Haywood TDA announces next round of grants
The 2024-25 grants will help create and maintain the events that bring visitors to Haywood County. File photo
The Haywood County Tourism Development Authority announced last week that it had awarded just over $250,000 in grants to 18 organizations for more than two dozen community projects all across the county.
“By investing in these projects, we are ensuring that both residents and visitors benefit from enhanced and vibrant cultural experiences,” said Executive Director Corrina Ruffieux in a press release on June 27.
Enabled by state statute, the Haywood TDA collects a 4% per night room occupancy tax on all lodging facilities, including cabins, hotels, motels and short-term rentals. After TDA overhead, most of the revenue collected goes into one of several different pots of money, which is spent on marketing the county and its municipalities as a destination.
Some of it, however, is allocated for grants — at no cost to Haywood taxpayers.
Since the mid-1980s, occupancy tax revenues have grown steadily but exploded during the Coronavirus Pandemic as people from across the region and the nation sought out the Great Smoky Mountains as an escape from more crowded cities and suburbs. Revenue has begun to level off some but just missed hitting the $3 million mark for the first time during the 2021-22 fiscal year (July 1 to June 30) before finally surpassing that mark in 2022-23.
Through the 10 months for which data is currently available in the 2023-24 fiscal year, revenue is up nearly 6.5% and appears to be on pace to surpass last year’s $3.04 million, setting a new record. The $255,875 in grants issued for 2024-25 represents roughly 8% of the TDA’s total revenues last year.
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Applications for grant funding are available to qualified nonprofits, tourism-related organizations and event hosts for programs with the goal of bringing out-of-town visitors to the county or one of its municipalities. The applications are scored, the TDA Product Development Committee votes to recommend them, the TDA’s board approves them and funds what it can with the revenue allocated.
Increasingly, the TDA’s research has begun to reveal the interconnectedness of Haywood County’s tourism economy. Visitors to Haywood County mostly come from regional metropolises Charlotte and Atlanta, with significant numbers from upstate South Carolina and all over Florida. When they get here, visitors tend to explore multiple destinations within the county, meaning an advertisement that lures visitors to Maggie Valley will likely also benefit the county’s other municipalities as well.
“They’re playing in Canton, they’re staying in Maggie and they’re shopping and dining in Waynesville,” Ruffieux said earlier this year in presenting the TDA’s annual report.
The 2024-25 grants will help create and maintain the events that bring many of those visitors here in the first place.
Countywide grants in the amounts of $4,000 and $10,000 and will go to the Haywood County Arts Council for studio tours and Misfit Mountain for the IDEA of Haywood passport program, respectively.
The IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Alliance) passport program is to highlight inclusive businesses and encourage diverse, equitable tourism by urging visitors to collect passport “stamps” by visiting each one.
Maggie Valley, traditionally Haywood County’s most popular destination, came away with more than $86,000 for six projects, ranging from the town’s annual Fourth of July fireworks display ($7,255) and ice festival ($53,900) to the WNC Jeep Fest ($3,730), a Wheels Through Time anniversary event ($6,423), the Smoky Mountain Bluegrass Festival ($9,000) and Maggie Mountaineer Crafts’ Fall days ($6,568).
Located in the center of Haywood County, Lake Junaluska is a small but important component of the local tourism ecosystem, anchored by the Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center. “Lake J,” as it’s called by locals, received grants for advertising ($31,666) and for its iconic Fourth of July fireworks show ($11,112).
Waynesville is already buzzing with a full — and growing — calendar of events each year (see PRIDE, p. 6) but the $95,000 in grants awarded by the TDA promise an even busier year ahead.
The Downtown Waynesville Commission, which is funded by revenue from both the town and a municipal service district tax of its own, came away with the lion’s share of available TDA grant money, $68,000 for four events — Appalachian Heritage Weekend ($30,000), a marketing campaign ($28,500), the Ice Stroll ($5,000) and the Appalachian True Christmas ($4,500).
The Haywood Arts Regional Theatre (HART) received $3,500 for another Christmas event, Holiday Harmony. The Historic Haywood Farmers Market, which is held in the HART parking lot, received $2,000 for seasonal events.
In addition to the bluegrass festival in Maggie Valley, the Haywood Arts Council was also funded for a “Cool Jazz” concert ($6,000) that will kick off Ice Festival weekend in Waynesville.
The Haywood Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development received $5,333 for one of Waynesville’s most popular and well-attended events, the Apple Harvest Festival.
On Valentine’s Day weekend, Waynesville’s Rotary Club will hold the Chili Cook Off Stroll, a four-hour event leading participants to sample chili from participating businesses and vote for their favorites. Rotary will receive $1,389 for promotion of the event.
Folkmoot, one of Western North Carolina’s most unique cultural organizations, will receive $5,000 for promotion of its annual summertime events, including the Summer Soiree and International Day.
The Historic Frog Level Merchants Association was also funded ($1,000) for its annual Whole Bloomin’ Thing event.
Canton, still standing strong after the loss of a major employer just over a year ago, walked away with $20,000 in grants for three events, a Downtown Canton Passport program ($5,000) by the Canton Merchants Partnership, an innovative “wedding getaway sweepstakes” contest by Hive House Commons ($5,000) and the town’s renowned Labor Day festival ($10,000), now in its 116th year.
“What you’re seeing is money and grants that support our traditions yet bring new people into town, and that’s important,” said Zeb Smathers, Canton’s mayor. “All these events not only drive people to Canton, but also to our businesses.”
The lone jurisdiction that didn’t come away with any grants this cycle was Clyde.
“We did receive one application, from a partner we look forward to working with more in the future and collaborating with to develop a program that aligns better with the intent of these marketing grants,” Ruffieux told The Smoky Mountain News. “We’re also working very closely with Clyde’s Town Administrator Joy Garland on future programs, especially as we come out of our new branding and master planning project.”
But it’s not the end of the world for Clyde — Ruffieux said that the grant monies are not of the “use it or lose it” variety, so Clyde’s share of TDA revenue isn’t going anywhere; in fact, it’s sitting in a bank account, earning intertest, waiting for a successful application.
