The main order of business at Monday’s Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors’ Bureau board meeting was releasing grant money to a handful of events that rely on CVB funding.
But of the four events that sought the second half of funding held last year, only two received the full amount. The Tennessee Williams Tribute and the Roast-n-Boast events had money deducted from their requests because both events had advertisements that neglected to feature the CVB’s logo.
The Tennessee Williams Tribute was seeking the remaining $5,000 of a $10,000 CVB grant, but based on the CVB’s grant committee recommendation, the board approved the release of $4,050. Roast n’ Boast, which sought the remaining $3,000 of a $6,000 grant, was approved for $1,380, again based on the committee’s recommendation. In both events, the CVB board decided that the two events would not receive reimbursement for advertising that did not carry the CVB logo.
“With the Tennessee Williams Tribute, there was one significant ad that didn’t carry the logo and grant committee recommended that we withhold that amount, which was $950,” CVB executive director Nancy Carpenter said. “That’s unfortunate, but at the same time, I think it’s important to note that when we ask for a grant, if we don’t comply with the guidelines, we don’t get any of the grant money. Here, we are just deducting the part of the grant that didn’t comply with the guidelines. We’ve been very very patient in the past, I think, but this is something that is clearly stated in the guidelines. We realize this can happen, but that’s why we ask for event organizers to meet with us to go over their marketing and advertising plans in advance.”
Board member Whirllie Byrd said she was reluctant to deny the full funding for the event.
“The Tennessee Williams event is such a premiere event for our city,” she said. “I just hate to think that by denying the funds, we might hurt their ability to have the event in the future.”
Likewise, board chairman Dewitt Hicks seemed at first reluctant to go along with the grant committee’s recommendation.
“I just think, if it was a one-time thing, a mistake, we might be able to accept that,” Hicks said. “The Tennessee Williams event is such a great event. I’d hate for it to be hurt over what was really just a mistake.”
Board member and grant committee member Mark Castleberry said he felt it would be a mistake to provide the full funding, however.
“I think it would put us in a pretty bad position,” he said. “Do we really want to say, ‘Well, this is an important event so we’ll let it go, but this other event isn’t as important?’ I don’t think we really want to go there.”
The board voted 6-2 to provide partial funding in the amount of $4,050, with Hicks and Byrd voting no.
The board voted 6-2, with Byrd and Rissa Lawrence opposed, to fund Roast-n’Boast for $1,380 after it was revealed that the event had placed eight newspaper ads that did not carry the CVB logo. The combined cost of those ads was $1,690.
Meanwhile, the board approved full funding of Caledonia Days ($4,000) and the Seventh Avenue Heritage Festival ($5,000).
Funding for the Seventh Avenue Heritage Festival is contingent on a meeting with event organizers to clear up some questions on its clearance report.
“Everything is here, but we have a few questions about the report we want to clear up,” Carpenter said.
The board also approved the first-half funding in the amount of $5,000 for the Juneteenth Festival, which is scheduled for June 19-20.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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