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Kosciusko County Convention, Recreation and Visitors Commission approved a modification to their tourism grants at their meeting Wednesday.
“Historically, our grant requests have been only 100% reimbursable,” said Mark Skibowski, commission president. “We came to the realization that we were omitting some smaller groups that didn’t have the funding, so we’ve adopted to modify the grant.”
The tourism grant application will have the option for applicants to request 50% of it to be in advance and the other 50% to be reimbursable. This will come with the caveat that all expenditures need to have receipts. It will not affect the publicity grant, which is the smaller, reimbursable grant that KCCRVC offers.
Skibowski noted the application’s language is in line with what was discussed at the special meeting in April. The language states that “the grant would be awarded to a qualifying nonprofit. Vendors of the nonprofit would be paid directly by the county. Grant funds will be distributed to the organization or vendor within 60 days. Invoices must be issued in the name of the nonprofit, and no sales tax will be paid.”
Skibowski noted they will not reimburse any sales tax. Mike Loher, commission member, noted nonprofits should not be paying sales tax anyway, which several members agreed is true, but not all nonprofits follow that. This was approved.
In other business, Nick Hauck, Kosciusko County Velo Cycling Club treasurer, thanked the KCCRVC for their assistance with the upcoming Fat & Skinny Tire Festival.
“We’re close to selling out almost every pre-registration for every race,” said Hauck.
Mike Cusick, KCV president, and Hauck asked for a $250,000 tourism sponsorship for the Winona Lake Bike Park. They are working through getting funding for completing phase 2 of the bike park.
Phase 2 consists of building progressive trails, jump lines, dual slalom courses and other skills to help riders of any skill level develop their skills while using their park. The second phase also involves putting up the maintenance building and the parking lot for the park. Cusick stated the builders would be on site in June and July, with the goal being to have phase 2 completed by November and have a functional bike park by the end of the year.
Phase 3 would consist of a pump track, which is a paved track with rollers; and a kids’ playground, which will help kids hit elements on their bikes and an activity/clubhouse. According to Cusick, “This will help to tie into the greenway system … and the greater ecosystem of the county.” They are asking to help match the $375,000 matching grant they received from the K21 Health Foundation.
Many of the commission members brought up concerns about how they will be able to continue making the park profitable if they will only fundraise and not charge for events or when renting out the facilities. Cusick and Hauck noted that the park would be built by an Olympic park builder and they want this to be a world-class bike park where companies like Redbull can have qualifiers.
Kathy Ray, commission member, and County Auditor Alyssa Schmucker noted they could pledge an amount to the KCV for this project that they could use within the year, which Skibowski noted that he did not see how that could work without knowing how the funding for next year would work.
With the limited funding that KCCRVC has, they agreed to give a $50,000 grant to the KCV in order to help with their fundraising efforts, but also to have money for the rest of the year.
Ben Ashpole, with Center for Mushroom Understanding, Science, and Health, asked for a $34,000 tourism sponsorship for Wild Love, Kosciusko. Ashpole is one of the few mushroom farmers in Indiana and does sell a lot of his produce to local restaurants for use in their dishes.
The Wild Love, Kosciusko program would center around edible mushrooms that can be found around Kosciusko County, working with local restaurants to make those mushrooms into dishes and have an element of romance for people to learn while enjoying ecotourism and fine dining.
Skibowski noted that he did not see any mention of the restaurants helping to contribute funds, which Ashpole noted that he did not think of that when originally asking for the grant, but would take it into consideration. Matt Metzger, commission member, asked who would be doing the advertising because of not seeing any quotes on the request application. Ashpole stated he would be doing most of it and would be hiring freelancers if needed.
With a lack of a motion, nothing was approved. Skibowski noted that the next time Ashpole applied to make sure that he is attaching quotes with it so they can have some tangibility when it comes to numbers. He also told Ashpole to “get others on board.”
Tracy Ford, with the Syracuse-Wawasee Charitable Foundation, asked for a $4,000 tourism sponsorship for Tour Des Lakes. The sponsorship will be used to draw in people from outside of the Kosciusko County area by advertising in areas of Fort Wayne, South Bend and Indianapolis. They are also looking at advertising on yard signs and having a QR code on it to make it “a fast and easy registration event.”
“We’re in our 15th year,” stated Ford. “We’ve become one of the county’s premier tourism events … last year we brought in over $40,000, saw riders from eight states and brought over 400 people to the event.”
This was approved.
Mike Hagy, with the City-County Athletic Complex, stated that they have had 6,500 visitors each weekend, outpacing June of last year. He stated that this had happened, even with the rain, noting that “we can really bounce back.”
They were awarded a grant from the Kosciusko County Community Foundation for the girls’ fastpitch program launching in the fall. This will allow them to buy new equipment, which will help give equipment to the girls and keep the cost of the program down. Hagy noted it was so “no girl will have the excuse of ‘I can’t play because I can’t afford it.’”
Cori Humes, with the Kosciusko County Convention Visitor’s Bureau, told the commission that the county has seen an increase of visitors even with the gas prices increasing.
The KCCVB has launched a new passport in collaboration with local museums where those who participate can collect 250 historical items. This will be taking place Memorial Day through Labor Day.
They are also starting Clearly Kosciusko On the Road where the KCCVB is going to towns all over the county to make people more aware of the programs and benefits the bureau has to offer. Their next stop will be at the Igloo in Silver Lake on May 22.
In other business:
• Jeff Owens, with the Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club, asked the KCCRVC in November 2025 for a $6,000 tourism sponsorship for their sprint triathlon. He was given $4,000 at the time and the commission approved to give him the other $2,000.
• The CCAC have eight to 10 youth field sign sponsors to help with the cost of having to cancel some events due to the weather.
The CCAC is looking at upgrading the youth soccer programs with new equipment.
Hagy apologized for the road block on the east side of the complex, causing traffic back-up. He noted the construction was not something they can control and they are possibly two to three weeks behind because of rain and bad weather.
The next meeting will be the budget review meeting at 9 a.m. Wednesday, July 15.
