County Commissioners - public_hearing

uh call to order our tourism hearings uh thank you so much for being here to present on behalf of your uh tourism application we're very grateful for the time we know these are in the middle of the day and we're thankful for all of you who have accommodated and make an opportunity for us to hear about your application just kind of to level set how this is going to work You'll come up to the table when your name's called. I'll call the name and then I'll call who's on deck just so you know where you're at in the order. And you'll come up, you'll state your name. As soon as you state your name, a three minute clock will start. You'll have three minutes to kind of present about your application. Keep in mind, we have information about your application. Maybe just share a few highlights. You don't have to go all the way into it. And then we want to have some time for Q&A where we get to ask you some questions, which is about two minutes. We've allotted every one of these hundreds of applications, five minutes each. So the more concise you can be, the better. But we also know this is a passion project for you. This is something you've put your heart and soul into, and you've got a lot to say, and we want to be able to hear as much of it as possible. But also, we got a little behind yesterday on some things, so we're going to try to keep it to three minutes comment max so we can keep it moving. So we appreciate all of you for being here. And with that, we will get started. First on my list today is Susquehanna Township Police Department, and on deck is Swaterra Fire Rescue. Yeah, grab a seat. Yes.

Commissioners, I will be short and sweet rather than long and sour. Okay. Good. First, I learned a long time ago when you give a presentation, be intentional. And my intentions are two things. First, to thank you all for your service and for your support of public safety in Dolphin County. In Susquehanna Township, we have nine hotels with a total of 877 rooms. These hotel rooms create calls for our police department. I've reviewed the calls for three of the nine that impact our department the most since January 1st of this year. At just three of our hotels, we've incurred 184 police calls. Of those calls, 20 were mental health related calls, 15 domestic disputes, 13 domestic violence arrests, five drug arrests, and 16 warrant services. My emphasis is that these hotels impact the police services that relate to the residents of Susquehanna Township. In our proposal, you note that it's all technology related. The Susquehanna Township Police Department takes great pride in pursuing and using technology to supplement the manpower challenges that we presently face. Number one, replacement of our interview room cameras. They're 12 years old, they've fallen in disrepair, and the video used in these rooms is critical as it relates to interviews that are used as evidence in prosecution before judges and juries. Number two, a new traffic counter. for conducting traffic studies. Our police department is charged with conducting traffic studies by our board of commissioners throughout the township. And this device which records speeds on roads that we can just set up and leave it there over the duration of days or a week is critical, that data is critical for us in conducting these traffic studies. Number three, and I'm gonna say if I had to put an asterisk next to any of the four that I'm presenting to you, it's this one. We're asking for a new drone. Ours is roughly 10 years old now. A new drone will provide us with all weather capability and AI capability and Zoom capability. These drones are used for the search of suspects, lost children, to capture photos and video of crime scenes. And now in Susquehanna Township, we use our drone for actual patrol operations. On midnight shift, we will actually use the drone to patrol neighborhoods. And and I will say this too because I say to my board of commissioners all the time Drones are the future of my profession You will see drones supplementing the manpower crisis that my profession faces and drones are going to do it efficiently and more economically Lastly a one-time upgrade of our body worn camera system and It's it's roughly eleven thousand dollars um so all of these are technology related all of these will enhance our ability to provide service to not only our hotels but throughout susquehanna township and uh you know i just thank you for the opportunity to come before you and and seek funding for for some of these projects thank you thank you so much

Thank you for your service, and thank you for all your department does. Of these requests, are any of them tourism-specific, meaning they simply apply to tourism, or are they all pretty broad and general and they apply to public safety?

Well, they absolutely all apply to public safety and the service that our police department provides to all of our citizens, which includes 877 hotel rooms and those who occupy them. and we have a duty to protect those folks as well, and this will assist us in protecting them.

Can I ask, of these, as we implement technology here at the county, for example, they're often not one-time expenses. There's continued expenses. I'm just more curious for the plan of action that you have budgetarily in your budget. Like, if we were to make this support, are you going to come back in following years saying, like, we've got to keep these things up

can we get more is there an ongoing cost to these or are these one-time costs that's what i think i think i'm more trying to understand yeah great question commissioner uh one-time cost i i kind of see these as capital costs uh you know this drone you know certainly will hopefully last us eight to ten years and the maintenance on it will be budgetary stuff that you'll go ahead absolutely thank you

want to thank you and the other chiefs for coming to us last year and bringing up a unique perspective of the impact that tourism in dolphin county the hershey area etc has on the adjoining municipalities and police departments i never thought of that uh and we talked about it brought the numbers as you did forth today and the other departments did last year was a was a uh wake-up call for me seeing the impact outside of just the money coming in there's also human impact the impact on her on our first responders so appreciate you doing that thank you first of all great to see you too sir always a pleasure and an honor to be the president thank you great for all leadership and direction

Thank you, sir.

Thank you for that. Thank you.

I don't know if we level set. They talk about the financial picture of this hurt. Yeah. I think it's important for us to all understand that we have about close to $9.5 million in requests and about $2 million to be able to allocate these cases.

So I think it's

really important that not only do we recognize, first of all, the work that you do, say thank you to the partners and hear your pitches because we know we have some of the best law enforcement officers anywhere in the country, and we appreciate your service and willingness to protect them. We want to take all these into consideration, but this is not just for you and police. This is for everybody that's in the crowd and that's watching. These are going to be extraordinarily difficult decisions. We've heard from about 200 and some Folks who are tourism involved tourism related and probably be able to take care of the most 1 10th of their requests. So that in mind, thank you for always thinking forward. Thank you for always thinking about ways to partner and be at the cutting edge of providing protection to our community. And I can't thank you enough personally for both your relationship leadership in this county. It is truly made a difference chief.

thank you commissioner thank you thank you and and ending i you know i just say this i come to you from susquehanna township with a deep sense of gratitude on just you listening to uh my requests and my expectation is certainly not ever chief giving commissioner hartwick's comments can i just ask are these in order of priority one to four or what would be the priority for you if for example given our our budgetary limitations we're only able to fund one thing what would be the one thing that would be most helpful okay drone the drone is i would is the most impactful The drone will save lives.

And you have the budget of the costs of each of these listed in your application so that we're able to see the differences. Okay. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Thank you, Chief.

Have a great day.

All right. Next up, we have Swatera Fire Rescue followed by Swatera Township.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, commissioners.

Pleasure to see you all. My name is Brendan Orth, and I'm here representing Swaterra Township Fire Rescue today. I currently serve as the Chief of Health and Safety, so this project that we are asking you to help support today is rather important from a safety standpoint, not only for our department, but also the residents that participate in our events in Swaterra Township. When we talk about tourism, we often think about the events themselves, fireworks, festivals, parades, attractions that bring the people together. However, behind every successful event, is a network of public safety professionals and volunteers who strive to ensure that the events are safe, accessible, and enjoyable for everyone that attends. Today SWAT Air Township Fire Rescue is requesting your support by providing, in our request, $180,000 in tourism grant funding to purchase and equip a dedicated fire police traffic control vehicle to support tourism-related events throughout Dauphin County and Central Pennsylvania. Our fire police unit provides critical traffic management, road closures, parking coordination, detours, and pedestrian safety operations for a wide variety of events and visitors throughout the region and Dauphin County. Year to date, our traffic unit has responded to 223 incidents across Dauphin County. I'd just like to really highlight that there are not a lot of traffic units. This is a specialty niche piece of equipment. That's what Terra Township provides. And again, I can't highlight enough that it does respond across the county it also supports major events in the county some of those are the central dolphin school district football games graduations battle of the band events and all events that are hosted by central dolphin schools we recently participated in the international airport show at harrisburg international airport make-a-wish truck convoy greenbelt community events etc All these events that, and many more, I know they're in your packet, as well provided by the Township and Chief Iverson. Tens of thousands of attendees participate in these events yearly. I know I'm getting close on my time, but I just would like to most importantly highlight that this vehicle will ultimately protect and prevent line of duty deaths for our volunteers. It will prevent and protect thousands of pedestrians who are injured yearly in traffic-related incidents. And truthfully, this event or this vehicle could save lives at every event it participates in. And any questions that I can answer for you?

It's a one-time purchase, not an ongoing cost? Correct. Okay. And is this the full amount of the cost for the vehicle, or is there other funding that's been appropriated?

To my understanding, the $180,000 is the full request, and Swaterra Township would work to fund whatever else is not provided through the grant process.

Okay.

That's the extent of my questions. Any other questions?

Thank you very much. Thank you. So this will be put, you talked and listed a whole host of events that it's currently being used at? Correct. Correct. So are you, is the actual traffic control device purchased already?

It is not. So we currently have an aging vehicle that's being utilized by our fire department.

You want to replace it with a new modern.

Yeah. The vehicle that we have now is actually an SUV. It's a Ford Expedition. It is an aging vehicle. It was kind of passed down by... The previous user. So it's due for replacement. And unfortunately, being just that it's an SUV style vehicle, this new vehicle would actually have an arrow board installed onto it. It will be set up and properly designed for traffic control. and for protecting not only the manpower that's responding in it, but also better suited to provide the equipment when it arrives on scene for the pedestrian. So not only the traffic accidents, but also those preventative aspects of setting up in advance for events, carnivals, festivals, those things for traffic control points. Really important vehicle, really important for it to be employed.

Absolutely. The question I have, though, is like a lot of these equipment, Derry Township and other surrounding municipalities that may have similar equipment, and I know they have their own events. You talked about working sort of intermunicipally with a couple of other events here. Absolutely. What are we doing related to sort of the coordination of the equipment that we currently have and how it's being deployed. Sure.

So currently our fire police unit consists of about eight to 10 members. Those specific individuals work with the local municipalities in preparation of events. So there's county-wide emails going out that are kind of working together. for that interoperability, if you will, on a countywide process for our manpower to coordinate. What we're seeing is there are not a lot of other departments that have the same type of resource. They're actually utilizing their police department for fire police services and control. We are very blessed that we have volunteers that are specifically tasked for doing the fire police. So that's where we end up getting called to other municipalities. Yesterday, I believe it was, we were in Derry Township at a vehicle accident where someone was trapped.

with our fireplace because there just isn't you know there's a lack of those resources so i don't know if that answered absolutely i just want to make sure that we're deploying them appropriately but it sounds like this would be an excellent request for a gaming brand it sounds like it has potential accounting it certainly does it certainly does all right yeah thank you thank you commissioner appreciate it sir

I think you're stuck with me for a little while, except for Lieutenant Chateau. Actually, John Cherry will be doing the grant information related to our request for the splash pad. So the two of us will probably... Yes, I think I have that one here for you. So this request comes to you on behalf of Swatara Township. As you know, Swatara Township is one of the county's largest hospitality and tourism centers in Dauphin County. We're home to more than 20 hotels, representing approximately 2,500 hotel rooms. With an average rate of approximately $115 per night, our township generates more than $105 million annually in hotel revenue here in Dauphin County. at the current five percent hotel tax rate that equivalates to more than five million dollars in tourism dollars being distributed through the process those numbers are significant but they're not guaranteed visitors have choices they can easily drive 20 to 30 minutes to stay in cumberland york lancaster or lebanon counties but what keeps people here in dolphin county and in swatara township are the amenities, attractions, events, and experiences that make Dauphin County an attractive destination. We feel that SWAT Air Township plays an important role in that effect through our parks, recreational facilities, and signature community events, we help to create and encourage visitors to stay longer, support local business, and return again in the future. Today, Swatera Township is respectfully requesting $55,000 in tourism grant funding to support a series of community and tourism-driven events, including the Swatera Township Labor Day fireworks event, Swatera Family Fun Fest, and the Swatera Tree Lighting, and additional community events throughout the year. These events provide high-quality recreational cultural experiences that attract residents and visitors from across Dauphin County. In particular, the SWAT Air Township Labor Day fireworks event has become one of the region's signature events. Based on our estimates, we believe more than 62,000 people have enjoyed the fireworks event from our local hotels, businesses, neighborhoods, parks, and surrounding communities. This tremendous level of participation highlights the regional impact these events have and the value they provide to residents and visitors alike. Part of our request comes to you to help support our event operation and logistics, our public safety support, entertainment activities and programming, and our marketing and promotion. um we'd like to highlight a couple things specifically about our fireworks event we've hosted this event the past several years we are very blessed that we've had no major medical events no acts of violence and no criminal incidents as part of the the planning process for this event specifically i can share that we put a lot of time and effort into making sure that this event goes off without any issues and that it is well attended by the bands that we we have each year um by the djs that are um that are hired the food trucks and the vendors that are a part of the um the event in the circumstances that we can only find a few of these events do you have the detailed budget for students

In the circumstance that we can only fund a few of these events, do you have the detailed budget for each event in the application?

I do believe so. If it is not in there, we will make sure that it is provided to you.

Do you know how much specifically for marketing a lot of this money is? I know some of it's probably for obviously talent and other things. Yep.

What portion would you say is for marketing? Absolutely. So it was broken out for marketing and promotion for ten thousand dollars of the fifty five thousand entertainment activities and programming was fifteen thousand dollars. The public safety aspect was 10,000, and then the overall operation and logistics was 20,000. And we do plan that the marketing aspect would utilize billboards or Facebook. We would do a mailer that would be part of that as well. Just making sure I didn't miss anything with that. there is a plan in place um we we do have a now that we've done it a few few years we've kind of been able to get our feet wet with it so thank you any other questions all right thank you we'll move to swatara splash pad and then swatara police department's on deck right thank you commissioners thank you thank you

good afternoon commissioners my name is john cherry i'm from wolpert who is the township's engineer and i'm uh here today on behalf of swatera township to introduce a project that really is to complement and expand upon the uh become a major regional asset which is this bishop park and the splash pad that is going to be built at bishop park We are not here today to ask you to find a basic neighborhood playground. Bishop Park is a massive, multi-faced, $6 million destination project located right at Island Street near the Eisenhower Boulevard corridor. Because of that specific location, it sits right in the paths of thousands of traveling families, youth sports tourists, and regional day trippers navigating Delphin Township every single week. So to get to the site at this point, the township is incredibly aggressive and physically responsible. We really didn't wait for a handout. We've been successfully secured first mix of DCNR funding, accounting payment grants to completely execute the $3 million phase one groundwork, which should be completed in July of this year. which is the local bones of the park that is built and being paid for. Today, we're asking for a tourism grant of $250,000 to construct really the crown jewel of phase two, which is expected to begin later at the end of this year, which is a universally accessible zero depth destination grade splash pad. township is fully committed to this park it will be completed but without your partnership the township will have to scale back this unique inclusive water feature that give it that regional draw a scale back splash pad really becomes that neighborhood park at this point fully funding it becomes a regional bank When families are in town for a sports tournament or visiting the county's attractions, parents are constantly looking for high quality dwell time activities to fill their afternoons. By helping us build this destination grade water feature, you give Dauphin County a beautiful asset that pulls those Valley County visitors off the highway corridors and funnels their foot traffic and spending into our local hospitality commercial businesses. And with that being said, I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have about the project.

