BCTF Executive Board denies FVA grant request

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The Executive Board of the Buffalo City Tourism Foundation denied a $3,899 grant request Friday from the Frontier Village Association for its annual Pioneer Days event.

Executive Board Member Scott Hare made the motion to deny the request with support from Member Marlyn Bertsch.

The foundation held a grant advisory board meeting Friday prior to its executive board meeting to review the grant request. FVA Treasurer Bert Gray attended the meeting to answer any questions from the board.

The FVA had submitted a $5,000 grant request for Pioneer Days to the foundation at its meeting last month. Most of the cost difference between the two requests was for printing 2,000 flyers showing the Pioneer Days list of events. The flyer was to be distributed in areas outside of Jamestown. Gray said they were able to find another printer who could produce the flyers for $309, down from $950.

Outgoing BCTF Executive Director Nina Sneider said the she would still want to see some sort of “rainy day” clause in the FVA’s contract with hoop dancer Kevin Locke. Locke would be performing on the Saturday of Pioneer Days, for which he would receive $2,000.

“Maybe you can make a deal that he would move it to the Sunday or the following week if there is rain,” she said.

Gray was not present when the BCTF Executive Board denied the FVA’s Pioneer Day grant request. Board Member Beth Dewald said it looked to her like the FVA wasn’t doing enough different from previous years to try and make Pioneer Days more of a success.

“They are bringing something new in with the hoop dancer, but they need to promote it more,” she said.

BCTF President Alden Kollman said he thought the FVA was trying to do that with the flyers.

“If they get the word out to other areas, I think they will be more successful,” he said.

At the grant board’s February meeting the FVA had attendance figures from the Pioneer Days 2012 that showed 54 more people than it did in 2011. On average about 1,000 people per day visit Frontier Village during the summer.

Sneider said with the FVA should have a new manager hired sometime next month and that person could help with scheduling events.

Dewald made a motion that failed due to a lack of support to fund half of the cost of the hoop dancer, $1,000, with the FVA coming up with the rest of the funds itself.

In other business, the Executive Board approved:

* a $13,682 grant request from the National Buffalo Museum for summer staffing needs and a $4,000 grant for White Cloud’s 17th birthday and Tatanka Festival. White Cloud is an albino bison that is part of the buffalo herd maintained by the museum.

* an $8,250 grant request from the Jamestown Drag Racing Association to pay for a dial-in digital display for the starting line when racing cars of different abilities. The display cost is $1,250. The JDRA also asked for $1,000 to buy a 24-foot-long enclosed trailer to store all of its drag racing equipment. The association will host its annual drag race on July 27-28 at Jamestown Regional Airport.

* grant requests of $136.61 for a new sign and $1,680 for boardwalk sealant from the Fort Seward Interpretive Center. The sealant will cover the center’s 6-foot-wide, 1,600-foot-long boardwalk.

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

Tags: local news, frontier village, news, local, bctf, fva, tourism