Some Disagreement on LG Council As Tourism Grant Funds Awarded

The La Grange City Council approved quarterly tourism grants with a 6-2 split vote on Monday, Dec. 13.

Four local groups requested funding this quarter:

• The Bugle Boy Foundation requested $10,000 for operating support.

• The Best Little Cowboy Gathering in Texas requested $8,500 to advertise their 11th annual event on March 10-12.

• The Texas Quilt Museum requested $2,500 to be used for online ads next year.

• Czech Heritage and Cultural Center requested $2,500 to advertise the Texas Blacksmith Conference and Texas Antique Gas Engine Reunion, to be help on Jan 28-29.

• Frisch Auf! Valley Country Club requested $6,900 for course improvements.

The tourism committee recommended funding all the requests with the exception of the one from Frisch Auf.

Frisch Auf said the funds would be used to improve access to green no. 1 on the golf course.

“While the facility may be used by a number of out of town guests, the request does not fall with the approved uses of hotel/motel funding,” the Tourism Committee wrote in a report to the Council.

Council members Dusty Littrell and Chris Jernigan cast the two dissenting votes. Both said they disagreed with the Tourism Committee’s recommendation to deny funding to Frisch Auf! Country Club.

“Whether I’m for or against what Frisch Auf is asking for, I do feel like a golf course puts heads in beds,” Littrell said after the meeting. “There may be other criteria that it doesn’t meet, and that may be the case. But I know people who have come just to play golf here and stayed in hotels.”

“We have tournaments here that bring people from out of town,” Jernigan said after the meeting.

The City’s tourism funds come from hotel occupancy taxes collected by the City. State law states that funds “may be used only to promote tourism and the convention and hotel industry.” In addition, the law stipulates nine categories of activities that the funds may be used for.

The nine categories of authorized uses include the following:

1) Funding the establishment, improvement, or maintenance of a convention center or visitor information center.

2) Paying the administrative costs for facilitating convention registration.

3) Paying for advertising, solicitations, and promotions that attract tourists and convention delegates to the city or its vicinity.

4) Expenditures that promote the arts.

5) Funding historical restoration or preservation programs.

6) Funding certain expenses, including promotional expenses, directly related to a sporting event within counties with a population of under 1 million.

7) Funding the enhancement or upgrading of existing sports facilities or sports fields owned by certain municipalities.

8) Funding transportation systems for tourists

9) Signage directing tourists to sights and attractions that are visited frequently by hotel guests in the municipality.

Of the nine, Frisch Auf’s request comes closest to meeting categories six or seven. Category six, however, refers to spending for specific sporting events. The state law sets various population requirements for category seven, and La Grange does not appear to qualify. Moreover, for category seven to apply, the City would have to own the golf course.

In an interview after the meeting, Jernigan also questioned the Tourism Committee’s recommendation to award $10,000 to The Bugle Boy Foundation despite the non-profit music venue’s long closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bugle Boy reopened to in-person seating for live concerts in September. Before that, the venue had shut its doors to the public and offered only live streamed concerts since March 2020.

The City awarded a $10,000 tourism grant to Bugle Boy last December as well, during the time when the venue was closed to the public.

“Even when we were closed, we were webcasting to viewers nationwide and internationally,” said Bugle Boy Operations Director Heather Allbright in an interview with the Record Wednesday morning.. “We’ve proved in the past it brought people to La Grange. Yes we were closed, but we do bring in lots of tourists from around the world.

“We know specifically of people from Germany and Australia who have come to La Grange after seeing us online,” she added.

In addition, Allbright said The Bugle Boy was recently named one of the top music venues in the U.S. by the travel blog Tripsavvy.

The City of La Grange’s Tourism Grant Fund balance stands at $312,042 following the allocations awarded on Monday.