Logan County Tourism to support Fair concert and a new youth basketball tournament

[February 24, 2018] 

LINCOLN

At the February meeting of the Logan County Tourism Bureau, board members approved awarding $5,000 to the Logan County Fair for promotion of the Country Music Concert to be held on Saturday night at the fair.

The Bureau also awarded $2,500 to a new youth basketball tournament coming to town on the first weekend of March.

All-State Junior High Classic

Kirk Whiteman was the first guest to speak, asking for $2,500 for an All-State Junior High Classic Basketball Tournament. The tournament will be held on March 3rd and 4th at Lincoln College.

Whiteman said that letters had been sent out inviting individual players from a wide area of junior high schools to participate, and he had been very well pleased with the response. His goal had been to have 80 participants in this first year, and as of the tourism meeting on February 15th, he had 128 boys registered to play in the tournament.

The two-day event will begin on Saturday, March 3rd at 2 p.m. when the boys are to check in at Lincoln College. At 3 p.m. the kids will get to watch a Lynx basketball game with LC going up against John Wood.

At 5 p.m. on Saturday will be a skills competition for the kids, then from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. will be practice sessions held in various schools around town.

On Sunday, the day will begin at 9 a.m. with check-in, then games will be played throughout the day with everything wrapping up around 7 p.m.

Whiteman said that he had organized the tournament program so that there would be overnight stays in Lincoln. He noted that the schools attending will include some from as far away as the Rock Island area, Effingham, Greenville, Sigel and Quincy. With the Saturday events wrapping up at 9 p.m. and the Sunday events starting at 9 a.m., he anticipates that there will be several players and their families who will spend the night in Lincoln.

Whiteman said that the idea of putting on the tournament had been on his mind for quite some time. When he was approached by Tourism Board member Neal Patel asking if such a tournament was possible, Whiteman said he made the decision to go forward knowing that he had the support of the tourism bureau.

When Patel joined the board last year, he said that he would be interested in trying to grow the local tournament similar to the John Welsh Memorial Basketball Tournament to be held this weekend. He took the initative, and a few months ago reported to the bureau that he along with Tourism Director Cris Wibben had made several contacts.

Whiteman’s request was for a sponsorship of $2,500. He said that he wanted to do something a little different than the norm with the money, which is why it was being regarded as a sponsor. He said that he currently has no sponsors for the game, but he wanted the Tourism Bureau to be a sponsor. In return the bureau would be able to have the back side of the t-shirts given to each of the players for their own advertising. With no other sponsors, the bureau would be the only one on the tee.

He also told the board that in addition to the tees that will be given to all the players, there is an online store where fans and family can order additional t-shirts and sweatshirts. He said to date, there have already been 22 purchases made at that online store. The plan is to have the purchased shirts available for pick-up the first day of the tournament. Because of that, he said there will be time for the tourism sponsorship to also go on the back of those items.

Whiteman was asked if he anticipated having other sponsors sign on. He said for this first year he did not. He explained that he had gotten the tournament off the ground rather quickly after talking with Patel, and now, there was not enough time to seek out other sponsors.

He was asked if he would seek additional sponsors for the tournament if it continued next year. Whiteman said that he would.

Later in the meeting, the board discussed the request, first giving acknowledgement to Patel for coming through with a new sporting event in town. Then they discussed whether or not they could afford the full sponsorship.

Since the dissolution of the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce, a group has been looking at how to move forward with the annual balloon festival. Wibben has been a member of that committee since its onset, and last week told the tourism board that the committee would be tabling a festival for 2018 because they were running out of time to get it properly organized. The group does want to see a festival in 2019, but for now, the impact this decision has on the tourism bureau is that there is money available for something new.

The bureau budget had included $5,000 for the balloon festival. With that money not needed in 2018, the bureau could easily afford to fund the $2,500 request to the new tournament.

There was some hesitation among the members about giving so much money to one event, based on what could or would be expected from the same group next year. Kevin Bateman noted that Whiteman had said that in 2018 the bureau would be the only sponsor, but in 2019 he would seek additional sponsorships for the event. Therefore, Bateman said it was reasonable that the bureau should support the tournament this year, but let Whiteman know that next year he should follow through with seeking additional sponsors and not expect to receive all the money from the bureau.

