Chelan County Awards Latest Round Of Lodging Tax Grants

Chelan County has allocated its latest round of lodging tax funding.

The money is made available biannually to groups and municipalities seeking assistance with capital or capital improvement projects that will help in attracting overnight visitors to the county.

"The lodging tax dollars are generated by the hotels and motels, short-term rentals, and lodges that are in the unincorporated areas of Chelan County," explains Chelan County Commissioner Shon Smith. "There's not a ton of them, but there's enough that it creates a nice little pot of money that generates about two-point-two-million dollars a year in funding."

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Smith says the design of the grants is for the organizations that receive them to generate more lodging tax funds and therefore, more money to continue providing money for the grants.

"We try and spread those dollars out throughout the county that will give people the opportunity to come and visit us. Maybe they haven't heard about a certain event or thing that the county is doing, and hopefully we'll generate sales and lodging tax revenues as people are coming from further away to enjoy those events. So we go through the list of grant candidates and we look for things that we think will have the highest impact with the highest return to restaurants, hotels, gas stations, and the things that people are spending money on as they pass through our region."

The County's Lodging Tax Advisory Committee made recommendations for the allocation of $252,350 in grants these 23 organizations for the second half of 2024:

• - Washington State Autumn Leaf Festival - $10,000
• - Buckner Homestead Heritage Foundation - $2,850
• - Cashmere Community Concerts / Wenatchee Bluegrass Festival - $10,000
• - Cascade Community Markets - $10,000
• - Entiat Valley Chamber of Commerce for Entiat Vintage Classic Hydro and Car Show - $5,000
• - Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance for Leavenworth Bike Festival - $20,000
• - Icicle Creek Center of the Arts for Meadow Concerts at ICCA -  $10,000
• - Lake Chelan Bach Fest - $10,000
• - Lake Chelan Car Club - $2,500
• - Lake Chelan Grape Growers & Lake Chelan Wine Alliance - $20,000
• - Leavenworth Alphorn Association for Northwest Alphorn Workshop & Festival - $2,500
• - Leavenworth Summer Theatre - $20,000
• - Northwest Accordion Society for Leavenworth International Accordion Celebration - $3,500
• - Plain Valley Ski Trails for Washington Nordic Cup - $25,000
• - Stehekin Heritage for Stehekin Guidebook - $3,500
• - Two Rivers Medieval Fair -$5,000
• - Village Art in the Park - $2,000
• - Wenatchee Figure Skating Club for Apple Ice Classic Figure Skating Competition - $5,000
• - Wenatchee Racquet & Athletic Club for six pickleball tournaments - $5,000
• - Wenatchee River Institute for Leavenworth Spring Bird Festival - $7,000
• - Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce for Rails & Ales - $15,000
• - Wenatchee Valley Museum Cultural Center - $13,500
• Wenatchee Valley Velo Club for Tour de Bloom 2025 - $45,000

The County opened its latest round of lodging tax grants on August 29, and will begin accepting applications for its next round, and first of 2025, in December.