How Montagne supported the culmination of a remarkable twenty-year transformation of Meredith

On the weekend of May 21-22, 2004, Church Landing in Meredith, NH celebrated its Grand Opening, unveiling a spectacular new 58-room inn situated on one of Lake Winnipesaukee’s most majestic points. In addition to introducing the fourth inn of the Inns at Mill Falls family, the opening of Church Landing represented the culmination of a remarkable twenty-year transformation of Meredith—from a once dilapidated mill town to the world-class four-season resort village that it is today.

At the heart of that transformation was the newest development: Church Landing at Mill Falls. The new inn offers 58 luxury rooms and suites, a 300-seat lake front event center, a luxurious full-service spa and deluxe health club, an indoor/outdoor pool, and a 200-seat Adirondack style-lakeview restaurant and lounge.

The principals of Montagne were hired to develop a public relations campaign for the development that generated pre-opening buzz and excitement with the media and the community. The public relations efforts began during the construction phase and highlighted the major construction milestones such as promoting the unique, environmentally friendly features used in construction, like the IPE decking from Brazil which was ideal for use by the lake since it didn’t need to be pressure treated with chemicals or pesticides. Our campaign culminated in the full implementation of all grand opening festivities, including the coordination and execution of a major press conference.

New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson joined Hampshire Hospitality Holdings President Rusty McLear and several state, regional, and local officials at the event held at Church Landing to celebrate the grand opening. In addition to Governor Benson, District 1 Executive Councilor Raymond Burton, NH Division of Travel and Tourism Director Laurie Klefos, NH Department of Transportation Commissioner Carol Murray and several Meredith Town officials and community leaders were on hand to officially open the doors to Church Landing.

We were able to garner a significant amount of media coverage of the event and Church Landing including major feature stories in the Boston Herald, the Union Leader, the Sunday Monitor, Foster’s Sunday Citizen, and Travel New England. In addition, during the week of June 7, 2004, WMUR-TV–NH Chronicle was broadcast from a different location at Church Landing each night, via pre-taped segments with Tom Griffith and Tiffany Eddy. In addition, a full-length feature story on Church Landing was produced and broadcast on the June 8 program.