What's the total cost of the splash pad? Or this phase two, if you want to call it that.

So splash pad itself is estimated at $1 million. Phase two itself is estimated at over $4 million. Total cost for both phases combined is $6 to $7 million. Okay, I'm sorry. What was the total cost again? Splash pad itself is $1 million. Okay. Phase two, approximately just shy of 4 million.

What is phase two, then? Is it not splash pad?

So phase two is finishing, completing the entire park as a whole. So phase one is really infrastructure, backbones. It is the construction of pickleball courts. parking spots just really creating that backbone of the park itself stormwater infrastructure creating installation of utilities the pickball court things like that as part of phase one phase two involves the construction of amphitheater dog parks uh as well as this uh as well as the splash pad and finishing the kind of the amenities themselves of what bishop park is to become and the only thing you're asking for funding for is connected to this yeah everything else is everything really the backbone what really sells the project and what sells bishop park is going is the splash pad and that's what we're asking funding for

yeah what other funding have you secured for a quarter we're at work a quarter of the funding it looks like so phase one has been funded by uh roughly a mix of dcnr c2p2 funding as well as county gaming grant funding phase two is gaming grant funding have you received for this project it would be just shy of half a million dollars i believe just shy of half a million yeah so the counties would be funding if we were to approve this

three quarters of of it with so so for phase two um so for the splash pad so breaking apart here so phase two for the splash pad itself the county just earth the township just received a 250 000 uh gaming grant for the splash pad itself okay and we're asking for additional 250 000 for the tourism grant the splash pad itself is approximately one million dollars there's no additional outside funding for phase two so the rest is for phase two itself which is expected to be about three to four million dollars is funded by the the township general funds at this point phase one was a mix of dc and rc2p2 funding and i believe the amount is like 1.8 million dollars And then there are two county gaming grants for the pickleball courts, as well as the playground equipment, which is just shy of half a million dollars.

Okay. I'm just trying to understand. Let's just talk splash pad. Yep. I don't want to, I don't want to. Yeah. So just splash pad though. if we were to approve this, it would be half a million dollars from gaming and from tourism. Total. And where's the other half a million coming from?

County local.

Township local. Township local. Yep. Okay. That's extended. Yep. Another question? All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, we have Swatera Township Police Department, and then we have tiers for Torino.

Good afternoon. I am pleased to be here on behalf of Superintendent Stauffer, who is out of state today, and also our Board of Commissioners and all the residents of Swatera Township. Today, I'm presenting to you what we are calling Operation Safe Sleep. It's an initiative as part of our problem-oriented policing philosophy that we've adopted in Swatera Township quite a while ago, implementing initiatives to enhance the overall safety of our community. Swatera Township is home to 19 lodging facilities. The fire department said there were 20. One has since closed. And we have 2,229 rooms in Swatera Township. We are home to a lot of visitors through travel and tourism by virtue of the interstate highway system, which all intersects in Swatera Township. With that, it is a great place with lots of opportunities for business, industry, travel, and tourism. But unfortunately, it also is very attractive to criminal elements that engage in narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, violent crimes, and various thefts and larcenies that unfortunately occur in that area. We believe that it's imperative that we enhance the safety and the overall experience of the visitors that come to the Harrisburg Hershey region. The Harrisburg Hershey Visitors agency had said that an ultimate goal is to increase the number of the tourism, the fiscal influx, and the benefits for the county. We would like to receive funding as presented by Chief Stauffer in the amount of $116,000 to provide enhanced directed patrol activities at our 19 hotels. In the past, historically, we've unfortunately had an extensive amount of narcotics arrests. We've had complaints filed by visitors, by families, of their family members being approached by individuals offering various vice crime services to them. We've had shootings. We have had assaults, unfortunately, in our hotels. By implementing our initiatives, we have greatly reduced those crimes, which have enhanced the industry with those 19 hotels. We attempt to make sure that we are a good partner in the entire county-wide process as we have visitors from all over the region and the country that come through Sweet Air Township to stay with us. So ours is very simple. We want to basically put more cops in the hotels, around the hotels, provide a sense of security for all the guests and visitors. Arizona State University, their office of problem-oriented policing actually did a study on the visibility and presence of uniformed police officers in hotel lodging facilities, which did indicate that it increased the overall sense of well-being of the guests and visitors. It increased the frequency of visits to their various regions and ultimately did have a positive financial impact in the community. uh so again i i thank you for the opportunity to make the presentation today i think chief staffer presented the statistical and uh empirical data regarding our calls for service approximately 4.8 percent of all calls for service over the last six years were at our hotels which was 4677 calls for service uh with that um i will uh respect and honor my time and ask if there are any questions from the commissioners

Any questions? I apologize for that. No problem. Clicking into the prison board meeting. They need us there.

We're all multitaskers in many ways, and I absolutely understand.

They need us on to have a quorum. I understand. That is not a problem, sir. Thank you. I'll tell you what the folks from Swatera Township came prepared today. Very, very detailed, well presented on top of things as usual.

Unfortunately, I'm the last one requesting a limited amount of money, but that's the way the chips fell today. And again, our project is just very straightforward and it's just strictly safety for all the visitors that come through us with our attention.

And as I mentioned with Chief Martin, it was unbeknownst to me the actual impact of tourism on public safety. And it's been pointed out last year and now specifically this year in person, the actual impact to our police fire EMS. Appreciate you bringing those numbers to us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. Thank you for your comments.

All right. Next up, we have tears for Tarina and on deck is technology for me. And just a notice to the public. At some point, we will have to pause for about five minutes just to vote on some prison board items. As we're all members of prison board and prison board started at 130. So once they get to those voting items, we will.

probably just do it right here to be honest and uh and hopefully it'll be pretty short and sweet is our hope so in the meantime please just triple check that you are all three on mute on your laptops

Good afternoon commissioners. I am angel with tears for Trina tears for Trina is a safe house for domestic violence and sexual assault. We service about 30 people. 30 families affected by sexual assault and domestic violence over the state. So we work with all counties. We do do women and children. As well, we provide emergency housing. Food, including after school snacks for children in the neighborhood, which are anywhere from 12 to 20 snacks a day. We provide clothing case management, case management, transitional living, transportation, and we provide them love. We are asking for tourism money because we put on several events throughout the community that are family friendly to bring awareness to domestic violence and sexual assault. As we work with other organizations, such as respect together. This is our 5th year, so this is our 5th sneaker gala. We have about 100 to 150 people that attend throughout the year. That doesn't include all several events, including our. kickball tournament, our domestic violence walk to bring awareness. We have several community events to bring awareness to sexual assault and domestic violence. The Sneaker Gala is our huge fundraiser. It allows us to make repairs to the safe house and keep supplies in the safe house as well. So this funding will help us stay operational as well. I'm short and sweet. I just like to get to the work.

For your fifth annual Sneaker Gala, how many attend from outside the county or even like 50 miles away or further that might be, for example, getting a hotel room in conjunction with the event?

It ranges every year. The first year, probably 30% of our attendings came from Philly or Baltimore or York. And then our DJ came from Atlanta. She's originally from Lancaster and Harrisburg area. She came from Lancaster, from Atlanta to help with promotion and to increase attendance. So a lot of her family, friends, and following came as well. So it ranges. Great.

Where does it take place?

We usually have it at the Civic Club. But this year we're doing it at Be Seated on Paxton Street, a new facility.

What's the name of the facility?

Be Seated by Us.

Oh, okay. I have no other questions. Thank you so much. All right, next up we have technology for me and then Broad Street Market Alliance is on deck.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

My name is Merrick Green. I'm the executive director of technology for me. So my gaming grant request is to host a crawfish boil here in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. So originally from New Orleans. I don't know if you've ever been to a crawfish boil. But the idea is to host it at a local restaurant here. It's part of an initiative or a series that I have to bring some culture of some New Orleans events to Harrisburg. And this is the first of a couple that I'm planning. Uh, so basically, um, get a big pot oil, a couple pounds of crawfish and invite people to come out for free. Hosted at a local restaurant. So, where credit is used to be on 6th street. The new owner who owns code of roots, we're working together. I believe the new restaurants can be called slice. It's in the perfect spot on 6th street as a patio on the balcony, a summertime type of and is what I am planning. So, like I said, open to the public, it'll be. Free for whoever attends, but that is the event. And like I said, it's a part of a series of events that have a lot of new on this culture that I'm planning to bring Harrisburg in the next couple of years.

I've been down to a couple of times. Very, uh. Impactful visits great place. Uh, Pat O'Brien's in there before you, of course, have been to Pat O'Brien's and then where's that place? It has the grenade. A drink called the grenade. The hand grenade.

Yeah, I think it is at Patio's.

Oh, that's at Patio's. Okay. All right. But just an incredible place. But I've had seafood boil before. What's a crawdaddy boil? Crawfish. Crawfish boil.

So crawfish are seasonal. So not like shrimp or crabs. You know, in Maryland, we eat crabs. You can get shrimp. But crawfish are seasonal. Most of the time, like February through the end of the summer, and they look like little lobsters. But it's a delicacy in Louisiana to cook them and to eat them and to share them with your friends. So I was in the military, and everywhere I lived, I pretty much had a crawfish boil, and it was always a good time. And so I've been here for about five years now, and I feel like it's time to bring this to Harrisburg, along with the other events that I'm planning, doing like the Cultural Fest July music series and something that I'm planning at the Susquehanna Art Museum.

okay and thanks for explaining that because i so you're boiling crawfish is what it is okay i thought there was like a uh something like a seafood boil no you know you know what i'm talking about yeah i thought it may be similar to that with everything mixed in with it okay cool i've had crying crawfish when i was there very tasty yeah if you do them right yeah true how much of your budget is marketing

About $500 or so. It's not a lot for marketing. I feel, you know, just tap into what we're going to do at Slice and social media really is what we're going to do. So we'll start off small the first year, but we expect to grow it every year.

Got you.

All right, no questions for me.

I am heading to New Orleans this summer for NACO, National Association of Counties Conference, so you'll have to give me some recommendations of where to go, Mary.

Hopefully crawfish are still in season.

Appreciate you.

And I'm going to sit here because I'm also here for the Broad Street Market.

I was going to say, are you sticking around?

I am.

I need to get my folder. All right, Broad Street Market Alliance is up next, and Civic Club of Harrisburg is on deck. Uh, Morton's going to text me. Right now, it looks like just repeats.

You can introduce yourself.

whenever you're at the market manager brush market.

Okay, I'm Mary Green. I'm the treasurer of the grocery market. So we're here today for a tourism request. So you all are very familiar with what the market is and what it does. So we're here to request funds to support our tourism efforts to consistently support a third in a burger man. So you know that in Harrisburg, we have third in the Berg, the market is the cornerstone for what happens at third in the Berg. So we put together a plan To amplify what we do on 3rd in the bird to bring more tourism into the grocery market. In my walks through the market on Thursday, when I go for breakfast, I'll randomly talk to people and ask them. Hey, where'd you come from? Why are you here? And along with the locals that come in the market, we get a lot of people from out of town. That either a food kind of source, a market kind of source. whatever they may be and they just sort of stumbled into the market because they've seen something on social media or they visited our webpage or they just like visiting markets but the market in my opinion is a big attraction in dolphin county and we're trying to amplify what we do at the broad street market through this tourism grant package Um, so we, uh, work with the city to try to figure out, we counted how many people, like, you know, walk to the market. They put their counters out. There's a couple of 1000 people that come in the, the peak market dates. And so we're looking for this grant package, like I said, to amplify our 3rd in the Berg events. To to provide some staffing additional staffing, because in a year or so, we're going to open that brick building and we'll need some additional staffing when that happens. And also to upgrade a few facilities in the market to make it more comfortable for the people that come there to visit the market. What else? I think that's pretty much the gist of it. I mean, most of it was in the grant package. I'll give you back some time.

How much for marketing?

$25,000.

if we can only fund in part just due to the constraints that we have of you know nearly 10 million in requests only about a couple million to give what would be the priority for you in your budget so three of the priorities obviously most importantly is that we want to make sure events go off without a hitch monthly um unfortunately that's something that we had a sponsor for previous and had to last year in the market just didn't have the funding to continue A hospitality network event. I've worked in the hotel tourism industry for 15 years. I've made sure during my first year here that I don't have a PRLA membership. But what PRLA does best is network. And so to be able to host a networking event annually for sales directors, managers, hotel operators, to come to the market and actually experience would be a great idea. And lastly, like the third priority of staffing, I'm Michelle down there in the city of Harrisburg. We do have a lovely volunteer board, but as you know, just the physical aspect of throwing events um having a lot of visitors here in the city and here at the market it does require

Do you receive Harrisburg tourism funding?

We do not. Right now, we are, 99% of our conversation with the city are from infrastructure and operations. We have made extreme headway with them in that capacity for the last year, and in the next two to three years, we'd like the city administration to remain focused on funding for operations and infrastructure. When we get to a place where that relationship can be a little bit more balanced, I would entertain funding from the city for tourism.

Well, I think one of the things we've been asking regularly over the last two days, so this isn't specific to the market, is that Harrisburg gets $1.2 million, I believe, in tourism dollars, and we're asking applicants that are applying for tourism they've received any harrisburg tourism and i of yet i think we only had one that i don't even they were confident that it came yeah 25k but we don't know if that was tourism funding or not so just just more stating that you know those tourism dollars need to be going to a lot of these efforts that are city-based specifically um because um the county shouldn't be the only we want a partner you know what i mean in in these and obviously we know the draw that the broad street market is people come from all over whenever i'm at the market there's people from obviously the adjoining counties but even beyond and people are and i see it as also a tourism like enhancer people are already here maybe for something else but then their experience is greater because they go to the market right because it's one of those gems in harrisburg that i think puts us on the map in a lot of ways and so yeah thank you for your commitment the market's a great place love it every time i'm there and appreciate y'all's service in this capacity

commissioner priest i just want to comment say the market is one of the jewels in the city's crown and it's great to see everybody working together finally getting to that point where hopefully we can get it reopened and bigger and better than before

And I think we were six on the list of things to do in Harrisburg. You Google it. The market ranks six of things to do in Harrisburg.

What could possibly be one through five?

The capital. Oh, that place.

