SOUTH FORK — South Fork recently announced that Dustin Hund is the new South Fork Visitor Center Director. He follows Mark Teders, who retired at the end of 2021.

Hund has been in South Fork for the past year and a half and has been training with Teders since early last fall. Hund has been visiting the area for several years and decided to make South Fork his home with his wife, Kasey Hampton.

“My wife and her family have been visiting here since she was a child and we just decided that this was going to be our new home when we started looking for a change. At first, it was just in the summer, but I was really into winter sports, so we started coming in the winter and then our jobs in Texas decided to privatize, so we just decided to take the leap and come here,” said Hund.

Then Hund saw an article in the South Fork Tines about the annual Youth Fishing Clinic that first publicized Teders was retiring.

“I saw the article and it was just kind of perfect," Hund said. "I came in and asked Mark how I would go about taking over for him when he retired, and he pretty much hired me on the spot. It was kind of a dream come true.”

Hund spent most of his time visiting the area snowboarding, learning to ice fish and enjoying the many abundant winter activities in South Fork.

During the summer months, Hund spent his time on the gold medal waters of the Rio Grande fly fishing and will share some of his expertise with visitors as they venture into the visitor center.

“I spent eight years as a child abuse investigator for the State of Texas and this is something I have always wanted to do so the change was an easy one to make, though I still have a lot to learn," Hund said. "I would really like to boost the winter marketing and get people to come here in the slow months to fill that space. We have so much to offer here in the winter, so that will be one of my focuses, to begin with.”

Hund also plans on improving the center’s social media presence and has begun by implementing an Instagram page for the center.

“I really want to start directing people not only to our Facebook page and website but to our Instagram page as well," Hund said. "I am starting what I call Mountain Dog Mondays where people can send pictures of their dogs in the mountains, and we will feature a dog every week. It's something fun that can get people involved.”

Hund plans to work closely with the South Fork Friends Foundation and the South Fork Chamber of Commerce to learn what the community wants to see from the visitor center and marketing for the town.

“I will be working really closely with those organizations to bring new events to the area if we can and to start to fill some of those gaps when the town is slow. I really feel there is so much potential there and I can’t wait to get started,” he said.