BCTF Executive Board approves grants

The Buffalo City Tourism Foundation Executive Board approved $60,746 in grant requests Friday from three Jamestown-based nonprofit organizations.

The BCTF Grant Board reviewed grant requests from the Fort Seward Interpretive Center, the Stutsman County Museum and the Frontier Village Association at a grant review session held prior to the executive board’s meeting Friday.

The bulk of the $60,746 in grants the foundation approved went to the FVA for staffing needs, $33,546 of which includes the pay for a new manager. The FVA is in the process of selecting candidates for interviews for the position. Grant funds would also cover head and assistant maintenance positions, and greeters.

The foundation board also approved the FVA’s grant request of $11,700 for care of its seven horses and a goat.

FVA President Charlie Tanata withdrew the association’s grant request for $5,000 for its annual Pioneer Days event so he could gather more information about the cost to print brochures.

Fort Seward will receive $9,500 for to fund two part- time staff members for the 2013 summer season.

“We need them the Saturday before Memorial Day through the first week of September,” said Dale Marks, president of the Fort Seward Interpretive Center Board.

Marks said they are looking at different ideas to get more people out to Fort Seward outside of the summer months.

“We’re hoping to get more schools up there, so we may open early for that,” he said.

The executive board also approved a $6,000 grant request from the Stutsman County Museum to help cover increasing the number of greeters at the museum from three to seven.

Harold Sahr, president of the museum’s executive board, said the visitor count at the museum went up 5.8 percent in 2012, from 1,758 in 2011 to 1,861.

“We need to have more greeters,” Sahr said.

Sun reporter Chris Olson can be reached at 701-952-8454 or by email at colson@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local news, news, tourism