Tourism board reviews 2007 grant requests

By Ralph Pokorny

Nevada Daily Mail

For the second year in a row several hundred Missouri and Kansas members of the Fraternal Order of the Eagles are expected to converge on Nevada Aug, 3-5 for their annual Missouri F.O.E. State Picnic.

"Last year we had 210 people come for the three-day event and this year they are expecting between 200 and 300 to attend," Larry Scism told members of the I.M.P.A.C.T. Nevada Tourism board Wednesday night during their annual tourism grant meeting.

Scism said that he expects that the picnic will fill 85 to 100 hotel rooms for the event and an additional 30-40 RV campers.

"We're looking for a good turnout," he said.

Last year the Eagles spent about $5,600 to put on the three-day event and the Missouri lodges have already raised $4,800 for this picnic, he said adding that they were requesting a $1,500 grant to help put on the event.

We furnish all of the food for the picnic at no charge, he said.

This year they are planning to hold a youth day on Saturday at the Mo-Kan Eagles Park and Youth Ranch, which is the former Bar-H Ranch west of town.

This will be open to all area youth, not just Eagles family members, Scism said.

He told the tourism board that he has already laid out a three-hole golf course on the property and is also looking to have a water slide and other activities.

"We will do anything we can think of for kids," he said.

Most of the money they raise will go to furnish the food and the activities for the youth day, he noted.

Scism also told the tourism board that he wants to see this event grow in the future.

There is a five-state Eagles convention in Kentucky that started small, like this picnic.

"There is no reason we can't have a five-state convention here," he said.

Scism has already secured the 2008 Missouri-Kansas Bi-State Convention for Nevada in October 2008 with 1,800 Eagles in attendance.

This year I.M.P.A.C.T. Nevada Tourism, had originally budgeted about $16,500, or 25 percent of the $60,000 generated by the city's 3-percent tax on motel rooms, to give out in matching tourism grants. The remainder of the tax goes for other tourism related expenses.

However, that changed recently when the Days Inn closed, bringing the total amount of tourism tax that will be collected into question.

"Having a local motel close will cut revenue," Kathi Wysong, Nevada-Vernon County Chamber of Commerce and ex-officio member of the tourism board, said.

Because of that uncertainty the board decided to cut the amount of grant money they would give out to $12,000; the eight grant requests for 2007 totaled $26,000.

Each of the grant applicants was given 15 minutes to make a presentation and answer questions from the board members. After each presentation board members evaluated that grant request individually based on five criteria: does the proposal attract visitors from more than 50 miles away, will it encourage visitors to stay overnight in motels, community enhancement, promotional value, availability of matching funds. Each criterion is worth up to 20 points.

The evaluation sheets and the boards recommendations for the amount of each grant to be awarded will be submitted to the city council, which has the final say on the grants.

The other seven grant applicants included a variety of projects.

Tina Scism, Nevada Speedway, told the board that she is planning on holding a modified stock car race Memorial Day weekend and was requesting a $5,000 grant to cover 65 percent of the $12,000 total cost of the event. As part of the "Modzilla," which will offer a $2,500 purse. Nothing this large has been held in the area in at least 10 years she said. Scism is planning to partner with Camp Clark to honor area veterans. She told the board that Camp Clark would provide a Hum Vee parade and a Blackhawk helicopter to hover over the track during a ceremony to honor veterans. She said she expects a crowd of about 1,800 race fans for this event.

The FFA Booster club is going to hold a two-day prospect steer and heifer show on April 21 and 22, at the Centennial Park Fairgrounds, to raise money to help pay for FFA students to attend the national convention as well as judging trips and scholarships.

"This is the only fund-raiser the booster club holds," Tim Haner told the board.

He said that they expect the event will bring in more than 100 head of cattle and more than 200 people from all over Missouri as well as some from Oklahoma and Kansas.

Haner said that they were requesting a $3,890 grant to cover 50 percent of the total $8,205 cost.

Champion Diamonds is planning on holding the 5th Annual Southwest Missouri Tournament of Champions NBC Baseball Tournament. This is a three-day qualifying tournament, June 30-July 2, for the National Baseball Congress World Series to be held in Wichita, Kan., in early August. Russ Kemm told the board that he was requesting a $2,500 grant to cover part of the $8,415 total cost of the tournament. Without this grant the tournament, which brings 500 collegiate baseball players to town, may not be possible, Kemm told the board. This is one of two qualifying tournaments in Missouri; the other one is in Cape Girardeau. Kemm told the board that Springfield has applied to host this tournament, but has been turned down by the NBC.

Brent Coursey, owner of Osage Prairie RV Park, told the board that he would like to start a program to promote Nevada with phonetic billboards by co-opping with other Nevada businesses. Coursey, who grew up in the Texas Panhandle, told the board he got the idea from the signs along Interstate 40 promoting Tucumcari, New Mexico, with billboards with the slogan "Tucumcari Tonight!" The signs would list the number of hotel rooms they had, restaurants, etc. He would like to do a similar project here highlighting the way Nevada is pronounced with the long "A" sound, such as "Stay in Nevada," with a hyphen over the "a."

Coursey did not request an amount for a grant, but proposed it as a way to stretch advertising dollars.

The Nevada High School Band Boosters requested two grants from the tourism board. One was for $2,100 to help pay for the Nevada Band Festival, to be held April 14 and will bring over 1,000 band members and their families to town. The second grant request was for $7,985 to cover the cost of bringing band instructors to town for the annual summer band camp, July 30-Aug.3.

George Hold told the tourism board that the Nevada Neptunes will be holding the Nevada Neptunes Invitational Swim Meet on June 30 at Walton Family Aquatic Center. This all-day event brings 12 swim teams with between 500 and 700 swimmers and their families to Nevada. Hold said they were requesting a $500 grant to cover about 45 percent of the $900 total cost of the event, which they hope to eventually expand into a two-day event.

Allison Fast, president of the Nevada Show Choir Parents Association, told the board that they were asking for a $2,500 grant to cover 50 percent of the total $5,000 cost of putting on the Nevada Show Choir Classic. The event held on Feb. 17, attracted 34 show choirs from Missouri and Kansas with an estimated attendance of 1,500 students and their families.

After averaging the amount of the grants recommended by each of the board members, the tourism committee recommended that city council award the following grants: Nevada Speedway, $2,900; FFA Booster Club, $2,678; Eagles picnic, $1,400; Champion Diamonds tournament, $2.500; Osage Prairie RV Park, $0, not ready for funding yet; Nevada High School Boosters, Nevada Band Festival, $500, Band camp, $0; Nevada Neptunes, $440 and Nevada Show Choir, $750.

The board recommended that the council award a total of $11,168 in grants.