{"id":16184,"date":"2026-04-25T02:24:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T02:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/16184\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T02:24:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T02:24:44","slug":"groundbreaking-for-ai-driven-welcome-center-for-ravenswood-as-city-pursues-tourism-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/16184\/","title":{"rendered":"Groundbreaking for AI-driven welcome center for Ravenswood as city pursues tourism push"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. (WTAP) &#8211; Ravenswood Mayor Josh Miller said at the groundbreaking for the city\u2019s new welcome center that it will serve as the city\u2019s \u201cfront door,\u201d aiming to draw more visitors and encourage travelers to stop as they enter town.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Miller said the project blends tourism and economic development, featuring an interactive, AI-powered information display along with a planned restaurant called the Smokehouse Pavilion. He described the facility as a welcome center and business incubator designed to boost recreational and regional tourism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">When asked what he meant by an \u201cAI welcome center,\u201d Miller said visitors will be able to ask a large on-site screen questions about Ravenswood, nearby Ripley, Jackson County and the Mid-Ohio Valley \u2014 from where to eat to local history \u2014 instead of relying on a traditional staffed information desk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Miller credited grant support from the West Virginia Water Development Authority and called the project a major opportunity for the community. He said the city is also using an additional $60 million in grant funding for infrastructure projects including a pedestrian bridge, a boat ramp and boat docks as Ravenswood works to strengthen its river-town identity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Representatives from Smokehouse Pavilion as well as West Virginia State Senator Eric Tarr were present at the groundbreaking.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WTAP. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. (WTAP) &#8211; Ravenswood Mayor Josh Miller said at the groundbreaking for the city\u2019s new welcome center&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,1242,1240,2278,2276,2275,2277,2279,2274],"class_list":["post-16184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-live-speeches","tag-live-updates","tag-live-video","tag-press-conference","tag-real-time-coverage","tag-video-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}