Chamber of Commerce presents mini-grants

In December 2016, Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association made available to the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce a one-time $5,000 grant to promote tourism in the county.

The Chamber chose three projects that would benefit tourism in Franklin County – one being a series of mini-grants.

The five $500 mini-grants were awarded by the chamber to tourism sites in Franklin County. “Each mini grant will require the site to follow specific guidelines and criteria to benefit tourists,” chamber director Cassie Medley explained.

The five selected were the Red Bay Museum in Red Bay; the Dismals in Phil Campbell; the historic Roxy Theatre in Russellville; Rock Bridge Canyon Equestrian Park in Hodges; and Bear Creek Lakes in Hodges.

The sites selected were announced at the Partnership Banquet.

The mini-grants were just one of three projects undertaken by the chamber. The first project was reprinting the Franklin County brochure.

“We first printed this brochure in 2014 with the financial assistance of Sen. Roger Bedford and Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow and the State of Alabama Tourism Department’s Matching Grant,” Medley said. “In two years, all 15,000 brochures have been distributed throughout Alabama.” The AMLTA funds made it possible to update and print additional copies of the brochure.

The third project, Medley said, will showcase Franklin County’s tourist sites with postcards of each site. The sites selected are the Red Bay Museum in Red Bay; the Dismals in Phil Campbell; the historic Roxy Theatre in Russellville; Rock Bridge Canyon Equestrian Park in Hodges; Franklin County Watermelon Festival in Russellville; Bear Creek Lakes in Hodges; and Tiffin Motor Homes in Red Bay. “Each of these seven sites will receive 1,000 postcards to promote their tourist destination,” Medley said.

“Our goal in each project,” Medley added, “is to promote Franklin County by building, connecting and discovering.”