Mt. Crested Butte gives over $125,000 in summer grants

Supporting summer marketing, including mountain bikes and UTVs

At a March 17 meeting, the Town Council of Mt. Crested Butte approved $135,200 in summer marketing grants. That’s $15,000 more than recommended by the admissions tax committee that reviews the applications, and a significant increase over last summer, when the council gave out $80,000.

“Since Summer 2010 (when we started the competitive process), we have given out just over $2,000,000 in grants (summer and winter). We have also grown both the summer and winter totals,” explained Mt. Crested Butte mayor Dave Clayton.
That increase has been possible primarily because admissions tax collections, which are collected from special events, have been on the rise. The only other source of funding, according to Clayton, is a 4 percent sales tax on things such as ski tickets and lessons.
The admissions tax supports Mountain Express and the grants, which can be used for the marketing of events in Mt. Crested Butte and for transportation, including things such as supporting winter flights.
As an example of how the granting program has grown, for the summer of 2010, the Town Council gave out $26,250. During the winter of 2011, it granted $225,250, compared to $430,000 last winter. And the council anticipates about $4.5 million in grants will be given out between the summer of 2010, when the program began, and the winter of 2020.
“[This year], the Town Council made the decision to increase the amount of total grants to $135,200 because of the quality of the applications and because there were some additional reserve funds that could be used without bringing the admissions tax reserve below the desired $100,000 minimum,” Clayton said.
The annual allocation of grants is now 75 percent winter and 25 percent summer, which reflects when the admissions tax is collected. Clayton expects that ratio to stay the same over the next few years, but he said if summer continues to grow, the percentage of summer grants could follow suit.
During this latest grant cycle, eight organizations submitted nine grant applications. All requests were at least partially funded, including $9,500 for the Adaptive Sports Center to market its downhill biking program; $14,000 for the Big Mountain Enduro; and $43,000 for the Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association to support the development of a mountain biking trail app, a mountain bike-specific website, attendance at trade shows, and signage for trails.
That kind of support makes a difference for organizations looking to continue established programs as well as those embarking on new marketing endeavors. According to John Norton, interim director of the Tourism Association, the funds will help launch a new focus on the Gunnison Valley as a mountain biking destination.
“We’re very grateful for the Mt. Crested Butte support,” he said, “Not only the money, which is significant, but also the affirmation we’re headed in the right direction. It’s worth noting that not only our but other mountain biking initiatives were funded. Adaptive got some money for downhill bikes. Brandon Ontiveros got a grant for the Enduro World Series. So mountain biking was a big winner in Mt. Crested Butte last week and Mt. Crested Butte will begin seeing a return this summer.”
The council also awarded grants to Two Plank Productions. One $16,000 grant will support the production of a FoxSports Destination Polaris television episode featuring Crested Butte as a venue for utility terrain vehicles. And a second $14,000 grant supported high quality streaming of the Ultimate Snowmobiler event this month.
Other recipients included the Children’s Trailhead Museum, the Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce, the Crested Butte Music Festival, and the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival. Clayton believes that being able to support those marketing efforts has been an important part of supporting the community.
“I believe that having the admissions tax grant process has been a great multiplier of marketing efforts in the valley and the quality of the applications has risen to a point that we want to be able to fully support most applications, and making grant decisions is getting harder each cycle,” Clayton said.