And you know what? We are the capital county. And it's good to see the governor showing interest in your project, too. So I think the more people that know about it and all hands on deck. And again, as Commissioner Douglas brought up, We're hoping that in the future, and it was a perfect response from you on what your positioning is with the city right now, but down the road with all the city applicants that we're getting, we're hoping the city will engage in a collaborative effort with us to fund more of that instead of it all being on us.

And in the discussions with the city, the biggest thing is appropriation. So we have to get into their budget cycle. So I think a lot of times, even as a nonprofit, you're like, hey, we'll just go and ask. But there is a process that the city follows. And a lot of times, if you show up after the budget process, then you're late. So now we're trying to get ahead of it and talking to the city and trying to get in their budget appropriation cycle so we can get what we need from them also.

Good. Well, good luck with that. I know it is owned by the city, correct? Yes, it is. And the property. Yeah. Understood.

All right. Thank you so much.

Anything to add, Eric? As the former chair of the Broad Street Market Alliance, I will obviously be recusing myself from any discussions or deliberations on this particular application. Thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate you all. Fabulous. Thank you so much. All right. Next up, we have the Civic Club of Harrisburg, and on deck is the Happiest People of Harrisburg. Solid name for an organization, by the way, the Happiest People of Harrisburg. Civic Club of Harrisburg. All right. I guess we're going to meet the Happiest People of Harrisburg.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon. My name is Edith . I am the president of the . Today I am here to announce to us that there has been a huge divide between the African Americans and African immigrants here in the city of Harrisburg. The diversity here is beautiful. There's a lot of Africans moving in from different states and even out of from different countries. They've been making great impact in the city of Harrisburg with businesses. and families, building families. And we have come to realize that the African Americans, there is a gap between the African Americans and African immigrants. So we're trying to bridge that gap in terms of coming together to brainstorm what we can do to empower each other um the young black children um as well as the african um children and immigrant families so during raging this gap would mean that we come together we talk about how we going to carry out plans on how to do this and so we came about the unity conference the unity conference is going to tackle how we can come together create a day it's going to be a one-day conference coming together to brainstorm, to dialogue. During this time, it's going to be entertainment. It's going to be like a unity festival. I should put it that way. So coming together to dialogue, to talk about the challenges that we face and how we can bridge the gap and build strong Harrisburg, you know, bringing our strengths together. During this time, um, how this is going to be impactful to. The tourists, the benefits to the dolphin county and the tourist attraction. Although this is going to be a 1 day conference, it's, um, which is, um, expand beyond Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, neighboring states. major African immigrant hubs across the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, multiple African nations. We're looking to invite people who have been here before and are able to come in to speak to African Americans about the importance of uniting to become a force that can be beneficial to Harrisburg and the United States at large. The influx of visitors will bring significant economic benefits to the region. attendees will book hotels hotel rooms dining restaurants shop in local shops local stores use transportation services and cultural and recreational sites funding will enable implementation of programs and activities designed to attract visitors from across the region and beyond increasing awareness of the Dauphin County as a destination for hearts cultural history and recreation

If you have a closing sentence or something, you're welcome to share.

Yes. With this conference, the Unity Conference, we empower youth through mentorship and leadership development, strengthening our economic base through business networking, increasing political participation and civic engagement, celebrate shared culture and identity, build bridges of understanding between African immigrants and African Americans.

Okay, thank you. When will this take place? What's your date or your target date?

Anticipating November 20th.

November 20th? Yes. And where? Do you have a location?

King Mansion.

King Mansion?

That's another beautiful place that we want to showcase to. Harrisburg has a lot of beautiful places.

What's the marketing budget?

About tickets, 50?

Not necessarily tickets, just like marketing, like getting the word out about the event.

Oh, getting the word out. I don't have the numbers here. It would be...

It might be in your application. I'm not with your specific application.

It is, because all the information in the application, including the budget, everything that will be...

Okay, I can find that information. What other funding sources have you secured?

So we are looking to send out letters to which in the past companies or organizations that have supported us before. We had a beautiful cultural event 2024 of December 2024 at the Best Western. And we had beautiful support from locals, local businesses. So this time we're also looking to reach out to them. Last time was a huge success. So we'll also tend to reach out to them too. It's estimated five to $10,000 should come up.

Do you expect like 50% participants local, 50% participants from like 50 miles plus away? The only reason I'm asking is because you have a one-day conference. Correct. And we really want to, you know, try to emphasize hotel stays. Yes. And so like just curious what you anticipate your population. You had mentioned some people coming from overseas.

Yeah.

Do you think that's like 20%, 10%? What are you going to target?

It's not going to be a lot, but within the United States coming out from Atlanta, New York, New Jersey, the neighboring states, as well as from Canada, which is just here. So there's going to be a lot of neighboring states and they will be on that are going to be coming in. So that's going to be a major base. coming in from us we need also entertainment um there's not a lot of cultural or traditional entertainment from within here so we're bringing people from outside as well okay to the extent of my questions other questions i'm just glad i returned to the happiest people of harrisburg i see a lot of smiling face very nice to meet you thanks for your presentation Thank you so much, and we appreciate all that you're doing for encouraging this and all the other supports that you have given to nonprofit organizations. Harrisburg is a beautiful place, and I've raised my kids here. I want to ensure that this program is going to move. It's going to bring people here and showcase the beauty of Harrisburg.

Thank you. Thank you, Edith. All right, next up is the Hershey Partnership, and then on deck is the J.T. Dorsey Foundation. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon. My name is Anne Messner. I'm here with the Hershey Partnership, the Hershey Chamber. We're an organization that has been around since 1995, if you haven't heard about us. We connect businesses, nonprofits, attractions, restaurants, retailers, community organizations. We meet every month, every single month, and it's like one of the best things that we do. We have about 150 members with small membership dues. So they get certain benefits in our organization, but truly what we're here for today is for the tourism grant request. We are making requests today specifically to tourism because it's one of the most strongest economic drivers in Dauphin County. Tourism doesn't happen by accident. People have to know about the experiences that are available here before they choose to visit. This funding would allow us to market Hershey more effectively, create compelling visitor experiences, and provide the resources needed to encourage first-time and repeat visitors. We are on our second phase right now, website enhancements. We've gotten some funding in the past for phase two, which would help us to modernize our website, which is currently in the phase that we're in right now, which is phase two, expanding tourism content, event calendars, visitor itineraries, trip planning, business directories, mobile optimization, attraction and event promotion, and event tour integration. So we're trying to combine pretty much everything that we offer as our services for the region. We have an event called the Adventure Series and the Taste of Hershey, where we're really trying to market to the local restaurants, retailers, attractions, and the seasonal experiences in downtown Hershey and the Hershey region. This is one of our examples that we're really trying to encourage participation is to get more people into these businesses, not necessarily the ones that have the fortunes and their advertising dollars, but someone that we can use from a smaller business perspective. Our membership dues are so minimal that we try and keep everybody in business and have everybody be a part of our organization. This year, we're running our 20th Hershey's Soup Cook-Off with the benefits going to the Hershey Volunteer Fire Company. We've raised more than $70,000 in support of nonprofits in our region and drawing visitors from central Pennsylvania and the outside regions of Maryland, New York, New Jersey, and really, truly generating awareness of Hershey. Really, part of our grant is specific to event promotion, regional advertising, marketing materials. The soup cook-offs, not just for the people in our region, but it introduces them to the businesses and attractions and experiences that encourage future visits. We also had our second chicken barbecue, which is hard to believe that there hasn't been a chicken barbecue in Hershey in, I think, 20 years. We have publication local advertising, again, which we need marketing and tourism promotion for. And that's sort of how they're all tying together. But I'd be happy to answer any questions for you. So that was the soup, cook-off, barbecue, adventure, and marketing for coming to our region.

What's the total budget for marketing and promotion?

So there's two different portions to that. There is a direct marketing promotion, which would be $15,000 for the website and the publication and advertising of $6,000. The Adventour series, soup, coke, often chicken barbecue, is a tourism event marketing and visitor attraction combination. So, I mean, total is right about at our halfway mark, about $25,000. Questions?

Yes, you mentioned that you have 150 members.

Yes.

It's been years, but I did go to a couple of meetings years ago. I remember there were folks, the businesses were outside of the Hershey confines. So your expansion.

They're not. Our membership goes as far as Tennessee. We have people that come in from out of state. For the most part, it is Dauphin, Cumberland, Lebanon, Redding, all of those regions. We have, again, fluctuating 150 members, all the nonprofits. Again, it's a great networking opportunity for people to come together. We put together the Soup Cook-Off and the Advent Tour series to really try and bring attention and opportunities for people to be able to market their businesses and come and showcase their business.

And where are you located now? You used to be right there.

Yes, we were. We were from First Watch. We're down at eleven thirty five East Chocolate. We run a visitor center there. And again, we are all volunteers and we are a nonprofit organization that just I'm a volunteer. And everything we do from ribbon cuttings to the breakfast toasts and everything is all volunteer run.

So. Do you partner with VHH much at all?

We have not and do not probably the past 20 years. We had a visitor center that they participated in for a year or two. And we were told that that was no longer, they weren't available to do any assistance with us. So we made it through COVID. And again, we've been here since 1995. And we know that the people are coming and we want to market and show everything that there is to see. with everyone well you have new leadership there now and visit Hershey Harrisburg and Sharon's actually with us she ran the farm show for many years so I think the two of you should connect at some point as well I think it would be awesome um I would appreciate that very much um yes we we really truly enjoy what we're doing and if you haven't been to our soup event or the chicken barbecue those things are um we just love doing and we want to do a restaurant tour so

Again, I'd suggest figuring out a way to create a partnership. Um, and figure out how that all fits into tourism strategy and your additional partners are a partner. I mean, I know it's local downtown businesses, but sort of tell me. You know, it's just a contributing member organization is that sort of how you derive.

It's sort of how we derive correct. There are a couple reciprocal members, whether they're nonprofits or there we have reciprocity with certain members such as entertainment and resorts. We have the Hershey entities and active participation with them proofreading our materials and giving us approval for distribution to make sure all of our copyright needs are met with entertainment and resorts.

Because I know you've been a part of a couple of grand openings that we were part of, the Baco one specifically.

Yep, coordinated them.

Again, you coordinate those for the local small downtown businesses.

Correct. And that's all just part of our services that we offer to try and, again, get good visibility for the new businesses. We just did Cocoa Kitties and Palmyra ribbon cutting.

Cocoa Kitties in Palmdale.

Okay.

Kind of Palmdale. Kind of Palmdale. And then the Baumbergers, Baumgarten. We did Baumbergers. We did Rocco.

We did Yarn.

Next to Fox's or the old, is it still Fox's or what's it called?

Karn's. Karn's and the Yarn and Book Club also. Again, we're just welcoming people and trying to get them the exposure that they need to sustain their businesses.

thank you thank you very much thank you all right next up we have jt dorsey foundation and that will wrap up this hour and even though we're running a few minutes behind and then we will have the links foundation

uh following just a reminder we will at some point as commissioners have to jump onto this prison board uh call we'll find out when that is and we will do it at that point okay all right i can't tell if this is on can you is this on it is okay thank you um i'm jean troy with as a development here to represent the jt dorsey foundation nice to see everybody again like i lived here uh we are asking for let me get the numbers here 25 000 to assist us with putting on the counter in summit for female competitors and female athletes uh is based on the national u.s soccer's curriculum of countering and it directs its efforts not just to soccer but to all sports where young women and women can participate and the lack really of that capability leadership and understanding uh jt dorsen dorsey is a worldwide former u.s and a professional soccer player his name carries a lot of weight in the in the sport and in the area so We want to do this. It targets the youth sport program administrators and leaders, your directors of coaching, executive directors, GMs and ADs, youth coaches across multiple sports. And this is all happening as a summit in central Pennsylvania. Female youth team captains and leaders, parents and guardians, semi-professional female athletes. And it's a workshop for club leaders and administrators over August 8th and 9th. excuse me, that will focus on strategies to increase female participation. There's also coach education sessions. So it covers quite a bit. Female athlete leadership forums and then a community soccer clinic, because, you know, he's got to do his soccer for girls ages 6 to 12. It will take place at Harrisburg High School, and part of the $25,000 will go towards, of course, as has been mentioned many times throughout the last three days, towards the marketing and development and targeting who we want to do it through the usual sources of marketing. So you will all be recognized with that. As a not particularly athletic person, but I recognize the need for athletics and for young women in particular to get involved. I think this is a phenomenal program to get them involved, to help the coaches understand more that women need to be included. And it is a step up, slight pun intended, with soccer to get women involved in sports. And I think it's great. And we're delighted to be partnering with JT Dorsey on this. I think I just open it up for questions, because I try to keep it short for you guys.

Thank you for your commitment to gender equity in athletics. It's very important. Can I ask, when it comes to the students, what age groups are we looking at here?

So the soccer clinic is for ages 6 to 12, but the participants are older than that, probably high school to younger women. So it's from everywhere all around Central PA, but bringing the nationally known people and coaches from across the country.

Gotcha.

To extend my question, I'm very familiar with the J.T. Dorsey Foundation.

I'm very familiar with the J.T. Dorsey Foundation and him. He's awesome. He's been a recipient of grants here in the past, and I know he's supported his events in the past. So thank you for presenting.

That's great.

Keep up the great work.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. All right. As we're starting a top of the new hour, I'll kind of give a briefing on just how this process goes. Some of you have been here and seen it, but basically your name will be called. I'll also note who's on deck just so you're prepared. When your name is called, you'll come up to the table. You'll start by stating your name. Once you state your name, clock will start. You'll have three minutes to share. We're very grateful if you don't use all three minutes, but you're certainly welcome to use all three. Please do your best not to go over if you can, because we might have some questions that follow up. We've allotted five minutes to every single applicant. And as you can tell, it's 206. So we're six minutes over even now. And those stack on each other over the course of hours. And we will also have to take a break because we're needed on prison board for some voting items. which at any moment we could get a text saying we need to be present on there, and we'll be present when that time happens. Or they just ended the meeting, so maybe they did everything without us. I don't know what's going on. Maybe we're good.

I saw the comment. I mean, fam was the last to present.

All right. Well, apparently the items were voted on and we're good to go. All those in favor? Aye. Okay, look at that. We just got some time back there. I abstain. I didn't hear anything they were asking. Before we start the next hour.

I would abstain again.

As we start the next hour, so just a reminder, you'll have three minutes and then there'll be questions. The other thing I want to note just for the public, you guys have given your heart and soul to these projects. We get that. Just do your best to summarize if you can. The other thing we want to note is, you know, the growing popularity of this program, I think we have close to $10 million in requests and we have, I think, right around $2 million to grant. So just know if you're not fully funded or not funded at all, it is not a reflection of your application, of the good that you're doing in the community. We're so grateful for you. We're going to have some hard decisions to make once we get through all of these application briefings. But we're thankful for you taking the time to go through the process. So we'll begin now with the Links Foundation.

