The Crookston Visitors Bureau (CVB) met inside the Crookston Inn on Thursday morning. The meeting began with the introduction of Macey Buker. Buker will be replacing Nell DeBoer as the UMC representative on the board, and he said he’s looking forward to being a part of the CVB. “I think the city has a lot to offer. We have a lot of great businesses in town,” said Buker. “We’re trying to encourage individuals to want to be here with tournaments and recreational activities. Hopefully, I can bring some ideas to help bring people in and some vitality to the city. Lots of great individuals on the board, and I look forward to participating.”
Buker will officially be voted onto the board at the annual meeting on January 13, 2022.
There were not enough voting board members in attendance, so no action could be taken on the agenda items. Instead, DeBoer gave updates on all the agenda items for discussion.
The board heard an update on an Ice Buster Daze grant request for $3,000. Last year the event was canceled due to Covid; the event will be back and held on February 11-12. The event is a fishing tournament on the Red Lake River followed by an awards banquet. While no action could be taken at the meeting, DeBoer expects the request to be approved. “I can’t determine for sure if the board will approve that request, but I will definitely recommend it,” said DeBoer. “Ice Buster Daze has been great, it’s a two-day event this year, and we have added a kids ice fishing tournament inside on the second day. So, again one of the things we do is work with smaller one-day events and try and turn them into two-day events that can create overnight stays.”
The board then heard an update on the annual CVB report to City Hall for 2021. DeBoer discussed what the annual report highlighted. “Basically, what we did was recap all the projects that we had done for this past year,” said DeBoer. “A lot of this first year was just getting everything set up, establishing a budget, and working through a few things. One thing I’m pleased with is that we did a good job of connecting with other businesses and organizations to work on projects with them. In a small town, we need to work together, so I think that’s been great.”
The board also heard an update on a Minnesota tourism grant application. The amount the CVB is requesting is $5,000, and the money could be used towards CVB projects. DeBoer said they would hear back if they received the grant sometime in late February.
The next item on the agenda was an update on the tourism coordinator position at the CVB. The position has officially been posted, and the board heard an update on the application process. Currently, there is one potential candidate, but no interviews have taken place. The CVB board voting members will serve as the hiring committee for the position.
DeBoer also gave an update on a new Visitor Guide design for January of 2022. “The format of it won’t change a lot,” said DeBoer. “We will have some new businesses in the guides for this upcoming year; we also will have a few other smaller changes. The overall content won’t change much, but we will include our new trail maps and map of Crookston now that we’ve completed those.”
Another item on the agenda was a “Welcome Home Bags collaboration” update. The collaboration is a group effort from the Downtown Crookston Development Partnership, The Crookston Area Chamber, and the Crookston Visitors Bureau. The Welcome Home Bags will be sent out to anyone who moves to Crookston and will include coupons and discounts to local businesses, as well as a few swag items and a CVB visitor guide. They will be handed out sometime in January.
The meeting ended with the “What Brings You to Crookston” campaign. For November, the most visits to Crookston were for construction with 118, followed by Business/work with 75. There was a total of 436 registered visits spanning over 14 different categories.
The next meeting will take place on January 13, and it will be the Annual meeting where new board members can be voted on. The items that could not be voted on during today’s meeting will be voted on in an email vote sent out from DeBoer later this week.
