By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The Grayson Tourism Commission met in its regularly scheduled meeting last Thursday (March 12) to discuss finances and tourism projects for the city. Financial reports included a statement of activities from the Sports Park for the month of February in the amount of nearly $71,000 in restaurant tax collected. $703,000 of restaurant tax was reported as collected for the fiscal year, compared to the same period the previous fiscal year of $638,000. Concession sales for the year to date were reported at $67,000, compared to $70,000 the previous year. Total profit for the month was reported at $71,543, and a yearly profit of $774,00.
In other business, Tourism Director Lana Axtell discussed upcoming projects with the Tourism Commission.
“We are going to do the Easter egg hunt at Kentucky Christian University,” Axtell told the commission. “I do have some extra empty eggs that I saved from last year and I am going to buy some candy. The kids at the college are going to be the ones stuffing the eggs. And that’s part of the great partnership with them.”
Axtell said she was still seeking donations to be applied to that community event.
“It will be held on the Saturday before Easter,” Axtell told the commission. “And we are hoping to have a pretty good turnout for that.”
Axtell told the commission that Danny Stamper from KCU had reached out to her about the university’s Summer in the Sun concert series.
“We do that every year at the college, and I think it is very beneficial,” she said.
Axtell pointed out that given there is no food at the concert series, people who attend will be patronizing local restaurants and other related businesses in Grayson.
“That is exactly what tourism is,” Axtell said. “Plus, we have such a good relationship with KCU, and moving forward with them is a good decision.”
“I have spoken with Carl Burton from Carter County Tourism,” Axtell added. “There is a new group that’s called Appalachian Front Porch Tourism that a lot of folks are signing up for. It’s going to cover this end of the Tristate, so instead of a lot of advertising going toward Lexington, which honestly doesn’t bring a lot back this way, it’s going to go the other way and bring people in from West Virginia and Ohio.”
Another item Axtell brought to the commission’s attention was the clock tower.
“We do still have the clock tower,” she told the commission.
She pointed out to the commission that in the movie Back to the Future, a central part of the movie was the fundraising efforts to repair the city clock tower.
“I have reached out to some Delorean groups about putting together a Back to the Future Festival,” Axtell said.
Encouraging people to dress up as their favorite character from that series of movies would be a fun way for the community to help raise money to repair the clock tower.
“We have got some bids, and they aren’t cheap because there aren’t very many companies that can repair that type of clock,” Axtell said.
The clock has four faces, and she estimated it to be about 12 feet tall, explaining why estimates for repairs were around $9,000.
“I’m sure there will be some businesses that will donate to the repairs,” she said. “But the Back to the Future themed festival could raise money and be a lot of fun.”
The Tourism Commission also discussed the potential for a new event venue with a local nonprofit. The proposed project has the potential to generate tourism dollars for the city, but potential concepts and costs are being discussed, and no decisions were made at the March meeting regarding the proposal.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
