Cape & Islands News

Chamber closes Information Center on Route 25

Gives up promoting to travelers headed this way for next six months

The new information center two miles over the Bourne Bridge is now closed until next May.

Businesses wonder when they will get their rebates, off season holidays neglected

By Walter Brooks 

There are two major information centers built by the state with taxpayer money to greet travelers as they approach Cape Cod.

Off Season Holidays missed
- Thanksgiving
- Christmas
- New Year's,
- February school break
- President's Weekend,
- St. Patrick's Day
- April school break

One is at Exit 5 in Plymouth twelve miles over the Sagamore Bridge which is operated year-round by the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce.

The second is two miles over the Bourne Bridge on Route 25 in Bourne and has been operated year-round by the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce until last month.

At that time distributors dropping off material including free publications, maps and brochures, were told by the chamber staff that the information center was closing "at the end of October, and probably won't reopen until next May."

Businesses must pay a hefty fee to have their promotional materials distributed by the chambers at these two state-owned properties which are on the only two major highways approaching Cape Cod.

The fee is an annual one, paid in advance, so some businesses are asking when they will receive their rebates for services not rendered by the Cape Cod Chamber.

Meanwhile, on the Great Wall of China

The head of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, Wendy Norcross, recently toured the Republic of China on a trip to promote various aspects of the state's economy.  She visited the Great Wall, Shanghai and Beijing among other sites according to a story in the Barnstable Patriot.

Some chamber members are suggesting her time, and her reported $100k plus salary plus benefits, would have been better spent operating the Route 25 Information Center which was given to her organization to manage.