A group of federal officials spent Monday visiting stops on the Kentucky Artisan Heritage Trails, Anne Pope, the co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission, saw for the first time the fruit of the funding her group provided for the Kentucky Artisan Center before she visited Churchill Weavers, Snug Hollow Bed and Breakfast and Tater Knob Pottery.

"This is a beautiful part of the country," Pope said. "I have been very impressed with what I've seen."

Cheryl Stone, director of the Center for Economic Development, Entrepreneurship and Technology (CEDET) at Eastern Kentucky University, said the commission "contributed to the artisan center at a very crucial stage" by funding a feasibility study and business plan for the center.

CEDET helped plan the artisan center, as well as the Kentucky Artisan Heritage Trails, Stone said. In doing so, her office pushed for university-based economic development, she said.

"What the artisan heritage trails represent is another way to support rural economy," Stone said. "What we do at CEDET is use university resources to do that, so it's a perfect fit for us."

The goal of the Appalachian Regional Commission is to boost rural economies, Pope said. So far, the Kentucky Artisan Center has exceeded expectations in that area, bringing in more visitors and more dollars per visitor than estimated or budgeted, she said.

"Cultural heritage tourism is one way" to increase rural revenues, Pope said.

"And important asset that this area has is its cultural heritage--the traditions it has and the skills the people have, "she said.

The commission tries to emphasize assets already within communities and expand upon those to effect the local economies, Pope said.

Darrell Brock Jr., commissioner of the state Department of Local Government, said cultural heritage tourism is only one tool the Appalachian Regional Commission uses to help economies.

"It's essential for economic development to have infrastructure," Brock said. "The ARC provides the resources to build the infrastructure."

Since its inception in 1965, the commission has completed more than 80 percent of its Appalachian Development Highway System, which crosses all 13 states that are part of Appalachia.

The commission primarily focuses its efforts on distressed counties--those with high unemployment and poverty rates.

The commission helps the counties determine their strengths. The counties and the commission then work together to develop strategic plans designed to boost revenue.

Clark County is the only competitive Appalachian county--those counties with low unemployment and poverty rates--in the state. However, four more counties will enter the transitional phase--between the distressed and competitive phases--at the beginning of October.

Madison County is currently identified by the commission as a transitional county. Kentucky has more distressed counties--33 out of 91 in the region--than any other state, but Brock expects that to change, he said.

"(Governor Fletcher's) mission is to take the distressed counties to the transitional and then the competitive phase," Brock said.