Arann Banks, executive director of the Jackson County Visitor Center, said they get asks from many local organizations for various amounts of funding, but very seldom do they get asked for the entire amount when it comes to their $20,000 developmental grant.
“This time, almost every single one of the six different organizations asked for about all of the grant because they all have big projects,” Banks said. “I think it’s a sign of the times, as there’s a lot going on out there. Plus, the expense of what people are doing has gone up so much.”
Ultimately, it was decided the entirety of the $20,000 grant should go to Brownstown Ewing Main Street for its revival of the Jackson County Watermelon Festival coming up in 2023.
The grant committee had narrowed the pool of applicants down to the six, and after some discussion, they realized giving each one of the organizations a small portion of the grant wouldn’t be impactful at all, she said.
“What they’ve (grant committee) done in the past is kind of look at everything and right away pull out the ones they know are immediately eligible,” Banks said. “They go through the applications for various reasons and figure out who is eligible. Then they go through and try to figure out who’s truly a tourism partner.”
She said the fall developmental grant is different from the visitor center’s promotional grant in that they really want the developmental grant to have more of a tourism focus.
“A lot of times, if they’re asking us for $20,000, their project is more than $40,000 because they have to have a match,” Banks said. “So if it’s more than a $40,000 project and we give them $3,000 to $5,000, it’s not going to be enough of an impact. I mean, it helps and they’re thankful, but what’s impactful is if they make a decision, like most grant committees do, and pick the organization that will have the most impact.”
She said that’s what the board did this time, and even though all of the applicants’ projects were grant-worthy and were great projects for Jackson County, with Brownstown’s project, they could count more heads, and that’s what they ultimately have to look at.
”We really appreciate the work all of the organizations do to make our community strong, even if it’s a fundraiser, because if their organization is strong, our county is strong,” Banks said.
The $20,000 grant check will be presented to Conner Barnette during the next board meeting at the Jackson County Visitor Center in Seymour.
Barnette, vice chairman of Brownstown Ewing Main Street and chairman of the Jackson County Watermelon Festival, said they initially began working on the grant application in late September as they finalized details and had a good idea of what it was going to take financially to put on the festival and do it right.
“Brownstown Ewing Main Street in conjunction with our amazing community partners are reviving the beloved Jackson County Watermelon Festival in 2023,” Barnette said. “Kicking off with a two-day music festival — Rock The Rind — the historic courthouse square will be packed with amazing eats, refreshing beverages, vendors, kid activities and of course, all things watermelon.”
He said it’s their goal to make the Jackson County Watermelon Festival something not only Jackson County looks forward to but the state of Indiana looks forward to every August.
“We couldn’t be more thankful to the visitor center, Arann and her board of directors for presenting this opportunity to the community,” Barnette said. “We’ve had a very strong relationship with the visitor center for years and have seen this developmental grant make a huge impact on so many great organizations and projects in Jackson County.”
He said it was fulfilling after all of the hard work the Brownstown Ewing Main Street board has put into the project for others to see the potential and buy-in to what they were doing.
“The community support surrounding the return of the Watermelon Festival has been overwhelming, and the support of the visitor center and this grant opportunity helps assure it comes back in a really big way,” Barnette said.
He said resurrecting a festival that hasn’t been around in years takes a lot of work and a lot of zeros.
“From updating infrastructure and crowd control to sound, lighting and promotion, it has taken a fairly significant amount of our budget to even get to the point where we were able to host the festival,” Barnette said. “Being awarded these funds allows us to recoup some of that expense, which will be used to bring regional and national touring acts to the festival, headlining Rock the Rind. We’re going to have a lot fun.”
The festival is worth celebrating, so they are going to celebrate it in a big way, he said.
“We will continue to release information on social media and our website through the end of the year, including the 2023 Rock the Rind lineup,” he said. “Everyone can stay up to date on the latest (festival) happenings and announcements by following us on Facebook or checking in on our website at jcwatermelonfestival.com.”