From left, Los Alamos MainStreet Executive Director Suzette Fox, Los Alamos Commerce and Development Corporation Communications Director Ryn Herrmann and Los Alamos County Marketing Specialist Kelly Stewart hold the ‘Atomic City Spy Tour’ Best New Experience Award. The trio attended the New Mexico Hospitality Association annual Top Hat Awards Nov. 14 in Albuquerque. Courtesy photo
Los Alamos MainStreet News:
The New Mexico Hospitality Association annual Top Hat Awards were presented Tuesday, Nov. 14 at the Hotel Albuquerque and the New Mexico True Atomic City Spy Tour was a big winner.
The New Mexico Hospitality Association is a nonprofit that focuses on all segments of the hospitality industry. The association delivers decades of combined experience to lead public policy and workforce development strategy for a more prosperous economy. Tourism & hospitality is the state’s premier industry and contributed $642 million in state and local tax revenue in 2016. Tourism had its largest economic impact in state history, injecting $6.4 billion into New Mexico’s economy and supporting 92,000 jobs in 2016. The New Mexico Hospitality Association provides a unified voice to influence and inspire a growing hospitality industry in New Mexico.
The Top Hat Awards celebrate those who have done exceptional work to elevate the tourism and lodging industry in New Mexico. The New Mexico True Atomic City Spy Tour was awarded the Best New Experience Award. Other finalists included the Angel Fire Food & Wine Roundup, the Gallup Native Art Market, New mXpo and the Sandia Snowshoe Tour.
The Spy Tour was originally written for the 2016 Los Alamos ScienceFest. It was so popular that it was updated and continues to live on. The Los Alamos History Museum guides give a guided tour about the atomic spies and Atomic City Tours can also customize their tour to talk about the spies. But locals and visitors can also pick up a copy Spy Tour at the Los Alamos Visitor Center or download a copy at visitlosalamos.org/spy-tour/ and do the self-guided tour.
The Spy Tour highlights Klaus Fuchs, Ted Hall and David Greenglass and the historic sites around Los Alamos where they lived, worked and played. The Spy Tour also features other spy related activities around New Mexico, such as the Albuquerque Spy House B&B, the Lobby Bar at the La Fonda Hotel and the passageway at 109 East Palace in Santa Fe.
Los Alamos MainStreet is a program of Los Alamos Commerce & Development Corporation; a private, not-for-profit economic and community development organization serving the Los Alamos area since 1983. LACDC serves as the umbrella organization for the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce, Los Alamos MainStreet, Discover Los Alamos, Los Alamos Small Business Center, Los Alamos Creative District, project Y Cowork Los Alamos and the Los Alamos Research Park. Los Alamos MainStreet plans community events such as ScienceFest, Trick or Treat on MainStreet and Winterfest.
The Los Alamos Commerce and Development Corporation’s mission is to build a vibrant community through a thriving economy by leveraging public and private sector investment to achieve sustainable economic development. LACDC works to drive economic progress by providing services to businesses using its broad portfolio of programs and initiatives.