Really quick before that, I just want to do a double check to make sure no one from the Civic Club.

Oh, yeah. Is the Civic Club here by chance? That was one that wasn't present during the last hour. Thank you. Thank you, Eric, for catching that. The Links Foundation and then the Middletown Home is on deck.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon. Ms. Knight-Bernie, how are you? Hello, how are you? Good to see you.

Thank you all for taking the time to meet with us today. We appreciate having this opportunity. I'm Dr. Sybil Knight-Bernie, and I'm here with my Vice President of the Harrisburg PA Chapter of the Links. I'm here with my Assistant Financial Secretary, Mary James. I'm just going to cut to the chase. We are here to ask for your support of our application of $6,000 funding to support our gala, which will support our programs and our scholarships. So we are the Harrisburg um pa chapter of the links which is part of the links foundation we have nationally over 17 000 members and 299 chapters here um and abroad in london and the bahamas um here locally we have about 26 members and we are very active and the reason that we're having this gala which will Help to fund our programs is because this is our 50th year of chartering. We were chartered in 1976. so it's really a big deal and that's why you've never seen us before because this is the 1st time that we are. Celebrating in this fashion, so our gala will be on October 31st. And the very next day, we will be hosting a Founders Day, which is statewide. So the gala will bring in lots and lots of people, as well as the Founders Day that we will be hosting for our state for the Links Incorporated. I don't know if you know anything about the Links, but we were... We were based on two friends from Philly who were friends and they wanted to do public service We have five major facets that we operate off of arts. I have to do this so I can remember arts health and human services national trends and services international trends and services and and health and human services. And that's what we base everything around. We've given in the past few years over $70,000 in college scholarships. And our programs include everything from getting diapers and feminine hygiene products for women who are in shelters to putting together libraries for preschools and adopting a school. So we've got lots of different programs that we started, and we're here ready for your questions, and we thank you in advance.

Great. I see the estimate is 152 guests.

160 at this point.

Great. Perfect. October 31st, November 1st. How many do you anticipate will need a hotel stay that evening? Like how many hotels? If you had to guess how many hotels you'll occupy?

What we've done so far is that we've reserved 25 rooms at the Brown Plaza and an additional 10 rooms at the Harrisburg Hotel. Okay. And the two days are kind of two separate groups of people. Primarily for the October 31st, it'll be mostly local individuals, whereas the following day, they will be throughout the state.

But because of our networking, we know that those who are coming on the Sunday will also be here for Saturday, a portion of those people.

Good.

I have no other questions. I'll follow up on a question you have asked others. Have you received any funding from the city of Harrisburg?

No, we have not.

And the reason we're asking that as a group here is because not only do we have a pool of money, which is a little over $2 million, and we're so hard to come in and ask $12 million. About $10 million, close to $9.5 million. $9.5 million, $10 million. the city also gets 1.2 million a year in in tourism so we're hoping down the road to do more collaborative efforts with them there's a lot of the actually all the recipients are coming and asking the county for money and that's what we're asking the city provide any for the for the funding as well well we were unaware of that but we will definitely look into it next time but thank you

Mrs. James, always a pleasure to see you. Dr. Sybil Knight-Burney, a pleasure to see you. And I also want to thank you. I remember even as the mayor of Stilton, way back in the day, one of the first introductions I had to the civics experience has been the dedication and work of the Lynx organization. I know that you have been involved with this community for decades. 30, 40 plus years. And I know the value and the level of service that you provide to those in need and taking care of those pillars. So thank you for all you've done and continue to do. And we appreciate both of you staying active and civically involved in the way that you have over the years. You've really made a difference in the community.

Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate it very much. And thank you all for your time and this opportunity.

Next up, we have the Middletown Home and the Plant Witches on Deck.

Good to see you, Ms. James.

Hello? Hi. Good afternoon, everyone. This is Christy Thompson. I'm Lou Vogel from the Middletown Home. You know, Justin, you're absolutely correct. There's only so much money. I counted. I think there are about 192 requests. And in the spirit of humility, there are only so many resources, I understand. And frankly, I sat here on Monday morning and I listened to many. And if there are folks who are in greater need than us, then I understand. So I thank you. Thank you for your continued generosity and support of our Middletown home. We're a small, independent 501c3 not-for-profit community we care for people of all ages we have students who live on campus we have staff who live on campus and we have folks that you may think of as residents who live on campus the folks have lots and lots of money they can go anywhere to live but what about the folks in this room maybe some of you who have very very limited resources who cares for those people we are public service yeah and we say we the middle town home. It is not about profit, it is about people. In transparency, the summer concert series, that's what's listed. Our generous partner, RKL, they've already given $18,000. We've asked for $25,000, but they've already given $18,000. We know that we have five different bands. We actually have, I think we see a colleague here, the Hershey Vineyard, who participates, and we have many organizations who participate, everyone from Rotary, the Lions Club, the Moose. Really, the top name we have this year is the Amish Albums. How could we do that? We did that because of the generosity of RKL. But in addition, I just want to share, we have Pumpkin Fest. So many folks, it's become now a regional event, easily 10,000 people. We have a total of, I believe it's 10 bands. And why do we do this? We don't do it for money. Every single year, we underwrite over a half million dollars for folks who run out of funds in what we call assisted living. No one pays for that except whether it's the resident or ourselves. And so we do this to share the message, hoping that people understand our journey. Because you know what? It's not popular, but we absolutely love it. It gives us such . What we ask is that if there's any resources available to help us to underwrite some of these costs, we would appreciate it. And again, it's our largest fundraiser, that is Pumpkin Fest, and we can share that. And my goodness, we have the fabulous Grease Band to start. We have Class Act with Rita. That's an oldie. And Aaron Cruz comes in from Florida. Ah, stop. We have Jess Zimmerman. We have the Mahoney Brothers. We have Cats 22, Smooth Like Clive. Who doesn't love them? Lovelace, the 70s band, and the Uptown Band. And for the Summer Concert Series, we have the Uptown Band, the Nomads, Lovelace again. We have Jess Zimmerman. And we have, again... I'm going to stop talking real quick. Do you have anything that you want to share, Christy? Just say something. We just love her.

I love our ministry, and I think this is a way we can reach many people about our mission.

And we don't have any fancy presentation. We don't have any fancy folks who put together proposals. You did a good job.

You did a good job. Can I just state, I was in Middletown just yesterday and drove by, and you guys do a good job also utilizing Broadway for marketing. Like, it seems like there's, you know, if I'm remembering correctly, I saw the big banners stating the concerts were coming and they're free concerts, and so...

Well, I've got to tell you that our PMA 10 years ago was just really, it was just Dolphin County, which is where we are and what we want to protect. But our PMA has grown from as far west as the tip of Franklin County to the far east tip of Berks County. And we message through all that. And again, it's about truly bringing in. We're talking tourism. So, yeah.

Thank you for all you do.

We thank you for your consideration.

If we had an open position in marketing, I'd vote on hiring you right now. He's pretty good. I've been by before. I haven't been at Punkin' Fest, but some of the concerts you have, there's thousands of people at those, too. And I didn't even know about it until like three years ago. And actually, a former employee of ours, Dan Robinson, took me over there to meet with you and took me through. And you ran over, and I was just like, wow. What an impressive, impressive facility you have. And the mission is pretty cool, too.

You know, the mission is everything to us. Yeah.

Very nice. Even, I know the unconscious here is impressive, but even most of the dignity you provide to individuals, many times the late stages of their life is, I've personally been there and witnessed and saw the level of integrity and respect that you give to individuals. It's amazing. um um if you would like I'll just leave these things here bring them up to the desk but I know that you have a lot lots of other folks to listen to Yeah, thank you. I'm sure you're not on radio. Yeah, exactly.

Actually, I am with Michael Park. Of course.

Of course. We've got some extra ones for folks in the audience if you want.

All right, next up we have the Plant Witch followed by the Salvation Army Harris. Yeah. Yeah, bring them on up. Ash, how are you? Good. Good. Thank you.

Hello. Good afternoon. Good afternoon.

My name is Ash Zimmerman. I am the owner and founder of The Plant Witch, which is a houseplant and metaphysical boutique located right here in downtown Harrisburg. I looked at our downtown corridor, an area that's navigating a tough parking crisis right now and tough foot traffic, and I didn't see a reason to walk away. I see an opportunity to invest here in Harrisburg. We thrive because of our small businesses and our unique spaces for people to go, people coming off the Amtrak, people even in the Harrisburg Airport area. We are a destination that forces state workers, corporate employees, and visitors to break out of a daily productivity loop. They get to see real live plants. I have very rare special ones inside the shop, and being able to see that and realize that We are human beings, not humans doing, realizing that nature is right here in front of us. We carry anxiety prevention flashcards, tools for people to slow down and come back into their bodies. In our short time open, the plant which has already become a regional draw, we routinely have visitors friends and family traveling from outside the area specifically to experience our shop these are visitors who are dining in downtown restaurants booking hotel stays and pumping dollars into our local economy by supporting my business you would be supporting a proven micro destination that gives travelers a distinct memorable reason to choose dolphin county over neighboring areas If awarded this grant, I have a clear multi-layered plan to turn the Plant Witch into a permanent anchor for downtown Harrisburg's tourism economy. First, I would like to focus on the physical foundation of our shop. We need to modernize the space to make it fully welcoming and safe for visitors. This means leveling the floor to ensure a safe workspace, replacing outdated ceiling tiles, and most importantly, fixing our restroom facilities so that they are clean, accessible, and ready for public use. By adding new high visibility signage to the front and interior of the store, we would transform it into a landmark that catches the eye of everyone walking through downtown. Investing in the plant, which is an investment in the diversification and revitalization of downtown Harrisburg and Dolphin County. It proves that Dauphin County stands behind its young entrepreneurs, its small businesses, and its grassroots tourism drivers. Thank you for your time, your consideration, and your continued dedication to making Dauphin County a great place to work, live, and visit.

Ash, thank you for that presentation, and thank you for your commitment to downtown Harrisburg. As I've been part of the governor's team to revitalize downtown, we know the risk that it is to be a small business owner in downtown right now, and the challenges that you're facing. Thank you for bringing this to us. If we were to, say, not be able to fund this in full but in part, what would be your priorities? within your grant? I see some signage as an option. I see some marketing that might draw people to the region. What are some of those that you would highlight as a priority if we were only able to fund in part?

My priority would be creating staff and creating jobs. We would be able to do product making if we were able to do this. The problem is that I can't ask an employee to come in without safe access with the flooring in the back and the bathroom.

All right.

Any other questions?

Just with some of the business changes, does the city run like a Main Street, Second Street? you know some of these sort of CDBG structural piece you know those pieces should be a part of a larger effort to sort of engage businesses and support properties both signage and some of your structural issues but have you been aware of or is there anything to apply for cities

I have not seen anything to apply for. I've seen a lot of opportunities for non-profits, which is incredible, and those keep our city alive. I have not seen a lot of opportunities for small businesses.

I guess it would be Main Street and Elm Street. Obviously, thank you for your investment in local small businesses. Great idea. You're courage. Thank you. I really appreciate it. Absolutely.

And thank you for being part of the city. I'm going to ask the question has been asked before did the city provide any funding for anything for what you've done to date or for any of this not at this time. Can you touch base with Brooklyn your way out from economic development that Chris or mentioned few funding opportunities which you might be able to tell you about some others as well that maybe the county could potentially assist with for some of this infrastructure upgrades, etc.

Absolutely, and I have one following question you're. In a Harris town property correct yeah, how does it work for making upgrades to a rental or i'm just more curious when I when it comes to us like participating in that is that like. I'm more thinking through, is that something that Harris Town can partner with you on, or is there...

Meaning, like, these repairs?

Yeah, yeah, meaning repairs to the unit, given that it's a Harris Town unit.

I did ask when I moved in, and they said it was completely my responsibility.

Okay, all right, great. That's all I wanted to make sure of. Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate you. All right, next up we have the Salvation Army Harrisburg, and the Singer's Lounge is on deck. Hello? Hello? Thank you.

my name is tony mark and i am here with salvation army hammersburg representing shoe strut which i think all three might have attended at one point but um the shoe strut is our this is our 15th year was started as a small event with a group of women who came together to try to figure out how to raise money for shoes for kids who need them and it is now a massive event drawing in around 800 women to the Hershey Lodge in October this year, all to raise money for the Salvation Army and, of course, to bring in shoes for the kids who need them. So it's a great mission, great service. But what I really wanted to showcase for you in this packet is the number of different partners that we bring in through this different event. Part of the event is a silent auction, an enormous silent auction. And you can see in this silent auction that we have about six pages worth of different companies and organizations that have chosen to provide their services, gift cards, whatever it might be. And a large amount of them, you can see, are in Dauphin County, which drives further people into our county to shop, continue to use the services, and... products here, and then there are about several pages after that showcasing the number of partners that are not in Dauphin County, showcasing that they are willing to invest in Dauphin County and the events and the people that are here. And then the second page, similar thing, Just the event partners and the different sponsors that we have. Again, I wanted to showcase to you the number of partners that are willing to invest in Dauphin County through this specific event. And then, of course, the ones that have chosen to market their services, driving people back to Dauphin County through Shoe Strut. So I know there is some familiarity with the event. It is the must-go-to event of the year for Dauphin. women in our area, a number of businesses send their employees. We have many women who plan their family vacations around this and bring people into the community. And I know that there are a number of very worthy missions, very worthy nonprofits that are applying for funding through this program. But I know that the focus here, when you have to be choosy, is to figure out who drives tourism and who drives future economic development for this region. And the Shoestrut brings those women together, and men, a handful of men, brings those women together, not just for October 2nd, but for long after that.

I'd more have to do it if we could see Commissioner Breetson that said six-inch stilettos.

There's a runway show, so we might end up on the catwalk.

I think you heard what you got to do to secure this grant. It's late today, my apologies.

It actually ended up being five, eight and six.

Bringing it back to tourism for real. How many hotel stays do you anticipate? I would assume some, but I don't know.

Yeah, a couple. We always have one there for storage, but the truth is we don't have too many that will come and stay overnight, but several that cross from other counties. We don't capture guest address information, so it's a little tough. We do capture the sponsors and attendees, their businesses, and we know where those are located, and those are diverse and all over, so we know there's a lot coming from several areas around us. But I can tell you we certainly do pay a lot in the lodge fees and different things going on throughout the event.

