Roane County was awarded the Seal of Approval from the American Association of Retirement Communities (AARC) during their recent conference. Pam May, Interim President of the Roane Alliance attended the conference to accept the award and to also learn from the nation’s leading organization on attracting retirees.

“Roane County has the lifestyle that many retirees are looking for, which is one of the reasons we received this recognition, but we also are recognized because of our efforts through the Alliance’s Retire Roane program,” said May. “We work closely with the state through the Retire Tennessee program to share advertising in key retiree markets like Illinois and New York and are seeing an influx of retirees from those states, as well as others.”

“The award is presented annually to recipients that demonstrate a strong commitment to making their community a top destination through lifestyle programming, amenity development, communication and education,” said AARC chairperson Rachel Baker. “Roane County has shown they are committed to working to attract retirees.”

“The Soak in Roane Campaign remains very successful, so we are looking to do the same type of campaign for Retire Roane, taking our retiree recruiting efforts to the next level,” said May. “By summer we should see an increase not only in inquiries from retirees but also from visitor spending since they are visitors before they are residents.”

The Roane Alliance is the comprehensive resource in anything and everything concerning businesses, tourism and economic development in Roane County, which includes the Industrial Development Board, Visitors Bureau and Chamber, and programs such as Education Matters and Retire Roane.    Retire Roane is a program administered by the Roane County Visitors Bureau, a partner of the Roane Alliance, that works to attract travelers who seek unique heritage and the best outdoor recreational experiences.