State tourism contest prize helps promote local firm

When the Nevada Commission on Tourism went looking for a prize to be awarded in a photo contest for RV travelers, it didn't have to look far.

The commission's staff selected an evaporative air cooler for RVs made by Gardnerville-based Bachman Enterprises Inc.

as the grand prize in the contest, and the owners of the company couldn't be happier about the opportunity to give away more than a thousand dollars worth of gear.

In fact, the state tourism commission also chose one of the company's "Turbo Kool" units as its door prize during a major RV show at Quartzside, Ariz., last week.

The show draws about 150,000 RV enthusiasts a year.

"We love it, especially because we're a Nevada-based product," said Barbara Bachman, who owns the company with her husband, Ben.

The company aligned itself with the state through a sales call on Margaret Ann Schneweis, the promotions manager for the Nevada Commission on Tourism.

She's heavily involved in marketing the state to RV travelers.

While the evaporative coolers more commonly known as "swamp coolers" retail for about $549, Bachman said the exposure for the company at the Arizona show and in the state's marketing materials far outweighs the cost of the giveaways.

Plus, the use of a cooler as a prize allowed state officials lots of opportunities to play with words in announcing the photo contest.

"Nevada offers a lot of cool moments," said Lt.

Gov.

Lorraine Hunt, who chairs the tourism commission.

"The biggest challenge will be choosing among all these cool moments."