As you have close to 800 attendees, I just encourage you to work with BHH. There's some tools you can use to kind of track your attendees for future applications. And I say that to everyone in the room, by the way. That's not just to you. If you're not tracking your attendees and the zip code that they're coming from, that can be very good data that some people are able to bring us data of like you know 40 of our audience is coming from 50 miles or further away that tells us more than more likely than not they have a chance to stay in a hotel or or to spend more here because you know they're coming from from somewhere else they might you know try to make it a hershey park day or make it a day to visit harris harrisburg the day before the day after so just if you have the ability to track that or can get access to some tools might be helpful information just to have for future applications but i appreciate what you brought forward and obviously we all three know the value of the salvation army and all the great work you do in our community so thank you

Your organization is incredible. The amount of lives that you touch, the amount of lives that you change in a positive manner is untold. And by being a commissioner here for my 15th year now, I've been to many of your events, and you see the faces on the kids and the people in the community who are being impacted by your great work. So thank you. And who did you bring with you today? It's quiet over there.

Luke Galyon. I work for Delta Development, and we work with the Salvation Army.

Until Leroy is settled up.

I'll do that.

And Leighton and Lou, is he still there?

He just left, actually.

Oh, okay.

I would just say, it looks like October 2nd is on a Friday. Um, to sort of partnering with around, we've got the folks in town. How could we sort of maximize their Friday night experience? Like, those are the kind of things. And that kind of partnership that I think strengthen both the application, not the value of the work you do, because that speaks for itself. It's phenomenal. It's a great event. But may provide a way to track and see. Additional tourism dollars come in and sort of constitute investment.

Yeah, great idea.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Singers Lounge is up. On deck is the vineyard. I can't handle it with you two. All right. Singers Lounge is up. Vineyard's on deck.

You don't want to hear me sing.

Thank you so much. I love Missouri so much. It's good to see you. Thank you.

Whenever you're ready, okay

All right. Good morning, commissioners, and thank you for your time. My name is Eric Smallwood, and I am the founder of the Singers Lounge of Harrisburg Live Music Collective. I started 10 years ago in a small basement venue. For a decade, we have produced monthly R&B showcases that regularly sell out, drawing more than 400 attendees per show. Approximately 30% of our audience travels from outside of Dauphin County. I have spent 10 years proving that I can attract people to Harrisburg through music. I also helped manage the Weekender Festival held in its first two years at Reservoir Park. And I created Harrisburg's first Juneteenth parade, which brought together more than 80 organizations and hundreds of participants. We see Mounch Fest as the next evolution of music tourism in Dauphin County. The success of the Jazz and Wine Fest has shown that people will travel here for quality music experiences. We want to bring that same energy to a new genre and a younger audience. Lounge Fest is a one-day outdoor R&B festival on the riverfront built around a simple theme, come lounge with us. Our goal is to create an experience that is visually unique, highly shareable, and showcases Harrisburg as a destination. R&B is the most consumed music genre in the country and its core audience is concentrated in nearby markets like Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC. We believe Harrisburg is uniquely positioned to attract those visitors by offering a more memorable experience at a more affordable price point. Demetra will now walk you through the numbers.

Hi, commissioner, my name is Demetra digs and I'm a Demetra Geneva solutions and my role in this event would be to oversee the project management marketing efforts for this event. We would like to do very aggressive marketing campaign. We already know from some previous festivals that our county, the people that are coming are coming from outside of the county, about 80% jazz and wine festival. So we kind of use that premise to kind of help with our marketing efforts so we can build marketing ads around digital spends, geo-targeting. Areas because how are we going to get the message out to the people outside of our account? So we have to find them. And the way that we're going to do that is we're going to do a highly aggressive marketing campaign with digital ads. We're going to use influencer campaigns because people will travel for food. They will travel for experiences and they will go to remote towns. or areas like ours to be able to have that experience at a lower price point. And so this festival is actually an extension to what the Singers Lounge has done. They have exceeded at every venue that they've had. They have outgrown, and this is just like a natural progression where we're organically already getting about 1,500 people for an event like this.

You mentioned marketing promotion. What of the total $75,000 budget will be utilized for marketing or promotion? I'm sure it's in the packet. Sorry, I just didn't know if you knew.

That's OK. When we did the numbers just with some of the media partners that we've had, to pull off something like this, it would require about a $30,000 ad spend for us to really get to the audience that we're trying to bring back to the area and to convert into hotel sales. if we get up to we're looking to try to reach about 450 out of county um guests so they could come and spend time at a hotel which if they if we get 30 of that then we would probably look about 115 hotel nights for this one event is where we're positioning that So that portion and then the other 45, the other amount, because we don't have relationships where we have in-kind donations from the city, we would have to be on our own to support those efforts.

That was my next question. Have you received any city funding or any city subsidies?

No, sir.

I like this event a lot. I mean, I love the visuals you provided. I don't know if they were created by AI or not, but I do think, like, obviously, seeing these landmarks kind of done up this way, like, it gives a vibe. It's really, really, really cool. I know the public might not be able to see it, but, like, even just the entrance to the bridge, Like that's, that's just a cool idea. If that was able to be executed. My only question is, is there, I mean, I'm not trying to expand what you're doing, but I do think one of the things that, that, that I think when it comes to tourism is a value is if it's possible to be a two day event only because then it enhances the likelihood that hotels will be stayed instead of someone driving back to, to, to where they're from. Or if they're, you know, a few counties over, maybe they choose to stay a night in Harrisburg. And so, I mean, on paper and obviously what you provided, great visuals. Are you offering double the funding? I'm not. But I'm just, I'm not sure what funding we'll be able to provide, to be honest, just with the request. But I guess I'm just more saying, as you continue to build on this, obviously I'm not telling you to change what's going to, you know, take place in August. I'm just more, I'm more saying I think there's, an event like this could be something really amazing happening over a weekend and But the case for tourism is only enhanced if it's multiple days and we can prove those hotel stays, you know what I mean, or enhance those hotel stays. But thank you for your vision. We need more people with vision like this in Harrisburg. And obviously, Aris, your vision through the Singers Lounge, it's something that we've seen that you, over a decade, have been committed to in highlighting music and highlighting the local talent that we have here in Harrisburg, and we're grateful for that.

like the synergy between the two of you and the success of the singers lounge as a as a county entertainment business success has been has been remarkable so great job thank you

I just think from a vision perspective, I agree with commissioner Douglas. That's how I want the city. You know, I mean, this idea of having those high level events and your vision and Demetra, I know you certainly have the flavor for targeting and marketing and ensuring that we've got the right audience there. Based upon the, those tools, I think, trying to. Connect with Sharon, so she can understand sort of that vision and how those marketing dollars would be used would be sort of helpful information for all of us to be able to have. So we can only not only benefit from your knowledge, but part on some of these, some of these initiatives, because I think. That's the kind of vision that we would like to see for.

And if I can have a moment, just to address commissioner Douglas, we did consider. You know, if we should do a one or two day event, it's something that we would like to grow into. But being a first year festival and just the expansion of the Singers Lounge, we thought more if we position the timing. So if we make it a little, if we play with the timing, then people will more likely stay overnight than they would just having enough time to drive back home.

You can definitely. So let's get to it.

And then the club over there would benefit as well. One piece had all of those be like VIP.

Yes.

Establish things near the river on both sides. That'd be one heck of a sight.

Thank you. Thank you.

Next up, we have the vineyard at Hershey. And on deck is Peter Harrisburg.

Hi, good afternoon.

How's it going?

All right. My name is Lynn, and I am the owner of the Vineyard and Brewery at Hershey.

Hi, Lynn.

Hello. I don't know if you've known that. Took it over last year. So we are new. Thank you. So we are known for our summer concert series. So we bring in some national and regional acts So our concert series is so much more than just entertainment. It is an economic catalyst for Dauphin County my booking Series our booking philosophy is intentional. So we look at regional and national acts that are going to have customers that travel So last weekend we had the urban guerrilla orchestra from Philadelphia Over 75% of attendees were from Philadelphia. So they have a known group that travels We have this weekend. We have the Reagan years, which is an 80s tribute band that travels all over the mid-atlantic we have marker bearish of OIR and his bands are notorious for traveling all over the United States and We have Boat House Row from Philadelphia. They're coming out in August. We also have Adrenalize. It's a Def Leppard tribute band from the Atlantic region as well. And then we are going to end our summer season with the Reggae Fest in September. So we have a female headliner from Baltimore, Maryland, and then we also have another group coming in from the Philly area. So we attract people who, artists who want to make a weekend of it. We average about 800 to 1,000 guests per concert with conservatively 40% or more staying at least a night or two in a hotel room. So we're looking at about 22 to 2,800 overnight visitors throughout the summer to our local county hotels. our seven larger concert series help fuel the momentum of economic development in dolphin county it's projected to generate between anywhere between 960 000 and nearly 1.2 million dollars in direct visitor spending throughout the county so that's getting people in restaurants uh retailers uh all of our local economy is going to be benefit from our concert series that spans the entire summer so it started last weekend and it's running all the way through september So live music becomes the invitation to get them to Dauphin County, but Dauphin County becomes the destination. So we are looking for a $25,000 investment to upgrade our sound and stage for each of these concerts. So we need a professional sound and stage equipment to attract the acts that are going to bring thousands of people into our county. That single investment will help sustain our event series and generate more than a million dollars in economic impact. It's one of the best investments that we can make in our county. Thank you.

This is for purchase of pro sound and audio, not rental?

We are renting the stage, and then we are bringing in professional sound for each of the concerts. Okay.

The only reason I'm asking is purchase to me would be like year over year benefit. But this is basically rental just for the summer series, correct? I just want to make that distinction. Okay. How much do you spend on marketing issues? I mean, I've heard of your concerts regularly and I don't really know. To be honest, I don't even know how. I mean, even before I was a commissioner, I heard of your concert. So I just think they were out there, friends, people buzzing about it. But I'm sure there was marketing being done that I just didn't even notice.

So we do usually anywhere between 2,000 and 3,000 per concert. It's a combination of social media. We have radio. We have emails that we send out to our email list. So we definitely try to spread the word. And then word of mouth, of course.

You've had some big names there in the past.

We have, yeah. and we're looking to grow so the relationships that we have built so far have been fantastic and we're just looking to grow them mark from oar that's a massive girl he is out on the 27th just saying 27th of this month yeah okay all right yeah and he's bringing michael paris with him

you do a great job yes and if you're a female owner you have to have a female headliner

One of the premises that we try to push for for the the tourism dollars is heads on beds and from the times that I've been there, I literally don't get there till late so have to walk 15 minutes to get to the actual venue, but there's so many cars there and I do take a look at take a look at the license plates and there's folks from Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Ohio in the coming from all over the place.

I think it's very important for us to curate the rates. artist list so we have people who will travel and i think we've done a great job of that well done thank you and congratulations on being the official owner thank you next up peter harrisburg on deck the bird hello hello good afternoon good afternoon thank you for having me

My name is Lorien Mahe. I'm the Executive Director for Theatre Harrisburg, and I'm here today to present our tourism grant application for our historic 100th anniversary season. We treated our entire centennial season not just as a look back at the past, but really as a strategic marketing engine to aggressively pull in regional audiences across county lines and into the heart of Dauphin County. We built this entire milestone season around deep civic roots. So 100 years ago, the women that founded our company met in the basement of the Harrisburg Library. And so we started by partnering with the Dauphin County Library System to present a reading of the first show that we did back in 1926. And then from there, we kicked off our centennial at the King Mansion with a New Year's Eve spectacular birthday party. We anchored Center City Tourism with our production of Guys and Dolls, which was our first musical actually back in the 50s. We collaborated with the historic, the Harrisburg Art Association, forgive me, where we sent art performers to their centennial gala, and then they actually sent plein air painters to our centennial gala, just helping to further break down some of those silos and build some collaborations across the entire county. And then all of this we did while we maintained an economic steady footprint at our home venue at the Krebsky Center up in 6th and Herlock Street. The absolute pinnacle of our centennial celebration, though, happened just a few weekends ago at the Forum Auditorium where we decided to do a large collaboration with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. we united their orchestra with the powerhouse talent of our local community to present bali's in concert this historic collaboration brought 73 different artists and musicians and crew members to work as well as 895 patrons over the two performances We managed to secure more than $50,000 in sponsorships and underwriting from individuals in the community who just really wanted to see this event happen. And we also brought in approximately $34,000 in box office sales. So we ensured that the event could be sustained, that we would be able to support this program. It meant a lot to our organization. um but we essentially took everything that we made and used it to support this event so largely our our ask of support from dolphin county is really helping us to ensure that we are able to move into our 101st season in a strong position great of the 50 000 request how much is for marketing Approximately $8,000 was for marketing. I will say we were lucky in being able to secure some in-kind marketing between billboards and radio, television, online, anything that we could do to basically partner we did.

Great. Do you receive any city support?

We're actually not eligible for city support because we're located on 6th and Hurlock.

Oh, you're in Susquehanna.

Just over that line.

Now that's understood. Yeah. That's the extent of my questions.

I know how hard you work to stay in the community on great ship. So someone continues to find ways to get it accomplished, to be able to support all the

Thank you. I will take a moment and just say, you know, we are very proud of Harrisburg, and we're very proud to have been part of this community for 100 years. And so thank you all for everything you're doing to support all of us as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up is the Berg, and on deck is Township of Dairy Industrial and Commercial Development Authority. Hello. Hello.

Hello, my name is Meg Caruso. I'm the co-founder and executive director of Spock at Neural Works. I'm also the co-owner and creative director for the Berg News, which I'm here representing on behalf of Third in the Berg. Third in the Berg is a monthly community arts and cultural event on the third Friday of every month. We are here because our biggest hurdle is marketing. So Third in the Berg was doing fantastic before the market unfortunately burned down. A lot of the small businesses were experiencing foot traffic. And so we've been putting in a lot of effort to revitalize that. The Berg hired a Third in the Berg coordinator who's been doing social media.

Who is that?

That is Skye Kadzow. C-A-D-Z-O-W. And her first name is Skye, S-K-Y-E. So the footprint of Thurdenberg isn't just midtown, it's also downtown. So if you think of all of the businesses like Plant Witch, Thurdenberg would potentially market to just get more food traffic to these businesses. There's also so many restaurants, there's the Art Museum, there's a lot to offer. And I think, unfortunately, until the market gets rebuilt, that was the original hub. Everybody would come out for music. We need to do our work to support these local businesses. And we have a lot of ideas. So food trucks, music, other events to just bring people in. But if we don't have the marketing dollars, nobody's going to hear about it.

Did Birdenburg start in 2015?

So Third in the Berg has been in existence much longer than 2012.

But it was taken over by the Berg?

Berg adopted.

Okay, awesome.

Because it was a small group of people and they were ready to set it down and the Berg picked it up and has been offering free advertising for it ever since.

