Teapot Museum a Good Investment

Sparta has seen four of its five top employers close their doors and the loss of 2,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000.

The Sparta Teapot Museum is expected to generate 61,000 new visitors a year, $7.5 million in new tourism spending a year, $537,000 in increased sales and occupancy tax revenue to local government per year, 123 new jobs, $2.7 million in annual wages and salaries, and a $10 million capital investment in downtown Sparta - the largest investment ever made in its history. And it will give the state of North Carolina a complete return on investment within the first six months of operation.

The Kamm Teapot Collection has been described as the finest and most comprehensive art collection in the world. It has a proven track record of spiking attendance and museum-store sales at seven different museum venues in North America. Arts & Antiques magazine ranks the Kamms among America’s 100 foremost collectors.

This is a great story about an extraordinary project that is culturally significant and right on time in terms of helping the state’s fourth-smallest county rebuild a stronger and more diversified economic base.

Now, that is an investment the state should make every time.

(by Philip Hanes of Winston-Salem and taken from journalnow.com)