Advertising commission approves funding, discusses strategies
The advertising and promotion commission, Discover Bella Vista, discussed a strategic plan, potentially performing a hotel feasibility study and provided funds for an upcoming bridge tournament, a kayak bass fishing tournament and the Fourth of July parade during its Tuesday, June 12 meeting.
“We have a pretty full agenda today,” chairwoman Paula Sanders said at the start of the two-hour meeting.
The first applicant, bridge tournament chairman Bob Gromatka, said that, while the commission already granted some funds during its April meeting, he believed an additional $1,430 could allow the tournament to promote better, reach a wider audience and get more people outside Arkansas interested in Bella Vista.
“I could run the tournament no problem,” he said. “I’m here to share with you my love of Bella Vista, I love this community.”
The funds, he said, were expected to be used to revamp the tournament’s website and get more advertising out.
With the tournament coming up in August, Sanders said, it’s important to note there may not be a great deal of impact for this year, but the revamped website will still be able to better advertise the tournament down the road.
“I think we have to acknowledge this would really be an investment for next year,” she said.
The commission approved funding for the bridge tournament at Riordan Hall.
The next applicant, Jason Adams, organzied Kayak Bass Fishing tournaments in Bella Vista last year and is a co-founder of Fish it Forward and pro angler with Ozark Mountain Trading Company.
He came to the commission
to ask for $2,500 in funding to promote a Kayak Bass Fishing tournament that will last the rest of this year.
The tournament will be done via photos submitted online, with fish placed on measuring boards for scoring, meaning it does not need a weigh-in station, does not disrupt fish habitats and can be run constantly, wrapping up at the end of this year. The winner will be given a kayak, he said.
Hosting a tournament on Bella Vista’s lakes, he said, can attract people from all over the country who will have to pay lake use fees and spend money on food in the city.
“We have a unique opportunity where we’ve got some of the best bass fishing in the country,” Adams said.
“They’ll see these hidden gems … spend their money here.”
Some are likely to stay in the city as well, he said. A lot of kayak anglers are likely to camp at Blowing Springs because it keeps them closer to the water than a hotel in Bentonville.
The funding was approved.
The final applicant, Jim Parsons, came to request $1,000 for the Fourth of July parade.
He does a lot himself, he said, and some of the funding comes out of his own pocket, but he needs help to make the parade happen.
“I’ve been financing it myself, but I can’t spend my wife’s retirement money like that,” he said.
The parade brings people
into town from all over the area, he said.
“It’s just a lot of fun and people really enjoy it.”
Commissioner Ben Biesenthal, proprietor of Gusano’s Pizza, said that events like this are good for restaurants because, even without factoring in people brought into the city, they get locals out and about.
The commission approved funding for the parade as well.
Jim Fram with Community Growth Strategies, LLC, a firm the advertising and promotion commission hired to develop strategies, said that, following the previous week’s public input session, he had the first half of his strategic plan and application for funding complete.
The input process was interesting — and productive — he said, because there was a great deal of overlap between all the various groups he interviewed.
The funding guidelines, he explained, will help the commission decide what to fund and by how much.
“You have limited resources so you can’t fund huge events, you can’t put all your resources in one event,” Fram said.
It will be ideal, he said, to make these guidelines publicly accessible so applicants know what the commission is going to want to see.
The strategic plan, he explained, will help the commission work to bring revenue into the city and will be a discussion topic at the commission’s next meeting, Thursday, July 19 in the city hall conference room at 3 p.m.