The only reason I ask is I moved into the region in 2015, and Third in the Berg was like my introduction to almost all the small businesses in Harrisburg. It truly was. Like, I didn't just pop into small businesses as frequently as I would on a Third in the Berg when there was, you know, it was directing me, go here, go here, go here, see this here, see this here. I mean, I think it exposes locals to small businesses, but also regionally, there's a lot of people who come over for it, so... Is the majority of this budget marketing or what portion?

Yes. Almost the entirety of the budget is marketing.

Okay. That's good.

So that would go towards photography. It would also go towards video. In this day and age, people really respond to video. Yep. And more traditional marketing, so just print ads, brochures. And we need an upgrade to our website.

Do you do a lot of work with VHH? Do you guys partner together for the bird stuff?

Explore.

Explore HBG markets and shares, the third in the burg for sure. And Meg has been part of our art district expansion conversations. But beyond that, VHH has it on the calendar of events as well. OK. Just wanted to make sure.

I don't have any comments other than keep up the great work you've been doing.

Thank you. You always bring a lot of light, including on the sprocket side. and i appreciate um the investment that we make looking over the air street mark and um it being sort of finalized and there has to be some necessity until that is certainly in a time where you make sure

And I'm certain once the market is officially rebuilt, that will become the community hub again. I really miss going and just seeing everybody come out, eating food, listening to music. And I know that the small businesses benefit. So it's just a matter of time. But if we had support from these businesses in the meantime, I think it could be even better. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, Township Dairy, Industrial and Commercial Development Authority and Travel Chances on Deck.

Good afternoon, gentlemen.

Thank you for having us.

Thanks for being here.

Yeah, I just want to do a quick intro. My name is Michael Corrado. I was part of the original committee, hard to believe, going back 20-plus years that did the Hershey New Year's Eve celebration. A small group of us met at the Hershey Public Library, put the group together, and it has really grown into something that we never would have thought of at the time. It's become a regional event. As Mr pre's alluded to, I look at license plates and that evening when I'm in town, and there are a lot of license plates that get called around that should say it called around that are around the area that are in fact attending that event. So. I'll kick it over to Lou for the particulars, but again, thanks for hearing our request.

okay thank you yeah the event really has become the preeminent new year's eve celebration on the east coast we've been we've had usa today mention it as a top 10 family friendly new year's eve celebration in the country so it has really had a lot of accolades It's family friendly. Evening starts with children's music, children's activities, live bands. We have food trucks throughout the evening, kiss rays at midnight, pyro and laser show that has gotten really rave reviews the last couple of years. Obviously, what you all care about is the tourism component. Annually, we have over 10,000 people attend the event. We estimate that at least 50% of those people are out of town based on the license plates, based on when we're talking to people during the day, setting up. The families are downtown trying to figure out where everything's going to happen. We say, where are you from? They say New York, New Jersey. The hard numbers last this past year's event between just the Hotel Hershey and the Hershey Lodge, there were 850 rooms occupied on New Year's Eve. And I don't think a better example could be than we had a band three years ago that was from Scranton. There were 12 members of the band and I worked with one of our sponsorship partners to find 12 rooms that night to put them up. And the closest we could get them was the Harrisburg-Hershey Marriott there by the Target. So after they finished playing at midnight, they still had to pack up and go up to Harrisburg and spend the night because there were no rooms in Hershey. So we'd be happy to answer any questions you have.

Fabulous event. Took my family this past year. My parents were in town. They loved it. It was a good time. If you guys could work on the weather, not make it so cold, that'd be helpful. I mean, I think it's a great family. Like you said, family focused. My kids are now old enough to where, you know, we're not doing the New Year's Eve countdown at nine o'clock on YouTube, you know, and tell them to go to bed. uh we're staying up till midnight and uh and it was a good time staying up with them and to and to be out and uh like i said uh i i thought it was very professionally done well done walk off the street obviously and um it's a unique one-of-a-kind kind of experience if people haven't experienced it before so thank you for all you do i think it spotlights hershey um and you know hershey in its own right is a tourism attraction but i think uh utilizing this holiday to do it uh It's a really good event. Thank you.

Thank you. And obviously, you saw that the restaurants are packed that evening. I mean, it's impossible.

Starbucks was nonstop going all the way.

Yeah, so it does have significant economic impact on the region.

I have to add that you failed to mention year five. You had a young lady play that evening who the next year was an international superstar, and that was? Ariana Grande. Ariana Grande played. Who is this?

She actually, I think, pronounced her last name differently when she was in Hershey. Yeah, when she was in Hershey. Yeah, I remember that. And then shortly thereafter, she became Grande.

That was year five. And the next year, she was? Yeah. How about that person?

Well done, Jim. To you and your team. I think the accolades, one of the best New Year's events. You obviously got national level of recognition, and I've been down there for the last several years. There's a bigger draw on that than that. So if you need to line up the talent, I wouldn't change to there. You don't have a lot of space to do so.

Yeah, we get great reviews on the children's musician, Pollock Serio. She is now, this is, last year was the second year. So now she has a following. A lot of families that come for that early, the bubble wrap stomp. We do that right in front of the stage. Kids love that.

Didn't you have a mom from Michigan whose daughter or son was coming in to propose to his girlfriend at the event and set it all up the week before, I think you were saying. Yeah, we had to deal with some logistics there.

Thank you, Lou. Thank you, Mike. Appreciate this event.

Thank you, guys. Hope to see you that night.

I'm going to borrow some of that hair. Next up is Travel Champs. On deck is Tri-County OIC.

request permission to enter the bench mr boss good to see you two sheets Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is John Hrabowski. My business partner, President, is Joseph Scrignoli. We're the owners of Travel Champs. So what I presented to you was two handouts. The bottom colorful handout is the annual report that we submit to Brooke and I guess to you folks for the use of our funds and what our economic impact is. This afternoon I present the top page. uh this will cut to the chase uh you have been previous supporters and for tourism i've heard a lot of questions on you know what what are you bringing into our our community so i'm pleased to report this is just on last year's uh numbers So we're based in Dauphin County in 2425 season brought in 543 youth hockey teams, 28 adult adult hockey teams, and that events has generated over 43,000 visitors and attendees just to Dauphin County. We had over 10,192 hotel room nights booked in Dauphin County hotels. And more importantly, we brought in over $1.78 million in hotel revenue alone. That's exclusive to any taxes. That's exclusive to any other spending in local restaurants, which you're all familiar with. So we are a for-profit company, but we partner with so many non-profit companies that we offer our services for free, we offer financial sponsorships, and we also do, in some cases, some revenue sharing. So just to highlight a few of the high-profile non-profits, the Troopers Helping Troopers Foundation through the Pennsylvania State Police, the Puck Hog Hockey Foundation, they support the wounded warriors and the veterans for like sled hockey programs. The Rotary Club. So in addition to ice hockey tournaments, we are now expanding into other events such as golf outings for local charities such as Hamilton Health Center, such as the Rotary Clubs. Gem is Angels. Gem is Angels is a dairy township based company that nonprofit that goes out and delivers fruits and vegetables to homeless people, shelters and senior centers. Certainly, we support and are members of the Hummelstown Business and Professional Association, driving business to downtown Hummelstown. We were big supporters of the Hummelstown Criterium over the last few years that they were in Hummelstown. Certainly, we support and brand with the Hershey Jr. Bears, and we really count on your continued support. Tourism Grant allows us to continue attracting out-of-town visitors, to fill the local hotels, dine in local restaurants that you're familiar with, At the same time, it allows us the ability to continue to spend dollars into the nonprofit communities. So in closing, Travel Champs is proud to be a Dauphin County business generating tourism, economic impact, and community benefit, not just for one event, but for the whole entire year. 10K hotel room estates, that's a lot.

How do you track your data?

Great question, sir. So these numbers are given to us right from the hotels, because we are a travel agency, and so we get the hotel pickups right from the hotels. I have no other questions.

is one of your strategies because my kid played travel hockey and baseball and i remember going around and we had an individual in here uh for the big 22 i think or one of them was telling us that i don't know it was the baseball guy the future future uh stars and They would schedule games on Friday night at, like, 8 and then Sunday at 8 a.m. So they had to stay two nights. So you guys use that same strategy?

We don't have enough ice. That happens automatically. So most of our, if not all of them, are minimum two-night hotels. Not required, but it's because they are. That's brilliant, though.

And because the amount of games, our consolation games, are typically played on the last day, guaranteeing teams four games. So it naturally turns into two-night stays. Yeah.

I think you've developed a strategy around maximizing almost the definition of why these dollars should be made to make those investments occur and see additional revenues. I wish we could sort of replicate TRACKING MECHANISM. THE OTHER PROVIDERS ARE JUST TALKING ABOUT LICENSE PLATES. IT WOULD BE GOOD TO SEE HARD DATA THAT TALKS ABOUT WHAT'S INVESTED, WHAT THE CONTRIBUTION IS, AND WHAT YOU'RE ASKING FOR HERE. IT'S THE MINIMUMS RELATED TO THE OVERALL SPEND. SO I THINK IT'S A GREAT, IT'S OBVIOUSLY COMPELLING AND GOOD APPLICATION, AND WE APPRECIATE ALL YOU BRING IN REVENUE TO THE TOURIST DISTRICT.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

THANK YOU GUYS. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

NEXT UP, TRI-COUNTY OIC ON DECK IS TRUE ABUNDANT LIFE COMMUNITY OUTREACH. Is Tri-County OIC present? All right, we'll head right into True Abundant Life. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Thank you, sir.

Again, good afternoon commissioners. Thank you so much for having me. And I also want to say that you're doing an excellent job. Um, if I may add is that I'm a little biased toward the county and Pennsylvania in general. Because I have a 5th generation of the. A great commonwealth of Pennsylvania, my family migrated here. in the late 1840s prior to the Civil War and have such a great rich history right here in Dauphin County. So I am a bit biased. True Abundant Life Community Outreach is a nonprofit social service public charity that has proudly served the public for 11 years with 27 volunteers. Our mission focus on strengthening the mind, body and spirit of everyday person Through multiple programs, resources, mentorship, opportunities, and supportive services, we work to enhance and improve the quality of life for individuals and families across the region. Our annual Health and Education Back to School Prep Fest is a county-driven event that we have successfully hosted for the past three years. Each year the festival welcomes more than 300 visitors from across Dauphin County, Cumberland County, and events from out of state as well, even from out of state as well, individuals. Last year we welcomed families from Mechanicsburg, as close as Mechanicsburg, all the way from North Carolina, Ohio, New Jersey. We're all in town for reunions and other events. And we like to call this a season to add an extra additive on those individuals that are already here and looking for something to do uh here in um dolphin county the festival is completely free to the public and provides a wide range of resources including health screening financial literacy education pennsylvania education institutions community agencies and family supported services even our elected officials many of those uh also attend this event the purpose of the event is to simply yet is simple but yet powerful to ensure that our youth and families are equipped, informed, and supported as they prepare to return to school. We promote healthy living, provide access to local resources, and remind our youth of the importance of staying drug-free and violence-free. Today, I respectfully ask that We partner with True Abundant Life Community Outreach. As we continue to make a meaningful difference in the lives of so many together, we can strengthen families and lift communities and build healthier and safer future for today and for tomorrow. If I can add... is that I recently retired not long ago from local government, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, after 35 years of service. And I will add is that even though Main Street and downtown districts are most popular, we want to help Uh, bring some of the visitors outside of the city. And they get a chance to maybe see the historic Allison Hill and other areas because quality of life is very important. And many visitors may. have considered moving here, but they only know of the downtown area things. So it's very important to also allow them to see other areas of the city. And the Sunshine Park is right in the middle of Uptown and Allison Hill. I had the opportunity to grow up in Uptown Harrisburg and also lived in Allison Hill. I now live out, of course, but I do know that there's so much to see in other areas. And I would often, as a policy specialist for the Commonwealth for 35 years, I would often encourage municipalities to also encourage tourism and encourage guests to see other areas of that municipality, other areas of the city, so that potentially it will ultimately maybe they would like to make that their home. and so at this event we offer many of our financial institutions as well as educational institutions and collaborate with a lot of businesses so that people that are visiting the city of harrisburg on that weekend will see that harrisburg dauphin county specifically have so much more to offer other than Of course, our great downtown and city island, all the most popular things, but we have a lot of history here in. And often county, and as I said, we'd be in the 5th generation, I'm knowledgeable of a lot of that. And if I also can say is that we also. would like to, what we've done in the past three years and this year we are really tackling again as many of the challenges such as perhaps drugs and violence and those sorts of things. So we just want to make sure that we have resources there for everyone so that we can ultimately help enhance the city and the county and make it a wonderful place to stay and visit for future.

Thank you, Mr. Chapman. Do you receive any city funding at all?

We have not. That's the extent of my questions.

Thank you for all you do for the community.

Absolutely. Thank you very much. It's a great event. Hope to be there. Oh, thank you.

Yeah, please send invitations to the commissioners.

Absolutely. And thank you so much, Commissioner, for attending our mental wellness luncheon.

It was a fabulous event.

Yes, and we had so many individuals there from out of state, and hopefully they will come back. We're looking for them to come back on August the 22nd as well. Thanks again. I appreciate your time. Thank you.

We are starting the top of an hour, the three o'clock to four o'clock group. We need a bathroom break. We've been up here for a little over two hours. So we're going to take a quick three to five minute break. Let's get back as soon as we can, guys. And then I'm going to go ahead and level set for everybody really quick before we go to break. We'll call your name. We'll tell you also who's on deck. When you come up, you'll state your name into the microphone, and then your time will start. You'll have three minutes. We're encouraging you, if it's possible, to make it less, even better, just because we might have questions for you or comments or things that we might want clarity on. We know these are passion projects for all of you. You've put a lot of time and energy and effort into this, but we have hundreds of these that we've gone through. It's been a long, last year. This is the third day of it. So we're thankful for, hopefully we can get out of here by four, but we'll see if we go over. We go over. We want to make sure everyone gets the time they need to express their application. And like I said, three minutes, and then we'll have some time for questions, and then we'll wrap. And if you can be as concise as possible in your responses to the questions, that'd be great. We'll be back in just a couple minutes, and we'll get started with this last hour. Thanks. We will begin with the Twin Valley players and Unite Central PA is on deck.

Well, hello there. How are you doing today?

Good to see you all.

I am Twin Valley players today. I'll put that hat on.

I drove up here three days in a row from Millersburg. So, you know, Millersburg is a world away.

Tourism. Well, tourism.