Patel said that there was a possibility that there would be another new sports tournament later this year. He wondered if that tournament would also get $2,500. Bateman said that the back of the t-shirt was a big deal, and that offering that is what warranted Whiteman getting a bigger chunk of cash. He said that each request is considered on a case-by-case, so no, there were no guarantees that the next tournament would get that much money, but there were also no guarantees that it would not.

There was also discussion that all requests are, and always have been, filled based upon available cash.

There were eight members of the board present for the night including newly appointed Lincoln Alderman Tracy Welch, who will fill the city seat on the Bureau Board left vacant by Kathy Horn. Other members on hand were Gail Appel-Sasse, Bateman, Cindy Fleshman, Tom McLaughlin, Steve Parrott, Nila Smith and Marilyn Wheat. A roll call vote was taken and the request for up to $2,500 was granted by unanimous vote.

Logan County Fair Concert

Dave Irwin also spoke to the board representing the Country Music concert to be held at the 2018 Logan County Fair. Irwin had requested $5,000 for the concert, the money to be used on radio advertising of the event. However, he told the board that he would happily take a lessor amount.

Irwin also had a special request attached to the grant application. He said that the money was to be used for advertising in 30-second spots on the radio. The bureau has a requirement that it be identified on or in all advertising. Irwin said that there were several other sponsors who where helping support the concert, and he worried that if he had to name the funding sources on the radio ad that it would eat up the 30-second, not leaving a lot of time to promote the actual event.

He wondered if there were any way the board would forgo that requirement. After some discussion, it was Bateman again who came up with an alternative. He said that he knew there were two sessions of music at the concert and that Irwin usually spoke to the crowd between those sets. He wondered if the Bureau could be mentioned as a sponsor at that time. In addition, he wondered if Irwin would allow the bureau to be there and perhaps throw out some t-shirts into the audience. Again these would be tourism tee’s, promoting all of Logan County Tourism. Irwin said yes, the bureau could certainly do that and that yes he would be happy to name the bureau at the concert.

After Irwin left, the board discussed the budgetary issues of the request. In 2017, the bureau had given $2,500 to the fair concert, and that same amount was in the budget for this year. Wibben noted that increasing the amount to $5,000 would only be an increase of $2,500. Again, with $5,000 now available because the balloon festival had been cancelled, and $2,500 going to the new basketball tournament, there would still be $2,500 unspoken for that could go to the fair, if the board so chose.

Sasse voiced a concern about setting a precedent with the fair, and warned the group that the state grant would be smaller in the coming year, and there was a possibility that the hotel/motel tax would also be reduced in the coming year. She said she wanted the board to be cautious about giving away too much money when it doesn’t know what will be coming in, in revenues, in the future.

Again it was mentioned that money has always been given based on availability and the fair board knew that. In addition, the fair was giving the bureau something more than it has in the past by acknowledging the bureau as a sponsor and allowing for the t-shirts to be thrown out.

Tom McLaughlin and others suggested that the board split the difference. The figure of $3,750 was thrown out for consideration, and McLauhglin noted that there would be an added expense for purchasing the tee’s that the board needed to consider.

Wibben said there is cash available in another line of the budget that could pay for the t-shirts, and Bateman also noted that the plan would not be to throw out a large number of shirts, he was thinking maybe 10 or so.

The motion was made and a roll call vote was taken. The decision to award the fair with up to $5,000 passed with a 7-1 vote. Appel-Sasse voted ‘no.’

-----

The group also discussed the design to go on the back of the t-shirts for the basketball tournament. It was agreed that the back would have the Destination Logan County logo, but it would also have screen prints of some of the attractions in the county. Wibben was told that she and her assistant Morgan Gleason should get the design worked out and sent to Whiteman as soon as possible.

The next meeting of the Logan County Tourism Bureau will be held on March 29th, with the time and location to be announced.

[Nila Smith]