Theatrical productions, rodeos, demolition derbies and cowboy poetry are among the $316,000 worth of tourism grants approved Tuesday by the Tooele County Commission.
Before the commission approved the grants, the grant applications were reviewed and recommended by the county’s Tourism Advisory Board headed by Tooele City resident John Cluff.
The board received 41 grant requests totaling $1.3 million. The budgeted amount for grants, set by the county commission, was $400,000, according to Cluff’s report to the county commission.
“The grants are for the promotion of tourism,” Cluff said. “One of the things we looked at is would they increase income at our hotels and restaurants, because that is where the funds gets its money.”
Out of the 41 grant applications, the advisory board recommended funding for 27 applicants, denied funding for six applicants, and had eight applications still under review, Cluff said.
The largest grant went to the Ford Performance Racing School at Utah Motorsports Campus. It received $75,000 as part of a matching grant from the Utah State Tourism Board.
The funds would be used to target buyers of Ford’s high performance vehicles for training and driving at UMC’s track, which is part of a package that comes with the purchase of a Ford performance vehicle.
The school has data that shows when buyers come to the school in Tooele County, they bring other people with them, stay in motels, eat in restaurants, and spend time away from the track touring Utah.
The Tooele County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism was awarded $50,000. The chamber’s building is a registered visitor’s center with the state of Utah. In the capacity of a visitor’s center, the chamber’s staff responds to inquiries by mail, phone, and walk-ins. The chamber staff meets with groups like the Utah Film Commission, the National Pony Express Association, and the Lincoln Highway Association, to promote tourism, according to their grant application.
Three local theater groups received tourism grants. The Benson Gristmill Performing Arts Foundation received $3,500. The LaForge Encore Theater Company will also get $3,500. The Grantsville Performing Arts Council received a $1,000 grant. The grants will pay for out-of-county advertising for their productions.
The Tooele County Fair received $10,000 to help pay for the Demolition Derby, the outdoor concert, and for out-of-county advertising.
Sandbagger, LLC received $10,000 to promote their Demolition Derby outside of Tooele County.
Also included in the list grant recipients were: Beanstock – $1,000 for a music festival that supports the Tooele County Food Bank; the Bit ‘N’ Spur Rodeo – $10,000; At Your Leisure – $60,000; Friends of Clark Historic Farm – $30,000; Historic Wendover Airfield – $10,000; Iosepa Historical Association – $5,000; Ivie Acre Farms and Petting Zoo; Lantern Fest – $10,000; NASA Utah – $5,000; Rush Valley Rodeo – $1,000; Sons of Utah Pioneers – $16,875 to replace and add historical markers; Tooele Valley Railroad Museum – $10,000; Tooele County Master Gardeners – $1,000; Tooele County Trails – $8,000; Tooele Gun Club – $5,000; Tooele Pioneer Museum – $10,000; Tooele County Magazine – $20,000; Utah Association of Counties Ag Agents tour – $5,000; Utah Sport Bike association – $5,000, and the Western Music and Songwriter Series – $7,000.
The advisory board is still considering requests from the Intermountain Region Porsche Club, Race Tooele, Salt Flats Endurance Race, Donner-Reed Museum – $20,000; Deseret Peak Complex Wild Horse and Heritage Days for 2018, Down and Dirty Barrel Racing, Tooele Applied Technology College ATV Trail Ride, and Country Fan Fest, according to Cluff.
The six rejected grants included requests from CJ Creative Studios, the Coulter House, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Grantsville City, Johnson Hall Rehab Group, and the Tooele County Arts Guild. The projects proposed by these groups either had no discernible impact on tourism or were for private infrastructure improvements, according to Cluff’s report.
The tourism tax fund receives revenue from a 1.0 percent tax on food purchased in restaurants and a 3.5 percent tax on lodging in motels and hotels.
State law requires that tourism tax dollars be used to promote tourism or for the maintenance and operation of tourism-related facilities.
The Tourism Advisory Board consists of representatives of motels, restaurants and tourism industry and attractions in the county. Its composition is specified in state law. State law requires the board weigh in on how tourism tax dollars are spent.
The approved 2017 county budget included the anticipated collection of $500,000 in tourism fund taxes.
At the end of 2015, the tourism tax fund held $1,783,135 in cash and account receivables, according to the county’s audited financial statements.
Along with the grants, in 2017 the tourism fund will also be used to pay $147,000 towards the bond that paid for the convention center at Deseret Peak Complex, $100,000 for professional and technical services, and $200,000 is earmarked for undefined special projects, according to the approved Tooele County budget.