Chamber Amplified

Planning 2026 Events? How CVB Grants Can Help You Get There

• Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce

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As organizations across Findlay and Hancock County start planning for 2026, many are looking for ways to grow events, attract visitors, and create a bigger impact - all without stretching their budgets.

In this episode of Chamber Amplified from the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce, Doug Jenkins is joined by Alissa Preston from Visit Findlay and the Convention & Visitors Bureau to break down the tourism grant programs available to local nonprofits, event organizers, and community groups.

They discuss:

  • The different CVB grant programs available - from marketing support to tournament and tourism development funding
  • What’s changing for 2026, including application timelines and new limits
  • How tournaments, festivals, and special events drive overnight stays and local economic impact
  • How organizations can align events with America 250 celebrations
  • Updates to the new Visit Findlay website and event calendar, and how businesses can benefit from free listings

If you’re planning a tournament, launching a new event, or looking to grow something that brings people into the community, this episode offers practical guidance on how to get started - and how to tap into resources already available right here in Hancock County.

Chamber Amplified is a weekly podcast from the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce, featuring conversations with local leaders, organizations, and partners about business growth, workforce development, and what’s happening across our community.

Music and sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Doug Jenkins:

Hello everyone and welcome back to Chamber Amplified, brought to you by the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. I'm your host, Doug Jenkins. Each week on the podcast, we're talking about the things that matter the most to local businesses and organizations, whether that's workforce and leadership development, marketing, events, and the everyday realities of running something that serves the community. This week we're closing out the year by talking about tourism, events, and funding opportunities. Specifically, grant programs available through the Convention and Visitors Bureau and visit Findlay. If you're planning an event in 2026, maybe you're hosting a tournament or you're just looking to launch something new, maybe you want to grow an existing event. Well, this is a conversation you'll want to hear. We'll break down what grants are available, what's changing in the new year, and how those programs help bring visitors and economic impact to Findlay and Hancock County. My guest today is Alissa Preston from Visit Findlay and the Convention of Visitors Bureau. She's here to walk us through all of that. Of course, before we start, if you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review and a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It really does help spread the word. Now let's get into it. Welcoming back to the podcast. Alissa Preston from the Convention of Visitors Bureau and Visit Findlay. Alissa, thanks for joining us again.

Alissa Preston:

Hi, Doug. Thanks for having me.

Doug Jenkins:

So you're the last uh true guest of the year. We're going best of for a few weeks after you. So you've got to bring it home.

Speaker:

All right, we can do that.

Doug Jenkins:

A lot of weight on your shoulders here. I'm expecting you to carry the entire podcast.

Speaker:

Okay. Well, I can do that.

Doug Jenkins:

All right, good. Uh so let's talk about uh the grant program from the Convention and Visitors Bureau. As organizations are planning their 2026, maybe they have events going on, maybe they're bringing tournaments, there's all sorts of things that these can be applied to. I guess before we get into maybe some changes, uh let's first just get people familiar with the grants that are available through the CVB.

Speaker:

Great. Yeah, we are wrapping up 2025 and we're already looking into 2026 100%. Um we do have a grant program uh that we've had in existence, I would say, for about 20 years. And as the years have gone on, we've built on that. We see what our partners and nonprofits' needs are and continue to try to answer those and get some of our bed tax funds revolving back into the community. Um the grant program all started with a co-op advertising and marketing grant matching uh dollars to our events partners that were planning things that were bringing visitors into the community. Then we saw a need with our smaller, whether it's partners or villages within Hancock County that didn't really have a marketing budget, that we were able to give some money to just to get their feet wet and started in a bigger marketing plan. Then we continued to grow, and as more events were coming into the community, we wanted to help with startup funds that we have a tourism development and tourism growth grant that are non-marketing related, but just getting some of those uh stepping stones to have events starting new in the community. And then our newest program is our tournament builder program, as we've seen an influx of uh youth sports coming into the community, whether it's baseball and softball, hockey, volleyball, we've got a little bit of everything going on that we're able to support those groups that are bringing in overnights uh for youth sports. So there is a lot to offer. Um, it's a lot to unpack as well, and we are available to talk through all those steps.

