Posted Friday, May 18, 2012 --- 6:30 a.m.

STURGEON BAY, Wis. (AP) -- Tourism officials in Door County are using an unconventional advertising method to persuade Minnesota residents to go kayaking in Wisconsin.

Officials have outfitted seven taxis in the Twin Cities area with real kayaks on their roofs. The nearly 10-foot-long kayaks will eventually be given away as prizes in a drawing.

The Door County Visitor Bureau says it also considered running the promotion in Milwaukee and Chicago. But it says Minnesota's largest metropolitan area seemed to be most receptive to the concept.

Jack Moneypenny is the president of the visitors' bureau. He says the promotion has been drawing steady traffic to its website at doorcounty.com.

Door County is on a peninsula in northeast Wisconsin. It has 300 miles of shoreline.

Copyright 2012. The Associated Press.