The newly-former Greater Shaver Lake Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau hopes to see more promotion for Eastern Fresno County communities, including Shaver Lake. Adobe Stock image

For visitors to the Central Valley, Fresno County has much to offer. From historic locations including Forestiere Underground Gardens, Tower Theater and historic Old Town Clovis to rural and natural attractions like Kings Canyon National Park and the Blossom Trail, the county is peppered with picks to please the palate of any visitor’s desires.

But one region, still recovering from the tragedy of the 2020 Creek Fire, hopes to see more promotion — and frankly, a little more love — from the powers that be.

The Eastern Fresno County region features the communities of Shaver Lake, Huntington Reservoir and many retail and lodging options from Prather to the Huntington Lake community.

But Ed Delaney, executive director of the newly formed Greater Shaver Lake Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, feels the rest of Fresno County, specifically the entities that promote tourism locally, have largely overlooked the Shaver Lake and Eastern Fresno County communities, noting a distinct lack of attention paid to the region in local magazines, catalogs and even online promotion resources.

The Greater Shaver Lake Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, which was formed earlier this year, filled a void left by the previous bureau’s regime; the previous bureau, retitled as “Rebuild our Sierras,” folded in February 2024 after directly competing with the Museum of the Central Sierras. Both entities helped provide resources to rebuild the community’s economy following the Creek Fire.

Delaney, however, said the bureau lost sight of its mission by fundraising for wildfire recovery — something the community was poised to do with help from the museum.

“To my mind, a visitors bureau has no business dealing with anything other than promoting tourism,” he said. “This new entity of the same group then was raising funds and trying to assist people with tiny houses and living arrangements that were inconvenienced by the Creek Fire.”

The newly formed Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, however, hopes to pick up the mantle where several groups tasked with promoting tourism throughout the years have failed, Delaney said.

Now acting as executive director, Delaney hopes to see the economy of the Eastern Fresno County region stimulated through recognition in advertisements and mainstream accessible means, not just by word of mouth.

The “Fresno County Official Visitors Guide,” distributed by the Fresno County Chamber of Commerce, lacked coverage by the guide. Delaney added that there are great recreational activities, amenities, restaurants and other attractions in the Eastern Fresno County region.

Despite that, Delaney said that in that book there are just two references to Eastern Fresno County entities.

“I’m not looking to harm anyone,” Delaney said. “I’m just pointing out [that] it’s hard for our organization to understand how a book like this is put out by Fresno County and there’s a wholesale absence of the many businesses and entities that are in Eastern Fresno County.”

Additionally, he questioned why other nearby attractions and National Parks like Yosemite — which primarily resides in Madera County — received more attention than local attractions right here in the Valley.

Delaney emphasized his region hosts numerous events, marinas, horseback riding, rock climbing and other Eastern Fresno County attractions.

He also said that the Shaver community, which lacks transient occupancy tax (TOT) revenue, often struggles to promote themselves thanks largely to the lack of the additional revenue.

This tax is collected from lodging facilities and distributed back to the regions that generated that revenue to help stimulate infrastructure improvements and other region-highlighting promotions.

Delaney said the City of Fresno, as well as Selma, Kingsburg, Sanger and all other local incorporated communities, possess a TOT.

Lisa Oliveira, president and CEO of Visit Fresno County, which promotes tourism throughout the county, said part of the issue stems from funding.

Visit Fresno County is funded through transient occupancy taxes collected from hotels in a special district in Fresno and Clovis.

“We’re not funded through Fresno County,” she said. “We use Visit Fresno County as our DBA and public-facing name to encourage visitors to really come here and stay the night in Fresno and Clovis but really explore everything that we have to offer.”

The lack of direct funding through Fresno County restricts what the organization is allowed to do in terms of outreach; Oliveira said that Visit Fresno County cannot reach out to entities due to funding restrictions but would welcome the Shaver Visitors Bureau to reach out and hopes the two entities can work together in the future.

Oliveira said that the Shaver Lake community is welcome to promote themselves through the Visitors Bureau but would have to be added to the district through hotels and motels already existing in Shaver Lake, or via a contract between the two entities.