Tourism Grant Program Winners Announced
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowVisit South Bend Mishawaka has announced $110,000 in grant funding will be awarded to more than 20 events and organizations for showing positive tourism potential to the St. Joseph County area. The recipients include the South Bend Parks Department, Irish Aquatics and Zoo Brew.
February 26, 2015
News Release
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – A tourism initiative in St. Joseph County is awarding 27 events/organizations with grant funding totaling $110,000 to help with marketing efforts in 2015. All winners of the tourism grant program were recently notified by Visit South Bend Mishawaka. The grant program was established to fund the marketing and hosting efforts of events/organizations exhibiting positive tourism potential to the St. Joseph County area. The dollars are allocated by the St. Joseph County Hotel-Motel Tax Board and administered by Visit South Bend Mishawaka.
“We have been given a great opportunity to host the very prestigious 2015 International Softball Congress World Championship Softball Tournament in South Bend as part of the South Bend 150 campaign,” says Phil St. Clair, director of South Bend Parks & Recreation. “We are thrilled and honored to have received this tourism grant from Visit South Bend Mishawaka to assist with funding an event that will bring in coaches, players, and fans from as many as eleven different countries around the world.”
Recipients of the 2015 grant funding include: Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Sunburst Races, Studebaker Drivers Club, South Bend Parks Department, Pastime Tournaments, Irish Aquatics, IU South Bend Arts and Alumni Weekend, Dowtown South Bend, Inc., Elite Baseball World Series, Studebaker National Museum, South Bend Museum of Art, Bike for Hospice, Bike the Bend, St. Joseph County 4-H Fair, Sugar Camp Days, Zoo Brew, The History Museum, Great Lakes Cat Enthusiasts, Historic Preservation Commission, South Bend Country Fest, St. Joe Valley Table Tennis, Michiana Renaissance Festival, Indiana Theatre Festival and The Kitchen BMX & Skatepark.
“For more than thirty consecutive years, the Michiana Chapter of The Studebaker Drivers Club has held a three-day event here in South Bend during the first weekend of May,” says Tom Curtis, past-president of the Michiana Chapter of The Studebaker Drivers Club. “The tourism grant has provided the opportunity to expand our marketing efforts toward attracting a broader national audience to our event that takes place in the rich historical context of the community in which the Studebaker National Museum, the original Studebaker company locations, and the largest cache of Studebaker parts in the world are located.”
A total of 31 applications were received and reviewed by the selection committee, which was comprised of hospitality, community and business leaders from around the South Bend area. This is the fifth consecutive year the St. Joseph County Hotel-Motel Tax Board has allocated funds toward this initiative, and the first year the grant funds have totaled $110,000.
For more information, please contact Lindsey Horner, communications & public relations coordinator for Visit South Bend Mishawaka, at 574.400.4025.
Source: Visit South Bend Mishawaka