Alva Review-Courier -

Plans are underway for the 2020 Reunion of Alva High School graduates to be held on the July 4 weekend. On behalf of the Alva Goldbug Education Foundation, Lizabeth Richey spoke to the Alva Tourism Committee Wednesday to request some funding to get the word out.

Richey had obtained one quote for 5,000 copies of a four-page color mailer. She requested $8,000 for the mailer printing, $2,500 for postage, $120 for envelopes and $15 for mailer labels for a total of $10,635.

Committee members questioned the amount requested for the mailer printing. Richey said she thought she would be able to cut that in half by condensing the information into two pages. Committee Chair Norville Ritter said he thought the printing could be done for a lot less money, citing his experience with flyers for the Big Cruise and Car Show. Richey said she only had time to obtain one quote before the Wednesday meeting but would look for a way to cut down that price. Ritter suggested she contact his office to obtain information on where the cruise flyers were printed.

Richey said they have email addresses for many graduates on their list and will email those instead of sending them by mail.

Reunion 2020 is planned for July 3-5, 2020. A Friday welcome mixer for adults only at the fairgrounds is planned along with a Saturday lunch on the square. A parade around the square is also planned on Saturday. Since that’s July 4th, everyone will be encouraged to join in the Alva Rotary Club festivities at Hatfield Park.

The last all-class reunion was held 20 years ago. Richey said they’d like to hold the reunions more frequently, perhaps every five years.

After more discussion about printing costs, the committee approved the request for up to $10,635 with the expectation that Richey would find a way to reduce the costs of printing.

Tourism Promotion

Melissa Heaton presented a budget request from the Tourism, Advertising and Promotion Committee, a sub-committee of the Alva Tourism Committee. She said rather than making numerous requests, the group had come up with a budget that should cover their needs until June 2020. They requested a total of $10,113.

The committee asked for $2,000 to print a brochure. They have about 50 copies of the current brochure left. They’d like to make some changes and have it reprinted.

The committee was recently billed for two years of web hosting and domain name charges. They did not realize this was not included in the agency billing. They requested $600 to cover the past two years plus the coming year.

A $300 request is for developing a tourism video. The committee will be asking the public to submit videos of tourism events and locations in and around Alva. They will pick the best five and post them for voting. The top three videos selected will be awarded $100 each.

The 4 Tier Marketing contract has increased $800 for a total of $6,720. Heaton said Kendra Schnebel will continue to do updating of the website and social media posts. A more prominent calendar of events is planned for the website with the expectation that people can send in information about community events to be posted. Ritter said the calendar will be helpful when the Alva Arena opens.

Another $393 was requested for reimbursing expenses. Heaton said this will include a shirt for Schnebel to wear during live social media broadcasts. The shirt is embroidered with the Alva logo.

Another $100 is planned for Action Ads (classifieds) in the newspaper to publicize coming events.

The committee approved the budget request.

Alva Bull Battle V

Justin Dowdy presented the final request for tourism tax funds. He asked for $31,150 for the two day events of Alva Bull Battle V. Last year he was granted $28,500 by the committee.

Sponsored by the Western Sports Committee, the events will be April 3 and 4. Friday’s events will include visits to local schools and the announcement of coloring contest winners. The BRI (Bull Riders Inc.) Bull Riding Round 1 will begin at 7 p.m.

On Saturday, there will be a youth mini bull riding event at noon. The BRI Bull Riding Round 2 begins at 7 p.m. A dance will be held at 10 p.m. featuring the Lane Haas Band.

Dowdy said more youth involvement has been added this year. He said he’s heard a lot about how much people enjoyed watching the youth compete on the mini bulls. Unlike the adult riders, the youth riders are usually accompanied by their whole families, bringing more people to Alva. He said the top two youth riders in each age group will also be part of the big show on Saturday night.

Dowdy said the costs for the event are increased but the Friday night concert has been eliminated. Money prizes for riders have increased. He emphasized that he has “quality personnel” working the event. Ritter said watching the pickup rider is worth the price of admission.

Dowdy expects between 500 and 750 people nightly with upwards of 2,000 in and out over the course of the two days between contestants and spectators.

Funds requested are $6,000 for the arena and back pens; $1,300 for the facility lease; $21,850 for contract labor; and $2,000 for printing.

The committee approved the $31,150 funding request.

Committee Business

In addition to Ritter, members present were Dr. Charles Tucker, Terri Parsons and Connor Martin. Jaunita Dotson was absent. At the beginning of the meeting, Jodie Bradford, secretary, read the financial report showing the committee had $605,038.02 available for requests.

Dotson had obtained some guidelines from Enid and Woodward on their criteria for tourism funding requests. These were passed out to members for study. The committee hopes to develop guidelines for future funding decisions.