The Festus Tourism Commission awarded $188,530 in grants for public entertainment and other tourism-related activities at its July 28 meeting, not including the pledge it made to cover 50 percent of the salary for a full-time recreation and tourism director for the city.
Festus City Administrator Greg Camp said it is time for the city to hire a full-time recreation and tourism director.
Barb Lowry, the Festus director of sports and marketing events, has handled the duties on a part-time basis as part of her overall job.
However, the city wants to make the job a full-time one, so Camp requested a grant asking for the commission to split the cost of the salary with the city.
He said the salary range for the position would be $41,830 to $58,365, depending on the person’s experience and other factors.
The Festus City Council would still need to approve the expenditure for the other half of the salary. So, the new job would not be filled until after the City Council approves its next fiscal budget, which would take effect Oct. 1, Camp said.
“One of the elements that’s been missing from our parks has been to have someone organizing recreation programs and events,” Camp said. “It would be everything from the normal events we put on in the parks to sporting events or a senior walk program.”
Staci Templeton, chairwoman of the five-member Tourism Commission, said she supports the idea of a full-time recreation and tourism director.
“Yes, I absolutely do, with all we’re asking somebody to do – with all the responsibilities of the position,” she said.
Events canceled
Lots of festivals and other activities that had been planned for the spring, summer and early fall have been canceled, and Templeton said she hopes it will be safe in the near future for people to congregate so the events the Tourism Commission has agreed to fund can take place.
“We want the city to know and the residents to know we’re still looking to provide entertainment and events they want to go to,” she said.
Lowry applied for and received many of the grants the commission recently approved, and she, too, hopes gatherings can again be held in the county sometime soon.
“We’re just hoping things improve by the WinterFest (scheduled for Dec. 5),” she said.
On Aug. 7, Lowry said the annual Sundays at Sunset Concerts (a series of concerts scheduled for Aug. 23-Sept. 27) and the Mayor’s Cruise event (scheduled for Sept. 19) were recently canceled.
“While we want to have events, we don’t want to appear irresponsible,” she said.
WinterFest
The next public event the city still has on its calendar is the WinterFest, which includes the opening of the Santa House.
Lowry said if the city is able to hold the 2020 WinterFest on Dec. 5, it will offer all the activities people have come to enjoy at the annual event.
“We’ll have the (synthetic rink) ice skating and the inflatables,” Lowry said. “There will be all the booths and other winter activities.”
The 2020 event is to be funded with a Tourism Commission grant approved in a previous round of awards.
Grants
Grants awarded at the latest commission meeting include:
■ $49,050 to Lowry on behalf of the city for the 2021 WinterFest.
■ $31,800 to Lowry on behalf of the city for the 2021 Dirty Dozen Mud Run.
■ $20,000 to Lowry on behalf of the city for the 2021 Firecracker Extravaganza.
■ $19,500 to Lowry on behalf of the city for the 2021 Sundays at Sunset Concerts.
■ $12,180 to Lowry on behalf of the city for the 2021 Blues Funk Festival.
■ $9,500 to Jim Berger for local pickleball tournament expansion, including a 2021 AAU tournament and a $3,000 grant to Berger for repair and enhancement of the city’s pickleball courts.
■ $6,875 to George Portz for his 2021 Traditional Music Festival.
■ two $6,750 grants to Lowry on behalf of the city for 2021 Mayor’s Car Cruise events in the summer and the fall.
■ $6,000 to Wesley Armbruster for a track/football consortium in 2021.
■ $5,825 to Lowry on behalf of the city for the 2021 Santa House.
■ $5,800 to Lowry on behalf of the city for the 2021 Swingin’ Under the Stars Concert.
■ $3,040 to Jean Scott for the 2020 Small Business Saturday Stocking Stroll.
■ $2,500 to Dan Luck of Mead on Main for a “Viking Fair,” a first-time event to be held this October.
All commission votes were unanimous. In addition to Templeton, the commission consists of Melody Yesberg, Rick Fischer, Rhonda Gerstner and Mike Cage.
The Tourism Commission’s funding comes from hotel-motel taxes collected in the city. Festus voters approved a 2-percent hotel-motel tax in 2002 and, later, approved a measure to increase it to 5 percent in 2012. The city is home to four hotels.
Grant recipients must turn in receipts to receive reimbursement from the commission, so any money not used by a particular grant winner remains with the commission.