The Lake County Visitors Bureau is gearing up for the total solar eclipse on April 8 by offering grants to members of the bureau who host eclipse-related events on and around the day of the eclipse.
“For the eclipse, we know there's going to be a lot of visitors from out of town that day,” said Neil Stein, Executive Director of the Lake County Visitors Bureau. So, we came up with this idea last year, actually, and kind of rolled up that with all the details recently.”
Members of the bureau who host an event on Monday, April 8, the day of the eclipse, can apply for a $500 grant for their event. Members who host a multi-day event before and/or during the day of the eclipse can apply for a grant of up to $1,000.
Click here for more information and to apply for the grant.
The visitor's bureau has budgeted a total of $10,000 for the program, Stein said.
“We want people to have things to do if they're in town early, maybe do an event centered around the eclipse,” Stein said. “It’s going to be different if it's a winery or a park or something like that. We put together this idea to try to incentivize people and give a little bit of money out there to these multi-day events or even events on that day.”
The only restriction is that the business or organization hosting the event must be a member of the Lake County Visitors Bureau, Stein said. The bureau functions like a chamber of commerce, and the roughly 125 current members are mostly in the travel and tourism industry, Stein said. Memberships for the bureau are very inexpensive, he said.
Stein added that he hopes these eclipse events spur watchers to return to Lake County.
“We'd love for people to come back and visit during the summer, fall, any other time, a year from now, to kind of see a little bit of everything else here in Lake County,” Stein said.
They rolled the program out recently and have gotten a couple of applications so far, but Stein said they will be promoting the program and even encouraging those who already have events planned to apply.
“If someone is already planning on hosting an event, they would be able to apply for this grant and get some extra money for it,” he said. “For a few extra bucks, maybe they can spice it up, decorate a little bit better, buy eclipse classes, different things like that.”
Stein said that there are already a number of events planned around the county, including a big viewing event being hosted by the Department of Natural Resources at Headlands Beach State Park, an event at Holden Arboretum, an event at the City of Mentor’s amphitheater and a viewing party at the Lake County Captains Stadium in East Lake.
He also said that he expects some of the area’s 12 wineries to host events as well.
“We do know of a handful of bigger events that are happening. “As soon as we hear about these events, we'll post them on our website,” he said.
The website for eclipse events in Lake County is mylakeoh.com/eclipse.
Events will also be added to News 5’s list of eclipse events here.
