By DOUG BATES/Editor/The Herald — A decade of local effort paid off big-time this week when Travel Oregon announced Oakridge as the recipient of one of the largest among 60 grants totaling $2.4 million to promote economic recovery across the state.
The City of Oakridge will receive $96,226 to install signage and wayfinding in the cities of Oakridge and Westfir to direct visitors to outdoor recreation opportunities in the area.
Mayor Kathy Holston, clearly elated at the news, said residents will begin seeing work on the project in June, all around the community. The work must be and will be completed by the end of September under terms of the grant, which requires the funds to be spent by November, she said.
“This is a plan that’s been on the shelf for about 10 years,” she said. “It was all about finding someone with Bryan’s skill set to get it done for us.”
She was referring to City Administrator Bryan Cutchen, the former Navy admiral hired by the city two years ago. He authored and ushered through the city’s grant application for the project, which had been in the works since 2010.
Oakridge is among only 10 applicants receiving Travel Oregon grants in the $100,000 range. If you factor in an additional grant for $7,962 awarded to Cog Wild Mountain Bike Tours, the shuttle service operating out of Oakridge, the city comes out on top of all 60 awardees. Cog Wild, headquartered in Bend with offices at First and Pine streets in Oakridge, will use the grant to upgrade outdoor meeting areas in both communities, providing ADA-accessible portable toilets and hand-washing stations.
Oakridge-Westfir residents will find that “wayfinding” is different from regular signage that is meant to be read. Wayfinding signage, such as a simple system of arrows, is concerned with helping to direct you from point to point, or confirming your progress along a route. Readers can go online to learn more about the Oakridge Area Wayfinding Plan.
Too many ‘heroes’ to name them all
“It’s time to put a cap on this and say ‘hooray,’ ” Holston said.
Asked to single out the Oakridge and Westfir citizens who laid the groundwork for success, she said there are too many to name without leaving important ones out. She did want to credit Grace Kaplowitz, a RARE AmeriCorps member serving as city economic development coordinator, for “pulling everything together” for the application process.
In Lane County, the only other Travel Oregon grant recipient in this cycle is the City of Eugene. It is receiving $47,500 for “high-efficient lighting to improve safety along main corridors of downtown Eugene.”
Severe impact on Oregon tourist economy
The Oregon Tourism Commission, doing business as Travel Oregon, awards the grants through its Competitive & Recovery Grant Program to support economic recovery by investing in projects that enhance and expand the visitor experience and prepare communities and visitors for COVID-19 safe travel. For this grant cycle, Travel Oregon received more than 400 applications with a total request greater than $18 million.
“These projects directly support Oregon’s tourism economy, from iconic Oregon attractions like the Oregon Shakespeare Festival to outdoor trail development to retrofitting outdoor events to meet public health standards,” said Todd Davidson, CEO of Travel Oregon. “Many of these entities have been closed or were unable to hold their event in the last year because of Covid. Our goal is to support these businesses, events and attractions as they operate safely, restore vibrancy and create economic stability in communities across the state.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted Oregon’s tourism economy. Dean Runyan & Associates’ preliminary Economic Impact of Travel in Oregon report finds that in 2020, employment related to travel declined by 22.1% and that total travel spending declined 49.5% from $12.8 billion in 2019 to $6.5 billion. Travel Oregon has developed a variety of programs to support recovery in tourism-related and supported industries as part of the state’s larger economic recovery strategy.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to the status of Grace Kaplowitz, economic development coordinator for the City of Oakridge. She is a RARE AmeriCorps member.
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