I'm bringing my own tourism into Talbot County. Twin Valley Players, as you know, the colony itself has been around since the 20s. The first movies, like the Little Talkies and the Silent Movies. So it's just a great place. I don't know if you've ever been there, but it has the big C marquee. We're asking for funding for publicity for the Twin Valley Players. Everything's half price of your regular movie theater and theater arts production on this side of the mountain. So it's very affordable. We bring a lot of people. Because of your past support, we sold out the last two years all nine shows. And it's like a Broadway-quality musical, so it costs about $30,000. We are asking for $6,000. That's going to be mainly publicity and posters, social media marketing. So all marketing? All marketing, yes. And, you know, that just keeps this small town of Millersburg thriving. We have people come from all different towns. surrounding um we do have a couple hotels that are uh growing in millersburg so we have the ones in halifax halifax and then you have lincoln's lodge up there by the golf course but just a great place and i know you want me to talk fast so i'm talking fast and it's just a wonderful um theater arts production a lot of kids we don't have any access to the arts especially in the valley so uh so it's in a 25 at least a 25 mile radius so they don't have um transportation or anything so there's places like the colony that have the road show year round and they have their uh big uh summer musical and kids drama camps so they do a lot with a little um as you know with coven theater arts took a big hit especially the movie theater because they were closed and people were uh scared about coming out into the movies but they've really had a full recovery with a Herculean effort from all their volunteers. So just wonderful. Another bright spot, wonderful bright spot in Millersburg. Any questions?

Do you use any metrics to track attendees? Yes, we do.

So we had nearly 1,500 for the summer musical, summer drama camps, kids age 8 to 14. We have... 76 last year not sure this year they're doing signups right now and then for our road show they go out and do their road show for others and i think that was about 300 and something last year do you track where they're from i you know that that's a really good question i don't know i know families come from out of town to see their grandchildren stuff stuff um you know in the theater arts

This year's We Will Rock You. They're doing that. Awesome. I've encouraged many other applicants and any other applicants in the room listening to this just to make sure you're tracking your attendees if you're an event-driven one in the sense of even if you want to work with VHH for what tools exist to do that, to just track like zip codes because for future applications, it can be real good to show the merits of how you're bringing people beyond a 50-mile radius more likely to stay in a hotel.

I'm going to check on that. They might do it because they do a lot of pre-sales, so I'll have to find out if they track the zip codes.

Thank you. Anybody else? I just think it's a wonderful facility. I've had a chance to tour it many times in the past, including the one time Sue Helm was able to generate some funding from the state level, which helped. Yes, I remember that. Thank you.

Thank you.

Unite Central PA. On deck is Valley Flying Discs.

How are you doing?

How are you? Good.

Hello, my name is Claudia Kenya of United Central PA, the founder of a nonprofit organization. We came into existence six years ago. We do a lot of community-based events. We also transitioned to a boxing club, United Central PA Boxing Club, hosted right in Harrisburg. We do eight sanctioned, USA sanctioned boxing tournaments a year. But just last year, we got awarded the Golden Gloves of Pennsylvania, which is a prestigious event 101 years old. It's a nationally-ranking tournament, and also for next year, it's an Olympic qualifying tournament. So next year, whoever wins state will go on to nationals, and they win that. They qualify for Olympic trials in December next year. We had a lot of people coming in from... 167 registration of Central Pennsylvania. We control Central Pennsylvania. We got awarded the Central on Golden Gloves. We also got awarded the State on Pennsylvania Golden Gloves. So our Central brought in people from Allentown, Redding, York, Chambersburg, Palmyra, Lancaster, those at Scranton area, and Wiltshire. Then after that, we had Pennsylvania, the State Championship will be housed at downtown. at Scottish Rite Ballroom where Pittsburgh came and we housed hotels and days then with 12, we had 12 fighters and 20 coaches we housed at hotels. We had over 600 attendees out of town, out of town, out of Harrisburg that came into our city. We just, the funding we got from responses, That's where we got our funding from. So next year, the Olympic qualifiers, we have to pay out to the state about the Golden Gloves. I'm gonna run over the participants how we had it. March 7th, the first Central Golden Gloves, 276. March 14th, 314 participants. Then the championship of Central, we had 344. The state championship, we had 376 where we was cut off because the crowd, they cut us off. We couldn't have no more people in there. So it was all together 1,310 people that came to the Golden Gloves Championships.

Great. This event already occurred, correct? Yes. What was the marketing budget within the 20,000? Our marketing budget was about 1,700.

And we paid Pennsylvania Golden Gloves 12,000 just to host the four events.

What do you have to pay next year since you're doing the Olympic qualifier?

The previous contract we had with them, they talked about $17,000 to $18,000, but there's nothing confirmed yet. We haven't had a meeting.

Have you ever met with the Visit Hershey Harrisburg folks? I connected him with Greg Cook. Oh, great. He came down to my gym. Greg Cook came down to my gym.

He didn't want to help me get the days in.

That's great. That's great. I mean, this is something that puts us on the map to an Olympic qualifier. It's about as big of a deal as you can get.

Yes, sir. So the big thing here, obviously, no, they are not getting Harrisburg money, but we are looking at being able to expand this to be able to get them a bigger gym so that way they can do more. Unite and four of my other nonprofit partners are joining in to be able to do an indoor outdoor field and boxing center for our kids in the area. So we are looking at sites now to be able to bring everybody in and do this in all ways to be able to collaborate between different nonprofits, but also different programs for our kids in the area.

Commissioner Hartman, I'm not sure if you heard him, but he said one of the fighters was from the town adjoining Hershey. Oh, my, I didn't hear anybody coming from Stilton this time.

Well, their actual boxing gym is located right on the outskirts. Right there.

Right there on the outskirts of Stilton, like a block down Stilton.

It's close to, so if you ever want to go down and check it out, it's right next to Dairy Queen.

Dairy Queen, right across the street from Dairy Queen. It's all built exactly where it is. Yes.

Never gone in. Never gone in. They're looking for a punching bag. No, 50-plus fighters.

please invite us next year for this i think all of us commissioners would love to pop in yes give a proclamation for the boxing yes for a tournament like this these are the types of things that like commissioner priest said he'll put us on the map and uh draw people here so thank you both for your commitment to this and i appreciate you and claudia is a u.s olympic boxing coach you know that that's pretty phenomenal he's sending kids out he's leaving tomorrow

Yeah, we're leaving Friday. Yeah, for them. What's it called? Kansas National Championship. So I have one of my girls, the national champ. So she's going to retain the title and hopefully fabulous.

Well, thank you for thank you. Yep. Valley Flying Discs is up and visit Hershey Harrisburg America 250 PA concert series is on deck. Oh, I got pulled. Sorry. My apologies. Flying Discs here. No. Wesley Union, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and then on deck is Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts.

Reverend Miller, how are you, sir?

Good, how about yourself?

Doing good, good to see you.

Good, good.

Hello, Terry. Miss Terry Redmond in the building as well.

Good afternoon, everyone. I heard that the time got cut back from five minutes down to three minutes. You look like you could box. OK, I'm just saying I'll reclaim my time. But this joke is joking. I am Reverend Dr. David T. Miller, pastor of the Wesleyan Design Church, which is the oldest African-American church here in the great city of capital city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Our request has been put in because we needed some work done at our church that being a new roof. Two roofs that have been damaged over time and work needs to be done on those. Our church itself is definitely out there in the community, not in the community, but also nationally and globally. Being the oldest African American church in the city, we acquire individuals to come in to check out our church. And while they come to our church, they can have a chance to sit down in the Frederick Douglass Church. Our church was founded in 1816, and Frederick Douglass actually came and spoke at Western Union Design Church, and the very chair that he sat in is still on the premises. We've had W.E.B. Du Bois also come and speak for our Men's Day, and there's also a marker downtown Harrisburg right outside the Capitol commemorating the time when W.E.B. Du Bois came, when Frederick Douglass came through and spoke. Throughout the past couple of years, as you've seen, you know, Wesley Union has been very active in the community. And we have blessed the community because we're not just a church in the community, we are a church for the community. Just last year, we gave out over 4,000 items and we paid over 300 people on our annual community day. We use local businesses, that is food trucks and vendors to come in to serve the community. All the expense is taken care of by Wesley Union. we don't charge anyone anything at all for the food because we know it's a time of need and of course in the past we thank the county commissioners you also helped and made a donation to help do that as well it's truly a blessing in the community an upcoming year we're celebrating 210 years and during this time period we have a lot of events coming into the city Our Mid-Atlantic Episcopal District, which spans over Virginia, Ohio, St. Vincent's, Guyana, Barbados, we bring people in from all over the country. During that event, it's about 800 registrants, so hotels will be utilized. We have a checkup meeting, which encompasses the Baltimore Conference, which includes the Maryland Eastern Shore, which brings roughly about 300 people down into the city to give our report on the activities of our church in the local area. We've had other denominations contact our church to want to host meetings at our church as well. So there's even more business and tourism coming into the city, being a part of Western Union Ames Zion Church and boosting the economy here, whether it be hotel, food, because we use all local businesses and caterers in the work in which we do, because we believe in pouring back into the community and not just taking from it. Yeah, that's it.

Thank you. Any questions?

should we get funded we do have a presence virtually on on to attract tourism and should we get funded we will we're committed I'm a member of the trustee board so we're committed to doing annual maintenance on the church to preserve the investment that's been made um and we can also participate uh there's a South Central African-American Historical Society so and there's bus tours available there's black bus churches available um there's a vast history here not only with our church but others and we can participate in that as well so We can have a comprehensive approach to really leverage the traditional way which a church contributes towards us.

If I could 1st of all, you know, I never want to say no to whoever. You are somebody who I'm grateful for a relationship and all that you do for the community, but in providing direct feedback, this may be an opportunity for a different level of funding other than tourism. I think the idea of doing bricks and mortar work. for churches usually I think over the past and historically we've attempted to try to redirect towards CDBG the community development block grant program now you are located in the city limits and there are ways to a formula that we might be able to be a participant with the city in assisting you in that endeavor if you could on the way out we want to figure out a way to assist you in trying to get the historic church fixed up but if you could talk to staff from economic development and maybe arrange for a follow-up meeting that we can figure out a game plan in order to try to help provide support. I just don't think tourism from the perspective and its intent from the legislation may be the appropriate source of funding.

Okay. Is any portion of your grant request of the $100,000 not for facility repairs? None is for outside of facility repairs, no. It's all facility repairs? Yeah.

Okay.

But I think commissioner Hartwick is is accurate and, you know, we've had close to 10Million dollars of requests. We have just about 2Million to grant. And. there i think there's other funding streams where this could be pulled from so i think if we can explore that how we can aid in this effort i certainly agree that it's really important that we preserve these historic you know landmarks that's what they are they're landmarks and i do think they have a tourism aspect don't get me wrong because people will come for for these um But I think in this particular grant, it's really emphasizing hotel stays. And I think that's given the amount of people who have applied, given the challenge we have. I think if we can try to open up another funding stream to see if it's possible for you, that's probably going to be the best path forward.

How much are you looking for for the actual 210th year anniversary celebration?

And the food truck event that you do every year. Okay. Those are things that may be things that qualify for tourism.

Okay. Your question again?

I'm sorry. How much are you looking for for the 210th year anniversary celebration that's going to draw in?

Oh, the amount we were looking for was approximately $100,000. That was two roofs that we had being repaired. One of them, there's an air conditioner. You have to remove the air conditioner to replace the roof. And so that was all added to that. And then the portion that was going to be coming in, it comes as far as utilizing the local caterers, food trucks and whatnot, come in to help serve. But by all means, if there's other avenues or something else that you would look at for us that we very much appreciate, or you've got a couple dollars on the side, you can say, hey, what about this?

By all means, we'll take that. I get the roof part. We're going to figure out a way to take it. And that's where we want you to get to connect to economic development because there are other sources of income. I mean, if you were just coming in here, not about the roof, just about the 210th anniversary celebration, what specific amount of money were you looking for for that?

Because that's going to draw people in here. Okay, excellent. Well, of that, if we got about $25,000, $25,000 to $50,000, that's a range in between because we're expecting individuals to come in for that great celebration. Anytime a historic African-American church, any church, can celebrate years of existence, being an active church in the community. and not just a museum with a curator then that is a plus especially with all the working hours thank you next up is the whittaker center on deck is world affairs council of harrisburg hello hello how you doing it's just community awards yeah

Whenever you're ready for the reset there.

Oh, okay. Well, good afternoon, and thank you, Commissioners and Sharon, for your time and consideration today.

See you, Linda Kammack.

On behalf of my nonprofit applicant colleagues, and with all due respect to our for-profit applicant colleagues, we truly understand the challenges of stretching a $2 million budget to $9 million in expenses. We nonprofits face that challenge every day and appreciate any level of support you deem appropriate. We currently do not receive any grant funding from the City of Harrisburg and look forward to pursuing that in the future. Entering our 27th year as the hub for arts, science, culture, and education in our capital city, while serving guests from 31 counties surrounding our home zip code in multiple states, Whitaker Center continues to be a destination of choice. Our original application was in support of our annual Art of Science Benefit Gala, anticipating a global talent gracing the stage in the Sunoco Theater. With booking conflict, we have pivoted and are asking for support of the following initiative. Holiday happenings in Harrisburg, a holiday season event series over the course of the final six weeks of the calendar year, where we will host four community events and add three additional open to the public days between the Christmas and New Year break when family and friends travel in to visit. Grant funds will support marketing efforts to attract tourism into the city through Whitaker Center-boosted social media, website marketing and emails to our more than 40,000 recipients, ads in the Berg, PennLive, as well as working with our partners, VHH and the Chamber, on their websites, and our investment in digital billboards, which include I-83, I-81, 322, 283, I-76, and a digital panel in the Lancaster Convention Center. Our cumulative expectation is more than 800,000 weekly impressions from the digital billboard investment. Funds will also support limited general operating expenses to host these events, such as supplies and working with local vendor support. Matching funds to this grant have been secured through corporate sponsor dollars from energy transfer. Whitaker Center also partners with other Dauphin County businesses, such as the Hilton and the Crown for rooms, Harris Town for cross-event marketing, local caterers and vendors to support our events, as well as working with Crescent Strategies, a local woman-owned business for booking and marketing. Whitaker Center draws guests from across the Commonwealth, 16 other states, and even saw some cross the border from Canada last year. A recent post on LinkedIn from a guest sums up better than my words could on why investment in Whitaker Center is a crucial component to driving economic growth and tourism for downtown Harrisburg. the whitaker center is fantastic my kids were fully engaged the entire time and gave the best feedback when we left that was a success and that was so much fun from all the interactions to the high-tech gaming lab and so much more we cannot recommend this discovery experience enough for families you said no grant funding from the city of harrisburg any other funding from the city no

How much of your 50k requested marketing 20 I Just I'll come out and say we've asked everybody about city of Harrisburg funding when it comes to tourism I really can understand Harrisburg funding on this big given that you're a staple in the city Yeah

Just thank you for your leadership commitment and trying to stable the ship at the Whitaker Center. I know it's not been easy and appreciate all you do to keep that regional tourism asset continue operational.

