Members expressed pleasure with upcoming Dixie Majors Tournament being hosted in Chipley.
by Kathy Foster
The Dixie Major Touranment coming up next week in Chipley is drawing a lot of attention to Washington County and members of the county’s Tourist Development Council (TDC) on Monday dubbed it a “great activity for Washington County”.
The upcoming tournament will be held July 28, 29 and 30 at Chipley High School and is bringing in All Star teams from 11 states – from Texas and Arkansas to Virginia and the Carolinas. Officials have said just the teams are booking 65 local motel rooms and a banquet will be hosted at the Ag Center in Chipley. They added that the local community will benefit from the influx of visitors.
As part of Monday’s meeting TDC members approved a revised grant application to enhance the local tourism industry and the overall economy of the county. Included in the revised application were the following requirements:
- All applications for events occurring Oct. 1, 2019 to Sept. 30, 2020 are due to the TDC office by July 1, 2019.
- The TDC office will review all applications for completeness and contact event organizers with any additional questions, or to request additional documentation, July 2 – 19, 2019.
- The TDC will review all applications by July 22, 2019.
- Applicants will be notified via email of their approval/denial by July 23, 2019.
For more information on how to apply for grant funding through the TDC for proposed/planned events, contact TDC Director Heather Lopez at the office of the Washington Chamber of Commerce in Chipley, 850-638-6013.
Another topic of dicussion at Monday’s meeting was the VISITFLORIDA Heritage Grant recently awarded the TDC.
This $2,000 grant was awarded the TDC to promote agritourism, a form of niche tourism that is considered a growth industry.
VISITFLORIDA says one of the key reasons for any area to develop an agritourism program is to generate economic activity through attracting visitors to rural areas.
Lopez said the tDC will be seeting a workshop in February 2019 to address ways to use agriculture to attract visitors to the area.