In Fillmore, Tourists Come but Don’t Stay

A year after this community declared itself open for business again after the ravages of the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the would-be tourist destination faces a dilemma.

The welcome mat hung out at last year’s Restoration Celebration to mark the rebirth of the quake-flattened downtown has enticed visitors all right.

By one measure, tourism has almost doubled in the last 12 months.

The problem is, many visitors don’t stay long. So now this Ventura County town is pushing to expand its fledgling attractions beyond an excursion train and new winery to give people a reason to stick around.

Operators of the popular train that runs between Fillmore and Santa Paula only half-jokingly say that when it pulls out of the station, the town empties with it.

At the end of the three-hour round trip, many riders jump back in their cars and leave.

“It’s not the dilemma I want to be in,” said city planner Kevin McSweeney. “There are things to do, it’s just that you have to discover them. And what tourist is going to walk around trying to discover them?”

Apart from fast food joints lining California 126, restaurants are almost nonexistent and there are few shops catering to tourists. The Fillmore Natural History Museum, one of the main attractions, is unfinished and only open part time.

The Fillmore Towne Theatre, restored since the quake at a cost of $1.2 million, is struggling. Its monthly deficit hovers around $4,000, and the theater has lost more than $77,000 since reopening 11 months ago, manager Mike Houser said.

Fillmore residents often leave town to visit the 76 movie screens within a 25-minute drive, but few out-of-towners venture to the city even though its tickets for first-run movies are among the county’s cheapest, Houser said.

He is exploring the costs of holding live performances at the theater and said he hopes to be close to breaking even by June.

“Fillmore is not that far away, but there’s still that perception that we’re out in the middle of nowhere and there can’t possibly be anything that’s going on,” he said.

Last month, city officials were disappointed with the turnout for the Heritage Faire--a melange of activities that included a bike race, cowboy poetry and a Doobie Brothers concert--which lost about $45,000.

“It failed, but it’s better than nothing,” McSweeney said. “The city made an effort to bring business downtown. . . . What we learned from that is a festival takes a number of years to be successful.”

The growing pains do not come as a surprise.

Last year, with tongue in cheek, City Manager Roy Payne urged the train’s owners not to go full steam ahead, lest their success outstrip the town’s ability to handle visitors.

The train, which offers Saturday night murder mystery dinners and began offering monthly wine tasting dinners in September, has been the driving force behind the tourism surge.

Ridership reached 35,000 in the 12 months ending last month, its first full year of regularly scheduled trips, said Tim Grush, spokesman for the Fillmore & Western Railway Co. The train carried about 20,000 people in the previous 12 months.

Visitors eager to enjoy the region’s orange groves and other rural charms have begun to displace the train enthusiasts the line used to attract, officials said.

However, those day trippers want a full slate of activities, owner Dave Wilkinson said. Right now, the most riders can expect is a fun afternoon, he said.

“It’s in its infancy, but I really think it’s really going to make an attractive place to come in the near future,” Wilkinson said. “Fillmore is growing as fast as it possibly can, and I think the restaurants and the additional golf courses will come.”

Wilkinson is pledging his future with his pocketbook.

Recent railroad upgrades include the addition of two more steam locomotives and two coaches that are being restored. Wilkinson hopes to have the steam engines running regularly within two years.

A railroad and museum complex being built in conjunction with the Santa Clara Valley Railroad Historical Society and Fillmore Historical Society will include several historical buildings, a 100-foot-long 1930s-era engine shop and a 96-foot-long turntable, used to turn locomotives.

The arrival of the turn-of-the-century turntable from Canada in about three weeks will culminate a three-year search.

“When it’s in operation, it will draw people from Sacramento south,” said Pat Askren, vice president of the railroad society.

A 2 1/2-block-long, $302,000-promenade extension is scheduled for completion within four months and will connect the site to a winery that opened in January.

So far, the Giessinger Winery, which started with the aid of a $100,000 low-interest municipal loan, has not provided the draw that city officials hoped.

“I thought the winery was going to be a catalyst,” McSweeney said. “Right now there isn’t anything to connect the dots, and the city of Fillmore can’t do it all. . . . We have a lot of individual success stories; it’s just collectively we don’t.”

In Fillmore, about 20 miles east of Ventura, success is measured in every new small business that opens its door.

The city’s first bed and breakfast opened in December in a landmark known as the Artists’ Barn. Its two rooms are booked through year’s end, said co-owner Max Gabaldon.

A meticulously painted cigar shop, indicative of the kind of investment Fillmore officials want, debuted in May on Central Avenue.

“Fillmore is a very hard town to make money in,” said Christopher Charles, a gaffer in the movie industry who opened the store with his fiancee. “It pays enough to pay for its rent, pay for its insurance and pay for a nice dinner. . . . This is something we did to add to the city, because I love the city.”

There are several new antique stores and other businesses, and almost all of the downtown retail space is now rented.

That has prompted Ventura consultant Stanley Hopkins to make plans for a new building with 16,000 square feet of office space and 10 stores, including a restaurant, pedestrian walkway and small courtyard with a fountain.

“Development is still a little risky here, but someone has to take the first step,” he said. “They need all kinds of services here so there’s plenty of room for new development without taking away from other people’s businesses.”

A similar-sized building, dubbed the Grand Central Market, is planned opposite City Hall.

“We may be a year ahead of ourselves in terms of the timing for our Grand Central Market,” said developer Doug Nelson. “We’re having to be very realistic about the Monday through Friday tourist traffic. [Fillmore] is just like anything else that’s in the incubation stage--it needs more of a critical mass of activity.”

A group called Fillmore Now is hoping to step up that activity with increased marketing efforts. A similar committee has formed to promote the region.

And Santa Paula, at the other end of the train’s route, has embarked upon a downtown revitalization project that officials hope will help attract tourists in concert with Fillmore.

“Just because we have a train, winery and museum, you can’t just sit back and say, ‘OK, let the tourists come,’ ” Payne said. “I guess I’d have to characterize our economic development efforts at this stage as being in the investigation and recovery stage. We don’t know a lot about tourism. We’re learning as we go.”