March 4, 2020 – West Bend, WI – The City of West Bend Tourism Commission has awarded grants totaling $20,000 to support promotional efforts for local summer events held by area nonprofit organizations.
Grant awards include:
· $12,500 for the Museum of Wisconsin Art to support Art & Chalk Fest 2020 held on July 25-26. This is the fourth year of the event which welcomed more than 20,000 visitors the past two consecutive years. MOWA anticipates more than 20,000 visitors and over 200 overnight leisure visitors.
· $3,750 for Habitat for Humanity of Washington and Dodge Counties to support GERMANfest 2020 on August 27-30. This is the 35th year of the event and fifth year run by Habitat for Humanity. It is estimated this multi-day event will welcome 10,000 attendees.
· $3,750 for The Hometown Foundation Inc. to support Homegrown Music Festival on July 10-12. This expanding event started in 2015 and anticipates 3,000 attendees.
Six nonprofit organizations submitted applications for consideration. A total of $53,000 was requested of the available $20,000. Funds requested are designed to promote tourism and provide economic impact on the City of West Bend from May 1-September 30, 2020. The primary purpose for using these funds is to generate overnight stays at West Bend hotels.
Marketing directed outside of the West Bend/Washington County area is given priority. The three entities awarded best demonstrated the highest likeliness of attracting overnight visitors and bringing attendees from outside of the local community to West Bend.
Members of the Tourism Commission include City Administrator Jay Shambeau, District 3 Alderman Andrew Chevalier, District 5 Alderman Rich Kasten, industry representative Chris Gurrie, and business representative Mike Nowack. The Tourism Commission met on the evening of Tuesday, March 3 to review each application and award available funding.
“The Tourism Commission is responsible for distributing the hotel room tax that’s generated throughout the year,” said Commissioner Jay Shambeau. “This is the highest number of grant applications received as well as the most funds requested to date. As this grant program gets more competitive, we’re seeing the quality of marketing plans and promotional efforts become more sophisticated and impactful.”
In addition to the spring/summer promotion grant, the Tourism Commission offers the Fall/Winter Tourism Promotion Grant totaling up to $20,000. Funds may be requested to promote tourism and economic impact for events held between October 1, 2020-March 31, 2021. The application deadline is Friday, May 15, 2020 at noon.