November 7, 2024

Grand County Colorado Tourism Board Meeting Granby Ranch – 3^rd Floor

8350 Lounge at the Base Lodge

Mission Statement: We inspire a sustainable, year-round tourism economy in Grand County with an emphasis on strengthening the vitality of our communities, celebrating our local culture and traditions and respecting our environment and resources.

Board Member Attendance: Kristen Spronz, Ron Ellis, Joanna Whitemarsh, Dave Huber, Jeremy Belnap

Absent: Rebecca Bierden, Elizabeth Brumm

Attendance by Zoom: Cheryl Spezia (Board Member), Jennifer Brown (Board Member), Dave Santucci (Mission2Market), Molly Delaney and Mindy Smith (Antero Group), Kelly Kirkpatrick (Grand Lake Chamber of Commerce)

Also In Attendance: Gaylene Ore, Paula Isakson, Katie Hearsum, Megan Dryden, DiAnn Butler (Grand County Economic Development), Shanna Ganne (Grand County Historical Association), Marcin Wiesiolek (USCA Cross Country Ski Racing Festival), Diane Ehlert, Patrick Brower, Dave Naples (Moffat Railroad Museum), Greta Fosha (Drowsy Water Guest Ranch), Eric Neagu (Antero Group). Beau Larson (Wyndham TimeShare) and Greta Fosha (Drowsy Water Ranch)

CALL TO ORDER– Kristen Spronz

Kristen called the meeting to order at 3:01 p.m.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION-

Beau Larson (Wyndham Time Share) introduced himself to the board. He is interested in becoming a board member for 3 Lakes District.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES–October 2024 (2 mins)

Meeting minutes for October 2024 are approved as distributed

APPROVAL OF INVOICES BY FINANCE COMMITTEE- (3 mins)

Gaylene reported that the invoices for September were $80,810.99.

BOARD OF COMMITTEE REPORTS-(15 mins)

Marketing Committee – No Report

Finance Committee – Ron Ellis

Latest number county lodging down 3% from last year.

Hot Sulphur added 3% lodging tax - we may lose about $16K from our budget if Hot Sulphur Springs is no longer contributing to the country lodging tax.

Ron mentioned he is going to be moving and will be resigning from the board at the end of the year

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT– Gaylene Ore-(5 mins)

The Marketing RFP has been finalized and Madden Media was chosen as the new marketing agency.

The Destination Blueprint survey was sent out by mail, social media and print. We received 550 responses. The board is sponsoring a workgroup on November 21^st.

Gaylene has been working with DiAnn Butler on the Grand County Economic Summit 11-21-24. Workshops will be held throughout the event. The Summit is free for the community and business owners. So far 80 people have registered for the event. She will be presenting on behalf of the Grand County Colorado Tourism Board.

Gaylene prepared a spreadsheet that details the chambers and grant requests for 2024.

Social Media Report- Megan Dryden (15 mins)

Megan shared her current social media strategy and upcoming strategy for 2025. Some 2025 strategies include a focus on the Stand Grand Principles and local businesses.

She was able to hit her goal of reaching 5000 followers on Instagram.

She noted that paid ads on Facebook outperform organic posts on Facebook.

Megan will start to work on Pinterest to try and gain more group business.

Public Relations– Katie Hearsum and Gaylene Ore (15 mins)

Gaylene will be attending the SATW conference this coming week and meeting with journalists to share information on Grand County.

ANTERO– Eric Naugle (30 mins)

Eric from Anterro shared updates and final results on the project “Grand County Colorado Revitalization Plan”.

Mission2Market (Dave Santucci)

Dave shared updates on the survey recently sent out for the Destination Blueprint program.

Introduction Gretta Fosha

Gaylene introduced Gretta Fosha (with Drowsy Water Ranch). She is interested in joining the tourism board and representing the Mainstem.

OLD BUSINESS -(5 mins)

Starting in January, we will be meeting the 3rd Thursday of each month. A calendar with the new date and time will be sent to the board members.

The Holiday Party will be at the Overlook in Grand Lake.

NEW BUSINESS- (20 mins)

Jeremy motioned to approve $13,850.00 for Madden to start in the month of December 2024, and Joanna seconded. The motion carried unanimously.

Jennifer motioned to approve a budget of $520,000.00 for Madden contract for 2025, and Dave seconded. The motion carried unanimously.

Train Updates (Cheryl)

Winter Park Resort, CDOT and Gov office are working to get more train service to Grand County. Goal is to help ease traffic on I-70.

The Ski Train will start running 12/20/24 to 12/29/24 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The Ski Train will resume service January 9 through March 1 and will run Thursday to Monday.

COUNTY WIDE GRANT– Grand County Historical Association

Shanna shared her grant request with the board. The board approved the grant.

Dave motioned to approve $25,000.00 for the Grand County Historical Society with $12,885.00 from the County Wide District and $12,115.00 from Fraser District and Ron seconded. The motion carried unanimously.

ADJOURN

Joanna moved to adjourn the meeting, and Dave seconded it. The motion carried unanimously, and the meeting was adjourned at 4:44 p.m.

Grants Requests:

Three Lakes District

Moffat Road Railroad Museum USCSA Grant

NEXT MEETING: December 5th, Grand Lake.