Doug Jenkins:

Speaking of tournaments, I think that's coming up uh the weekend after we record this, or maybe it was the the previous weekend here is the uh fight, the girls' wrestling tournament uh that's hosted here in Faith Lake. That's kind of a new one that uh really has taken on a life of its own. It's gotten really big, really quick.

Speaker:

It truly has, and we've been happy to be a part of that since the inception. That was just last weekend. The whole month of December, every weekend there have been wrestling tournaments. So uh the first couple weekends were boys' wrestling tournaments hosted by Findlay High School and the University of Finlay. And then last weekend we had a female wrestling tournament. We're bringing in um teams from across the United States, multiple states um attending that. And it's really turned into a nice program for Finlay.

Doug Jenkins:

Most definitely. Now, there are some changes to the grant programs coming up here for 2026, uh, and just not major changes, but uh just a few little things here and there. Uh, what should people look out for for those?

Speaker:

So a couple little things to take note of. The tourism development and tourism growth grant, those are for whether it's a new event or an existing event that you want to add uh a component to. Those do have a deadline of April 1st, not the rolling deadline as events come around. So we're really encouraging our nonprofits and partners to talk with us right after the first of the year with any plans they have and find their fit in that program. Each of our programs through tourism development and growth and the tournament program have limitations on how many grants you can apply for throughout the year. That's a little different than what we've done in the past. Um, so tournaments, it's a maximum of five tournaments within a calendar year per organization. And then with the tourism development and tourism growth, that is one per organization per year. So those are kind of our bigger dollar grants that we that's why we have those limitations on those.

Doug Jenkins:

Let's talk uh about success stories. Obviously, there've been a lot of organizations that have used these. What are some that stand out to you, or maybe they got their program started with the grant and now it's grown into something else or something along those lines?

Speaker:

Sure. One of the biggest ones are our friends at Northwest Ohio Railroad. They were one that started out in our community connect grant. That's the small one that I talked about. That they didn't really have a marketing budget when they started. They have multiple grants with us throughout the year. They've utilized some of our media buys and are partnering with digital advertising and doing some things that have grown their business throughout the year, specifically right now with their uh holiday train that they are bringing in groups from Cleveland. They did some digital advertising three years ago and have had return business each year that they can see those tickets coming in from the Cleveland area. So that is one great success story that we have. Um, our tournaments, really all of them are success stories that we have been able to um partner those nonprofits and folks planning the tournaments with our hotel partners, and the whole community is benefiting from those.

Doug Jenkins:

Now, as we go into 2026, people are planning their events and things that uh we expect people to plan for and to be involved in would be America 250 going on all year in 2026. Uh that's a big, big undertaking. Uh, tell us how the Convention of Visitors Bureau is involved.

Speaker:

Yeah, so we have kind of a visionary group, I would say, that's comprised of city and county officials, um, the Alliance as a whole, the Hancock Historical Museum, and a handful of other nonprofits that have been working for about a year, just brainstorming what are the events that are already taking place that we can just put that America 250 signature on. Um, and we have a year full of events happening. So you'll start to see those promoted throughout social media. Of course, on the Visit Findlay calendar, we'll have a special section just for America 250. But this is encouraging for all of our event partners, all of our businesses to really take a look at how they can put America 250 spin on the things that they're already planning. And that would be a great opportunity for a tourism growth grant.

Doug Jenkins:

There you go. You can tie that. Yeah, a little drop right there. Exactly. It's easy. So you mentioned uh we hadn't talked about this before, but you mentioned the the Visit Findlay calendar. Uh Visit Finlay has a new website up now. Uh, and the calendar is uh completely reworked and and just uh it was always good, but it's even loaded better than it than it has been. Uh tell us a little bit about that process and what people will see different on the website now.

Speaker:

Yeah, so certainly encourage you to hit visitfinly.com. It has a new clean look. Um, but the thing we've been most excited about is that event calendar that we are partnering partnering with Yodel, that is a uh calendar search engine, that they are finding events for us. So if you've never um submitted your event to us and all of a sudden it shows up on the calendar, it's because you're listing your event either on your calendar on your website or through your Facebook events that we're able to pull that information while we all sleep at night and it shows up on the calendar the next day. So um we're kind of in the growing pains version of that, um, making sure that we are catching everything. We still do need to search a little bit, still encourage our event partners if you're not seeing things on our calendar to submit them. Um but if you have a calendar built within your website or Facebook events out there, uh, we'll be able to grab those with just the click of a button. So it's very exciting, a different look, um, and we're seeing new things on the calendar that we have not before.

