CHAPEL HILL -- The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau is asking local residents to send 1,000 postcards of the area to relatives and friends near and far.

The free postcards have four themes:

• n UNC Tar Heels and campus;
• n Streetscapes of Franklin Street and popular Chapel Hill sites (the most popular so far, says executive director Laurie Paolicelli);
• n Carr Mill mall and images of Carrboro's music and arts scene;
• n Historic imagery of Hillsborough, including Ayr Mount, the Cupola on the old courthouse and dining and shopping images on Churton Street.

The four designs are online at www.visitchapelhill.org and available at the visitors bureau, 501 W. Franklin St.

The visitors bureau is encouraging people to take just one card of each design. But there are exceptions.

"We had a professor ask if he could take 300 to China," Paolicelli said. "We're very liberal. This is a form of marketing."

The postcards are a new product from Calliope Publishing. The visitors bureau and Calliope Publishing collaborated to develop post cards that show off the best of Orange County. Laura Zavelson and Gwendolen Gray own and operate Calliope and have won numerous awards for their creativity.

The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau is a division of Orange County government, with support from Chapel Hill. Its mission is to increase tourism to Orange County and service visitors upon arrival.