Alva Review-Courier -

The meeting was twice as long as usual with a lengthy agenda, but the Alva Tourism Tax Committee ended up approving six funding requests ranging from $1,000 to $20,000 in about an hour. Committee members present at the Wednesday meeting were Norville Ritter, Dr. Charles Tucker and Terri Parsons. Jaunita Dotson was absent, and Bryce Benson arrived about halfway through the meeting.

After approving minutes of the last meeting, the committee heard the financial report from Jodie Bradford, secretary. The committee has $623,385.57 available for funding requests.

Murals and Pocket Park

Beverly Kinzie spoke on behalf of the Alva Mural Society. The group already has funding for new murals to be installed on the walls of Northwest Electric and Merrifield Office Supply on the north side of Alva’s square. The walls face an open area left vacant when Holtzclaw Jewelry store burned.

Two 5 ft. x 10 ft. murals are to be created. The east wall will feature Bass Reeves, the first African-American to be a US Marshall in Oklahoma Territory. The other mural is called Harvest Cook Shack depicting a cook shack women used in early days to cook meals during wheat harvest. A plaque will also be installed recognizing the site of Holtzclaw Jewelry for 36 years.

The group plans to turn the area into a pocket park with a stamped concrete base, two six foot benches, two planters and a light fixture. In addition, the stucco walls will be patched and painted to coordinate. The north wall will feature a selfie mural.

The murals installed throughout Alva attract visitors who then may stay in motels, eat at restaurants and shop in businesses. The murals also help keep Alva’s history alive.

The committee voted to approve the $10,000 grant to the Alva Mural Society. It will pay the cost of the concrete base for the park.

Message Sign

Melissa Heaton spoke to the committee about a $1,000 request to fix up the electronic message sign located on the east side of College Ave. in downtown Alva. The sign, mounted in a large wooden frame shaped like Oklahoma, is used to notify residents of coming events and other items of interest. A power surge disabled the sign, and funds were not available to repair it.

Volunteers have updated the events on the sign and the flowers at the base have been maintained by a local group for many years.

Heaton said of the amount requested, $300 was needed to replace the transmitter for the sign which is controlled and updated from an office building. The other $700 will pay the cost of scraping old paint from the sign, preparing the surface and repainting professionally.

The request was approved.

Golf Tournament

NWOSU Football Coach Matt Walter spoke to the committee about the 21st Annual NWOSU Football Golf Tournament and Auction. The event is scheduled for June 3 at the Alva Golf and Country Club. It attracts a number of NWOSU alumni as well as locals. He requested $4,000 to cover the cost of 40 golf carts to be rented from Woodward and $2,000 worth of the sports apparel to be provided to participants.

In the past the two-day event has attracted 44 teams made up of four members. He described it as a time for alumni, friends and Alva residents to meet and get information on the football program.

Walter said the number of teams may be down this year because of the likely timing of the wheat harvest. There are also a couple of weddings the same weekend involving locals who usually would participate. He said they’ve considered moving the event to a different weekend, but earlier they run into graduations and Memorial Day. Having it the same weekend as the Nescatunga Arts Festival gives spouses and families of the golfers some entertainment opportunities too.

The committee approved the request for $4,000.

4th of July Spectacular

The Alva Rotary Club sponsors the 4th of July Spectacular. The daylong entertainment begins early in the morning with a 4k fun run and concludes with a huge fireworks show with all events centered around the Hatfield Park and swimming pool area. In between the run and the fireworks are a white elephant auction, outdoor games, outdoor inflatables, swimming pool games, live music, two free meals and numerous prizes.

Jesse Kline, who spoke to the tourism committee, said the event has evolved during to the last five years to last all day. Rotary asked for $20,000, the same as last year.

Kline said they’re keeping expenses down by finding a new fireworks supplier that lowered their cost several thousand dollars while providing the same or better quality show. He said they’ll use the amount they’re saving to improve meals which he described as a little skimpy last year.

The amount requested will be used to pay the $12,500 in fireworks, $2,500 for bouncy toys, $500 for Boss Music all day, $3,500 for two meals, $400 for the Menagerie animals, and $600 to reimburse the swimming pool for the free admissions.

Cost for the event is estimated at $30,350. The remainder of costs hopefully will be covered by donations from businesses.

Kline thinks the holiday falling on a Tuesday means more area people will stay home which will make for a larger attendance. He commented that the day takes a huge volunteer effort by Rotary members who give up their holiday to help with the event.

The committee approved the $20,000 request.

Ride for Hatfield Park

Bonni Sidders and Christi Vickers formed the Alva Friends of Play Foundation to put new children’s toys in local parks and refurbish the old ones. With their members, other volunteers and the Alva Masonic Lodge, the Friends of Play will hold a ride for Hatfield Park on June 3.

The event begins with registration at 9:30 a.m. at the park with a finish set for 6:30 p.m. The route will take the participants on a tour of various area towns where they can see several parks.

Sidders said last year the Masons matched the funds raised by the event to bring the total to nearly $10,000. They are hopeful the lodge can again obtain matching funds this year.

The group’s next project for which they are raising funds is the large east side of Hatfield Park. They plan to install a number of ADA toys as well as toys for the older children. Later plans will include the west side area which will be devoted to toddlers and small children as well as a few toys for the north end of the park.

After those are accomplished, future efforts will focus on fixing up the bathrooms and adding some more toys at Bud Rose Park.

The committee approved the request for $2,470 to cover event t-shirts and plaques, cash prizes, Chamber Bucks for additional prizes, food, silent auction items, a banner and advertising.

AHS and AMS Baseball Tournament

Alva Baseball Coach Scott Baugh presented the final request to the committee. He asked for $5,340 for the Alva High and Alva Middle School Baseball Tournament. The tournaments will be held over two weekends. The first on June 6 and 7 will be for middle school age, and the second for June 15-18 will be high school. Each tournament is set up for eight teams, and Baugh already has the high school tournament filled.

The tournaments will probably total 40 to 48 games depending on the number of teams and how the games work out. Each game requires two umpires who are paid $100 each. Baugh said they also pay a gatekeeper. Parents don’t like to volunteer for that because the gatekeeper can’t see the playing field.

Baugh believes the tournaments will attract 1,000 to 1,200 people. Some will be staying at local motels and all will need places to eat.

Funds from tourism would cover $4,860 for the umpires and $480 for prizes and awards. The committee approved the amount.

Next Year’s Budget

Tourism Committee Chairman Norville Ritter said action at the last meeting to approve next year’s budget was not handled properly so was not binding. The item was not on the agenda.

This time, the item was placed on the agenda. The committee voted to approve a budget for the next fiscal year totaling $514,957.