by Edie Flanagin
WALSENBURG- The Huerfano County Tourism Board met with a full agenda on February 12, 2010. Chair Debra Malone started the meeting by introducing a letter, which all members signed, in support of keeping Grandote Golf course open. Another letter was proposed for signing supporting the proposed development at Cucharas. The members of the board discussed the letter and decided it would be better to wait until more information was available before signing. John Galusha, county administrator, gave a short report on the proposed development. He said that the developers received the go ahead from the water commissioners to build a five acre storage lake above the ski area for snow making and city water storage. Further details will be available in the coming months. Mr. Galusha gave a report on expenditures ($8488) and revenues($635) for January, explaining it is normal for higher expenses in January than revenues.
Also on the agenda were the finalization of the advertising in various publications for the year. The board approved ads in AAA magazine, San Luis Valley Vacation Guide, Audubon Society Magazine, and Signature Summer guide.
Copies of five grant applications received by meeting time were distributed to the members for review, and the board received four more applications by the 4 pm deadline. A special meeting is scheduled for 8:30 am on Thursday at Sammie’s in La Veta to go over all the grant requests.
A short report from Edie Flanagin on Agritourism (see related article) and a report from Carolyn Newman on Heritage Tourism wound up the meeting.
The next regular meeting of the Tourism Board is scheduled for March 5, at noon at the Courthouse.
