Covered Bridges Scenic Byway in Madison County Wins National Scenic Byway Foundation Award
Covered Bridges Scenic Byway (CBSB) won the 2022 Byway Organization Interpretation Award bestowed by the National Scenic Byway Foundation. Teddi Yaeger, the CBSB’s Project Manager, was invited to represent the byway for the award presentation at the Heartland Byway Conference on May 5th in Leavenworth, Kansas.
The project was the creation of a sixteen-page full-color booklet called “Discovery Guide” for the CBSB. The booklet contains an introduction to the byway, a two-page spread on each of six byway stories/themes (including an overview of that story, historic and current photographs, a featured asset, and a table of sites to see if the visitor is interested in that particular story), contact information, directions to the CBSB, and addresses for welcome centers along the route. Each story’s spread was designed to mimic an interpretive panel, which the CBSB Council hopes to one day manufacture and display at each site represented in the booklet.
The Discovery Guide is a relatively inexpensive and portable way for visitors to take key information about the CBSB along with them. The guide also enables byway travelers to choose their own experiences along the route, focusing on what matters most to them. The booklet is meant to be kept by the visitor as a souvenir and resource.
The initial cost of printing the Discovery Guide with covered by a grant from the Greater Madison County Community Foundation. Reprinting of the booklet is now funded through the CBSB’s operating budget which is subsidized by “Friends of the Byway” Sustaining Memberships (available to any individual or business for $50/year).
About the Covered Bridges Scenic Byway
The CBSB is one of Iowa’s Scenic Byways, an Iowa Department of Transportation program.
For more information about the Covered Bridges Scenic Byway or to become a supporting member, visit madisoncounty.com/covered-bridges-scenic-byway/ or email Teddi Yaeger at tourism@madisoncounty.com.