Make a good Clam Chowder? The Coos Bay – North Bend Visitor & Convention Bureau wants to hear from you! In preparation for it’s fall/winter promotion, Chowder Bounty, the VCB is asking for area chefs; professionals and amateurs to submit their favorite clam chowder recipes to be featured on: www.ChowderBounty.com.

The new Chowder Bounty campaign is the VCB’s latest effort to increase overnight stays and will include the new website, chowder themed logo, print collateral, and both online and traditional advertising to promote overnight stays in the Coos Bay, North Bend, Charleston area.

According to Katherine Hoppe, director of the VCB, value based vacations and packages have become increasingly popular with travelers. “We’re already a very affordable vacation destination compared to other coastal cities, we want to capitalize on that by packaging one of our best offerings, our chowder.”

The campaign will offer visitors $50 in dining gift certificates when they stay for two nights or more in participating lodging properties. There will also be opportunities for people to vote for their favorite chowder through the Oregon’s Adventure Coast Facebook page (www.facebook.com/oregonsadventurecoast.com).

“We know that recipes tend to be a highly trafficked area on websites and we think it will add a fun component to the site. We’d love for our community to participate and share their favorite original recipes,” said Hoppe. Recipes can be submitted via email to info@OregonsAdventureCoast.com or by mail to 50 Central Ave, Coos Bay, OR 97420.

The website will launch August 23 to coincide with the annual statewide Oregon Bounty promotion which celebrates the state’s culinary abundance through unique travel experiences. Travel Oregon collaborates extensively with local communities, industry associations, government agencies and private business, and is proud to grow the Oregon Bounty promotion as a key campaign in the state’s $7.7 billion tourism industry, helping Oregon to be recognized as a not-to-be-missed culinary and travel destination. A play off of that, Chowder Bounty will run from October 1, 2010 to March 1, 2011.

Dean Runyan & Associates reports that visitors spent $163 million dollars in Coos County in 2009, with over $45 million spent on food & beverage. The VCB is hoping to increase those numbers with their Chowder Bounty campaign.

Travel Oregon invites culinary explorers to dig, gather and forage on an Oregon epicurean excursion across the state with ten of the state’s top chefs as guides.
One lucky “epi-tourian” will win an exclusive four-day, three-night Oregon Bounty Wanderfeast.

The winner will indulge in a five-course chef’s table dinner at Le Pigeon Restaurant in Portland plus two of these options for their own Oregon Wanderfeast: head out on a pier and catch Dungeness crab, be an artisan cheese maker for a day, discover the wineries of the Columbia Gorge, create spring ales with a craft brewer, learn the art of mixology with artisan spirits or stalk a steelhead on a wild and scenic river.

For a complete list of celebration information, contest rules and to enter, visit www.Traveloregon.com/Bounty.

Stay tuned for details on our own local culinary adventure happening this fall: Chowder Bounty.

Last Friday, August 20- Kenny Loggins, charming as ever, played his greatest tunes to a packed audience on The Mill Casino dock.  A magnificent time was had by all!  Thanks everyone for coming out and hope you enjoy some of these photos from this lovely evening.  Let us know what you thought of the concert and share your photos on our Facebook page!

Oregon Bounty Wanderfeast Cooks Up Edible Adventures

Play. Catch. Eat. Travel Oregon invites culinary explorers to dig, gather and forage on an Oregon epicurean excursion across the state with ten of the state’s top chefs as guides.

Win an Oregon Bounty Wanderfeast Contest

One lucky “epi-tourian” will win an exclusive four-day, three-night Oregon Bounty Wanderfeast. The winner will indulge in a five-course chef’s table dinner at Le Pigeon Restaurant in Portland plus two of these options for their own Oregon Wanderfeast: head out on a pier and catch Dungeness crab, be an artisan cheese maker for a day, discover the wineries of the Columbia Gorge, create spring ales with a craft brewer, learn the art of mixology with artisan spirits or stalk a steelhead on a wild and scenic river.

