Visit Dubois County launches Love Where You Live summer challenge

Visit Dubois County is using its new Love Where You Live Summer Challenge to push more residents and visitors into local attractions, shops and events through Aug. 14, turning hometown pride into a countywide spending boost. The campaign is aimed at keeping summer dollars in Dubois County, where tourism officials measured $117 million in visitor spending in 2022 and later cited $123.4 million in 2023.

The challenge is built as an activity-driven promotion rather than a passive brochure, with prompts designed to steer people toward county landmarks, parks, festivals, historic sites and family attractions. Visit Dubois County’s summer pitch already points people toward splash pads, local festivals, the Dubois County Museum and day trips to Holiday World, giving participants a ready-made way to move around Jasper, Huntingburg, Ferdinand, Holland and nearby communities.

That matters in a county of 44,016 residents spread across 427.30 square miles, with Jasper serving as both the county seat and largest city. In a place that size, even a modest increase in local outings can ripple through the tourism economy, especially as county leaders weigh a proposed $700,000 tourism budget for 2026 against a visitor economy that already tops $100 million a year.

One of the strongest stops in the mix is the Dubois County Museum, which the Town of Ferdinand describes as the largest county museum in Indiana. The museum has 50,000 square feet of exhibit space and more than 36,000 objects, making it a natural anchor for anyone using the summer challenge to rediscover the county’s history and heritage.

Visit Dubois County has leaned on seasonal promotions before, including the Making Winter Memories giveaways, and the summer challenge follows the same pattern of time-limited participation. The difference this time is the seasonal fit: with families moving through summer schedules and local attractions already in the spotlight, the campaign gives Dubois County another tool to keep people close to home and business traffic moving through its towns.