SECORHT and State Tournament are Funded by Lodging Panel

Only two requests were made to the Prowers County Lodging Tax Panel for funding during their monthly meeting, Tuesday, April 17.  SECORHT, a six county regional tourism promotion group, had asked for $10,000 from the panel, a yearly request that had been granted for the past four years.  However, the panel agreed to fund half that request, with members Doug Thrall and Brad Semmens, making a motion to issue a challenge to their La Junta counterparts that they would fund up to $10,000 again this year, if the La Junta Lodging Panel would increase their grant from $5,000 to $10,000. 

Prowers board member, Ruthie Esgar, stated that the panel had supported SECORHT with $45,000 over the past five years, while other similar groups had not come close to that amount.  Esgar said she felt that now that La Junta had its own panel, they should be willing to match the Prowers Panel, dollar for dollar for SECORHT funding, as they benefit as much as any other community by their activities.  She told SECORHT representative, Mary Root, that she felt the tourism organization benefitted the entire region, but Prowers County shouldn’t be expected to be the primary contributor each year.  The La Junta organization uses a city-wide, four percent marketing tax, while Prowers County uses funds from a two percent lodging tax. 

Board members approved an $850 request for contract fees for a four day Babe Ruth tournament in Lamar in July.  Lamar Chamber Secretary Chana Reed said the four day event will run July 6-9 for the 2012 Colorado Babe Ruth State Tournament for the 16-18 age Division.  Reed said the local World Series committee said they would be able to provide needed officials for the games, and as such, Lamar was the site selected.  The games will be played by eight teams on Merchant’s Field which would require a minimum of 80 motel rooms for the players over the course of the tournament. 

Root noted that the state Colorado Tourism Organization selected Prowers County as one of four sites to host an Industry Relations program during SECORHT’s regional meeting.  The program will speak to tourism related businesses in the area, and provide an opportunity to discuss how to better market local businesses to the tourism industry.  Root said local businesses will get to be heard at the state level regarding their concerns and ideas about increasing tourism in southeast Colorado.   Logistics are still being ironed out for the May 3 meeting in Lamar.

By Russ Baldwin