To enter the Oregon Bounty Wanderfeast Contest, create an itinerary of your choosing from a variety of Oregon culinary destinations and submit in 25 words or less what makes Oregon the perfect place for your Wanderfeast. A winner, randomly selected from all submittals on Dec. 3, 2010, will have the opportunity to bring three friends or family members to accompany him or her on their culinary adventure, scheduled for April 7 – 10, 2011. The prize includes the chosen itinerary, airfare on Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air and lodging by Best Western. For a complete list of celebration information, contest rules and to enter, visit www.Traveloregon.com/Bounty.

And stay tuned for details on our own local take on this culinary adventure:  Chowder Bounty.

Providing our guests with the best service possible is a top priority for our staff (We call it Million $ Service standards).  You can imagine how thrilled the hotel managers were to receive this letter letter from one of our recent hotel guests and we want to share it with you:

I live in Las Vegas, and have become quite familiar with the gaming and hotel industry.

You guys have exceeded all of my expectations within 24 hours of my arrival.  Most hotel-resort casino properties give this service at start up, but soon fade within a year or two.  It appears that this great level of service is status quo around here.  Friendly, outgoing employees equal excellent management.  I will most definitely stay here again in the future.

This guest also specifically acknowledged Lynn in housekeeping; Tammy, Nick, John, Pete, Paula, Pamela, Colleen and Caryn in Table Games. Thank you to our wonderful staff for demonstrating our Million $ Service standards!

Got feedback to share?  Send to us or post in on our Facebook Page!

When Karen from Myrtle Point arrived for a relaxing evening at the Mill Casino last week, she had no idea she would be walking out $8,750 richer!  Karen played on one of our hot slot machines and struck gold!  Wonder what she plans to do with all of that cash?

We have been so excited about legendary singer/songwriter Kenny Loggins coming to play on our stage on August 20, that we started a countdown 6 weeks ago featuring favorite classic songs like DangerZone, I’m Free (Heaven Helps The Man), FootLoose, House on Pooh Corner, This is It and more.

This week- we are featuring yet another classic that Kenny wrote and performed (you will remember this): Forever. Don’t forget to buy your tickets to the August 20 show this week at KoKwel Gifts inside the Mill Casino.  Call 541.756.8800 for info.

After the Kenny Loggins concert, come inside and play for your chance to win autographed Kenny Loggins merchandise!

We would like to announce that we will award a pair of tickets to one lucky Facebook Fan who can tell us why they deserve free tickets to see Kenny Loggins on August 20! Post the reason why YOU deserve free tickets to any one (or all) of our Facebook Pages between now and Tuesday August 17:

The Mill Casino

The Mill Casino RV Park

Warehouse 101 at The Mill Casino

Do you know a big Kenny Loggins fan?  Have them enter our contest!  We will announce the winner on August 18!  Good Luck and enjoy the video!!

Another big winning week at the Mill Casino!  Congratulations to all of our cash winners and check our Facebook Page to see pictures of our big winners for the week:

Kacey from Eagle Point celebrates his big $9,438 win at the Mill Casino!

Rumor has it there is good luck in the Coos Bay & North Bend water!  What else can explain the multitude of big winnings from our slot machines during the last couple of weeks?

To see more pictures of our big winners ( and when we say they won big- we mean BIG) visit our Facebook Page.  You will love seeing all of those wonderful smiles from these lucky guests.  Maybe we can see your smile soon!

Bruce from Canyonville won $20,211

The entries are in!

Thank you to everyone who submitted their photo taken at The Mill Casino Hotel & RV Park to our photo contest.  All photos can be viewed on our Facebook page (look at the Contest Tab) and the winner will be chosen by popular vote.

The voting period will take place from now until August 15.  We will announce the winner on our blog and will share on the Facebook page.  Make sure your favorite photo wins!

You are allowed to submit one vote per day until August 15!  Vote now!