Taylor Wilkie
Email: taylor@exploreprineville.com
Title: Destination Specialist
Organization: Prineville Crook County Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center
Community: Prineville
Population: 11,227
County Served: Crook County
Meet Taylor Wilkie:
Taylor just moved to Central Oregon from Western New York, near the Buffalo area, following her first year of service with AmeriCorps. Taylor finds herself right at home in an area with more livestock than residents; she grew up on her family’s dairy farm in her small, agricultural community.
Taylor graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology in May 2022 from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, a liberal arts college in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. She also earned a double minor in public policy and environmental studies. With a wide variety of work experiences ranging from bartending at a local brewery to interning for a nearby county planning department to working on public engagement at a non-profit focused on climate change, Taylor welcomes her next challenge: tourism!
During her free time, Taylor loves all things outdoors, no matter the season. She loves to travel, try new things, and spend time with friends, family, and animals. She is excited to enjoy all of these elements in her new home, as well as embrace the Western lifestyle by learning how to line and swing dance to some of her favorite country music artists.
Community and Organization:
Crook County is in the heart of Central Oregon, east of Deschutes County, where you can find Prineville, the Cowboy Capital of Oregon. Prineville is approximately 35 miles from Bend, located in the high desert region, surrounded by beautiful buttes and plateaus. As the county seat and only incorporated community in Crook, Prineville is home to the county Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, as well as the county’s Destination Management Organization (DMO). As the local DMO, the Prineville Chamber and Visitor Center has the additional responsibility of promoting tourism throughout the county, which is where Taylor comes in.
Projects:
As the Destination Specialist, Taylor will be supporting the Director of Tourism as they build a tourism program together that benefits the welfare of the community, sustainable economic development of the region, and the natural environment that makes Central Oregon, Central Oregon. Taylor’s projects include researching best practices, building inventories/procedures, and crafting an online presence for the up-and-coming Explore Prineville campaign. Key areas of her tourism work will include supporting small business development and growth, while highlighting the outdoor recreation assets in Crook County, such as rockhounding, hiking, cycling, water sports, and the only designated Dark Sky Park in Oregon.