it was her grandmother, wore to the original debate. And she wore the same dress. Yeah, that was really special,” he explained.

While we were discussing events and tourism, we were also reminded of promotion with the “Travels with Darley” PBS show. Denny spoke about the collaboration. Did you catch the episode?

“Well, I left here in ‘18, [episode] might have been 2016… I forget what she titled it, but that was a fun time too, doing Darley. Yeah. That was really interesting how they did it!”

Here at the office, we’re always happy to help out a visitor who is interested in our town! We’re quite familiar with recommending places for tourists to check out, whether it’s shopping, dining, the list goes on! Of course, we’re also very proud of our attractions in Ottawa. We asked Denny if he had a personal favorite.

“I guess I want to say Washington Square Park. I mean, that’s such a neat venue with the fountain and the statues and the Civil War monument. That, and Reddick’s, of course,” Denny said.

Washington Park and the Reddick Mansion saw some of Ottawa’s very own rich history take place. With the fountain, lush trees, and picturesque pathways, the park offers such a welcoming atmosphere that really brings the downtown together. With the historic Reddick Mansion a stone’s toss away, it almost feels like the magnificent building is keeping watch over the park.

As part of the reflective nature of this series, we’ve been asking participants if they would choose to bring back an old event or attraction for the modern day, or if they would prefer something new. Denny gave us his thoughts on the matter.

“The Wine, Jazz, and Lobster that used to [be held]. Of course, we’d run shuttle vans from the motels downtown. That was a busy time. I know all the motels were full,” he said.

This question has been so interesting to ask, because you can truly see Ottawa’s grand mosaic of people, thoughts, and ideas in the answers! Only the future knows for certain, what events we’ll see. We can’t wait to share them with you. To round out the interview, we asked Denny if he had any closing thoughts on looking to the future for tourism in Ottawa.

“No, not really. It’s, I think, going well. I think they should do more with the canal,” he said.

The I&M Canal is a vital aspect of Ottawa’s history. We can’t wait to see what our friends with the Canal will do next! Thank you to Denny for visiting with us! Follow along as we continue our anniversary interview series as we look back on 30 Years in the Middle of Everywhere!