Thank you. We stay open for business and last year saw almost 100,000 unique new visitors cross our doors and we're already trending up 10% from that this year, year to date. So we're open for business and we're bringing people in.

Great. Thank you, Mary.

So much.

Next up is World Affairs Council of Harrisburg. Yokels on deck. Did you go?

Jennifer, help me correct. Thank you. How you doing?

Good afternoon, commissioners, chairman, and staff. My name is Cole Goodman, and I am the founder and head coach of Journey FC. Journey FC is a Harrisburg-based soccer club that uses sports as a vehicle for cultural exchange, international engagement, and community development. This August, our team will travel to China in partnership with the World Affairs Council of Harrisburg and Dino International for an international cultural exchange and soccer competition. Our roster includes former HACS student athletes, current college students, recent graduates of John Harris High School, and young adults throughout the Harrisburg region. As we build relationships in China, our objective is to bring delegations, sports, and government, youth teams, coaches, students, families, and cultural exchange groups to Dauphin County. We also envision hosting international soccer tournaments as soon as next year and exchange events that would bring visiting teams to our community from abroad. those visitors would stay in our hotels eat in our restaurants commissioner hartwick will make sure to get them to passerante and steelton visit local attractions utilize athletic facilities and support businesses throughout dauphin county beyond the immediate tourism impact these exchanges create lasting relationships that encourage future visits educational partnerships and continued engagement with our region we believe that dauphin county is uniquely positioned to become a destination for international soccer for international soccer and as we see this month how popular the sport is um before um if you'll indulge me before uh you have any questions i have two of our players that would like to speak to you if that's okay Good afternoon, Commissioners.

Good afternoon. Welcome. My name is Patrick Dutetsky. I grew up around this area my whole life, playing soccer from when I could walk, basically. I played in Penn State Harrisburg my whole career, graduated there. So being able to take soccer outside of Harrisburg into another country, traveling so much myself is really cool and being able to see the diversity, but also play with people that you could never see. so i think it's really awesome it's able to be brought from harrisburg specifically being the first team on the east coast as far as i know to go to china and represent harrisburg in this region it's where you're from uh this whole area i was born in mechanicsburg but i grew up on this side of the river for most of it where you go to high school uh cumberland valley okay well

Hello commissioners, my name is Tyra Gallatin. Um, I am also from the area actually represent the school. Um, my family has also been here. We're actually a few generations back. My great grandfather was 1 of the 1st cobblers, 2 cobblers in Harrisburg. Um, I. I started playing soccer behind 7th and Schuylkill, actually on that field right behind there. Cannot tell you what the team was, but I do know that that definitely influenced me for the rest of my life. Definitely taught me about being a team and having a cohesive vision for the future. I honestly can't really explain how grateful I am to have the experience to actually go to China and be able to share my culture and experience other people's cultures. But Yeah, I honestly can't wait to bring my own district out to China. Thank you.

Thank you. And commissioners, I'd like to be clear, as great as it is that we are going to China, we already have soccer teams, businesses in China that want to contribute to an international soccer tournament here. And since we are partnered with Central Penn and HACC and other colleges, we'll have the field, and we'd love for the commissioners to come and maybe throw the opening ball.

the 64 200 request will be allocated to cover expenses lodging transportation catering venue rental admission fees to this trip so most of these uh expenses are going um overseas correct

I would say about half would be going overseas and the other half would be for us to prepare for the international soccer tournament here in Dauphin County. And then everyone that would be coming here would be contributing to the economy by staying in our hotels, by eating at our restaurants and being throughout Dauphin County. And we will also be bringing them to places like Hershey and others to educate them on Dauphin County. Okay.

When's the date for the trip? We will be leaving August 2nd. Do you have a date for the event that would take this year?

We are looking for that either to take place in the fall or early next year. We're still working with the Chinese businesses on their schedule.

think i think the challenge for me i understand the concept of supporting going because but i think just on tourism we're trying to drive money to our i understand going there But I think the support of bringing it here, I can see. The hard thing is, it's like, you know, last year, tourism sent something.

Yeah, yeah. And I can understand that.

It's our tourism money that's supposed to drive. Because just so the public's aware, our tourism money comes from hotel stays. A portion of hotel stays bring tourism money into... you know so we we want to look at this money going out as what you know hotel stays are we able to generate with it i do understand conceptually what you're saying though it's a partnership that you're building that hopefully over time would build that hotel hotel revenue and i'm not doubting the vision for it i'm just wondering if we're able to support on the you know scent that's just just what i'm looking at here but um

And Commissioner, just on what you just said, if I may, I think that Dino International and the World Affairs Council would be incredibly flexible to if this money weren't to go towards sending, but would go towards us planning the international soccer tournament in Dauphin County. I think that as you deem fit as commissioners.

How many teams do you anticipate playing here next year?

We're looking at bringing over five to six. Five to six teams? How many people are on a team? Five to six teams. That would probably be a 23-man roster per team, plus their coaches, plus their staff, plus their families coming over as well, and plus...

the college is bringing any other staff that they would like to as well so now you're up to close to 200 people coming in for these staying at our hotels how many nights would this tournament take place this would be 12 days well now you're now you're adding up significant numbers which we would benefit from, plus they would eat here. Now, where would this take place at? Which fields are you considering having these at?

So since we partnered with Central Penn, we would play at City Island Soccer Field, where Capital City Islanders play. So it will take place there. But I would like to also have the fields throughout Dauphin County be used as practice facilities for the teams that come over. So Sunshine Park, the new J.P. Dorsey field that was just put up in Pembroke, that would be the vision there as well. Do you have all this in the pipeline ready to go or is this just right here right now? The only thing that I don't have in the pipeline is the JP Dorsey. I have not reached out to him just to be completely transparent and honest. But everything with central pen has been cemented and they have said that they would be up for this.

I mean, we talk about how cool it would be, how cool it will be to have the Olympic qualifier here. You talk about bringing the folks in from another country for an international tournament. I'm liking that now. i met i don't know if my colleagues did i think i think piercer doug maybe christopher hartwick did but i met with the chinese delegation when they were here this last time and they talked about setting up a sister county in china and i know they sent an email to george connor who's former director but i don't know what the what occurred from that uh to chat with him but know they reached out to us about setting up dolphin county here and a particular county in china and having uh exchanges that way too which i thought was pretty cool so look forward to the continued conversation there and we'd love to help support that any way that it could happen

I mean, I do think it's – I just want to be very clear. I'm not critical of the concept. It's a very good concept. You can draw international travel here because international travel here, you're not going to travel from China to here for two days. You know what I mean? You're going to be here for a while. You're going to go to Hershey Park. You're going to see the region. It's a 12-day event. That's what I'm saying, a 12-day event. You're going to experience Dolphin County. And I do think partnering with sports – authority at VHH would be really wise to just kind of see how this lines up with other things that are in town for that time, or if you don't have a date specifically yet, making sure we target a proper date. I don't know if you want to speak to that at all.

Well, I just want to speak to the fact that VHH does work with World Affairs Council. We did work with Joyce to bring in the young Asian diplomat group. She did talk to me about this initiative, and we too see the future advantage to this. Um, we think that, you know, again, just introducing more people, you know, getting them over there. It's part of the relationship building. We did have a Chinese delegate in just a few weeks ago. Um, we were able to, you know, they were able to see chocolate world, some of the Hershey attractions, Hershey story, that type of thing. So it's just another step in building those relationships and making sure that they understand, you know, we're a very welcoming community. We want international travelers to come here. We had provided some translated pieces. And so, yes, we are working with Lord Affairs and we look forward to continuing that.

Thank you all so much. Thank you. All right. We have Yokel and then we have Zeta Phi Beta Sorority.

thank you all here's an organization that has has and does think outside the box coming up with new ideas and promoting themselves i i see on facebook and expert marketer

I have felt your guys' support so much. It's been fun and it is a passion project and I'm grateful for all of it and appreciate the encouragement. So thank you. And Sharon, especially, with RG Harrisburg has been more than, we have like monthly check-ins and I just learned so much from them. uh hershey law starting to reach out now all the time with their meeting planners there so and we're bringing in um something i never anticipated i thought this was just going to be like another offering for

Could I just ask first of all, I want to see you do this standing up, but you should do this being televised. So, folks who are at home may not be able they may not be able to hear the great things that you're talking about here. So I apologize.

I don't have much to say. I just wanted to say, thank you.

You were talking about a new initiative, the Hershey Lodge.

Hershey Lodge, I never thought we could. So my trolley only holds 28 people. And I'm getting calls now for 50 and 80 people. So I do split rotation tours so we can handle more people. I'm renting a motor coach later in the year. So it's just expanding, and now I'm getting people from all over the state, all over the region, and anticipating really being able to help with the overnight stays.

I think you're an example of somebody who's come with a genuine idea, passion, not, you know, all of the other accompaniments and are looking and seeking sort of to build relationships and to seek out opportunities to be able to support a business. I think you're an example of how a small business who has sort of a vision and the right partnerships rather than, you know, and also listening and following and building those kind of partnerships can really benefit from that kind of strategic plan.

Thank you. And, you know, you met with me over Zoom. Commissioner Douglas brought his whole staff outside to see the trolley. Commissioner Priest and I have met over coffee. Again, I just appreciate it. I feel so much support.

I toured the trolley. You weren't there. But I went in when it was outside St. Joan. I helped myself.

Well, that's why we were there. That's now part of the report. Do you guys have any questions for me?

I just want to say one thing. You applied to gaming last year, I believe. Yes. And I told you I wasn't going to be able to support it because I wasn't supporting for-profit. But I really encouraged you to apply for tourism. And now you have. And I'm... I'm just going to go out and say I'm going to be supportive of this as one commissioner just because I think there's a couple of things that are really important that people understand about your application. One, you are tourism. This is tourism. The tourism magnet. It's enhancing Hershey, giving opportunity for small businesses as well. For tourists that are maybe already here, they're not necessarily maybe just coming for the trolley, but when they're here, it's something they can do that gives them a great experience that makes them want to come back. But the other thing I want to say is a lot of people have an idea for something that they want to do. And they're like, well, if I secure grant funding, I'll do it. You're you jumped out to do it and you were like, I'm going to do this and I'm going to leverage everything. I'm sure it's a risk for you. And and I just appreciate that. I appreciate the hustle. I appreciate the effort. I appreciate the fact that you had a vision for something and you, you know, you leveraged everything. your own funds, you know, to get this off the ground. And I think us come alongside and supporting. I've already seen the good that you've done. I've talked to many people who have been who have been on the tours. It has great potential to grow, even be more than one trolley. Who knows what the future holds? But I just I appreciate your effort. And I also appreciate your patience and your understanding that through the gaming process and to take the advice to apply for this. So thank you.

I mean, you said that to me and I, again, like he remembers something he said to me a year ago. Awesome. Thank you.

my staff really loved the uh love the trolley we love love seeing it okay thank you for bringing it down here to show this right here in downtown harrisburg you brought it just kind of walk through any ideas you guys have anything i can do for you like we'll collaborate thank you appreciate it all right next up zeta phi beta sorority and then dolphin county edc on deck no i was gonna say i don't think you i didn't i didn't think we were doing I just saw you both sitting there and I was like, are we? I thought we had pulled it. They're here. Yeah.

You mean costing the general fund.

Costing the general fund. That's what they all know. We've got to figure out how to do it in the budget.

Good afternoon, commissioners. Good afternoon. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to present our request for funding support for the Lisa M. Waller Striving for Excellence Scholarship and Final Womanhood Celebration. My name is Regan Nowlin. I'm the president of the new Sigma Zeta chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated. And on behalf of our members, community partners, scholarship recipients, family, and families, I appreciate the opportunity to share how this event positively impacts students, families, local businesses, and the overall economic vitality of Dauphin County. The Lisa M. Waller Striving for Excellence Scholarship was established 19 years ago to honor the life and legacy of a remarkable educator, mentor, and community leader who has deeply believed in the power of education, service, and leadership. Through this annual event, we continue her legacy by recognizing outstanding students who have demonstrated academic achievement, leadership, community service, and a commitment to excellence. While the scholarship and recognition components are a heart of the program, the impact extends far beyond a single day of celebration. Each year, the event attracts more than 350 attendees. including students, families, sorority members, elected officials, business leaders, educators, and community supporters. And many of these guests travel from across Pennsylvania and surrounding states to attend. As a result, the event serves both as a scholarship initiative and a tourism generating opportunity that brings new visitors and economic activity into Dauphin County. To accommodate attendees traveling from outside the area, hotel room blocks are sold out and secured and sold out for the event venue with additional guests utilizing nearby lodging properties throughout the county. Visitors also dine at local restaurants, purchase fuel shop at local retailers, and support other small businesses during their stay. The economic impact created by these visitors benefits our hospitality industry and local business community while showcasing Dauphin County as a welcoming destination for conferences, celebrations, and community events. Many of our guests extend their visits to explore local attractions, amenities, and patronize area businesses. It's a great experience to showcase the cultural and recreational amenities to make Dauphin County a great place to live, work, and visit. Our request aligns closely with Dauphin County's commitment to education, workforce development, community engagement, economic growth, and quality of life initiatives. Thank you for your service and your consideration, and I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Right on time. What venue will you have this event at?

Well, this year, well, in 2027, it will be at the Best Western. The past three years, we've had it at the Sheraton Hotel Hershey.

When you say this year, did this event already happen for the request? Because we have some people, just because of how long the tour is, when does it happen?

The next one will be February 27th.

Okay. Is this funding for the 27th one, or is this back funding for the 26th? It doesn't matter.

This is for the 27th event. For the 27th event, yes. Okay, okay.

And... How many, you said you secure a block and it sells out. How many hotels stays roughly? How many rooms?

One to two days, about 15 rooms.

Okay. So about 30 hotel stays probably. Okay. Do you receive any, well, it's not, it's not in the city limits, is it?

No, sir.

That's the extent of my question.

Excellent.

Thank you. Thank you.

and you can all expect an invitation.

The last shall be first and the first shall be last.

Absolutely. Absolutely. We will definitely invite you all. George Harwood used to be a supporter of ours back in the days, but he kind of, you know, got lax. So I just want to make sure that you are there this year and supporting us against this.

since you have publicly challenged me you know i'll be there okay thank you and you'll have my personal support 20 years we need a proclamation so yes ask for a proclamation from the commissioners we'd love to get you a proclamation most definitely

Just for the purpose of consistency, in this hour, we did not have the Valley Flying Discs.

Is the Valley Flying Discs present? Nope. All right, we're good to go.

And that concludes our tourism hearings.