Doug Jenkins:

That's really cool. It's a great way to get more and more businesses and organizations involved in it. Another thing that I think is really cool about the Visit Findlay website is the profiles for retail and hospitality and and everything in between, everything that would fit with uh you know convention and tourism. Um that is something that's no cost to the business, correct?

Speaker:

That's correct. And that is something I think our own community takes for granted how many uh hospitality partners we have within Hancock County. We have over 600 unique places that are hospitality driven, whether that's a retail organization, a restaurant, a museum, an attraction, all of those things we are making sure are on our calendar. So this is a note to all of you that have may not have visited our calendar. Get on there. If you see uh something with your listing that you want enhanced, a better description, maybe the phone number might be wrong. I don't know. Um please, I know it happens. Um please let us know because they're like I said, there are 600 that we're trying to keep tabs on. Something else that's really cool with the new calendar as um your planning events or you have groups coming in, you can personalize itineraries. So you go through our website, you favorite your restaurants, the retail locations, and then it all builds into one itinerary for your guest. So just click of a few buttons and you have uh a full weekend plan for yourself.

Doug Jenkins:

That is really cool. And that's why bringing it back to just let's say tournaments, to have people who are coming in for a tournament for the weekend to say, to be able to go to the website and be like, all right, I've got some downtime between games, or maybe after the games are over, uh, want to check some things out. That feels like you can make it real easy for them to do that.

Speaker:

It's so easy. And I encourage our own community to do the same thing. I, as we've been going through the website, I found things that I didn't even know that existed. So it's a great opportunity just to kind of click around. Uh, right now, when you have family in town visiting for the holidays, kids are off of school, um, we have some new attractions that have come into the market, and I really encourage folks to get out and and see those.

Doug Jenkins:

Well, certainly it was a busy 2025 for the Convention of Business Bureau, busy all around here at the Alliance. Uh, what were some of your highlights of the year? What were the things you look back and uh you enjoyed the most?

Speaker:

You know what, something that's been very close-minded here, um, that was just in the recent uh past was the tree lighting ceremony in downtown. That was just, we talk about Finlay being a Hallmark community, and that really put the bow on the package for the year. Uh, we had hundreds of our community members and guests down in Dorney Plaza lighting the Christmas tree. A little market of some of our artisan vendors that did very well for the holiday season. That was really a highlight. Santa was there. I mean, who doesn't like it? Yeah, as he should. Um, that was really a highlight to end the year. Throughout the year, though, Art Walk is always one of my favorite events that um we're throughout the community just celebrating who we are. So um really looking forward to next year and what some of those neat things might be.

Doug Jenkins:

And let's wrap it up with that because hard to believe the first art walk of 2026, not that far away, is uh February is kind of lurking now.

Speaker:

Yes, first Friday in February. We kind of look at that as that's when people are through their holiday slump. You know, you get through January of your tired of eating, you're tired of seeing people. So that can be kind of uh you resurge into the community uh that first Friday in February.

Doug Jenkins:

There you go. So be sure to check that out. Well, Alissa, we appreciate you joining us on the podcast once again. Uh, always enjoy working with you guys. Again, thank you for the invite to be the MC for for the uh tree lighting ceremony. That was a blast.

Speaker:

I really made it.

Doug Jenkins:

That might have been my highlight of 2025. I had so much fun doing it.

Speaker:

I think you I think you made the good list by doing that.

Doug Jenkins:

We're gonna find out in a couple days, I guess. Alissa, thanks for joining us on the podcast.

Speaker:

Thanks, Doug.

Doug Jenkins:

And that'll wrap up this episode of Chamber Amplified. A big thanks again to Alissa Preston from Visit Findlay and the Convention and Visitors Bureau for walking us through all of the tourism grant programs and what you should be thinking about if you plan to apply for them in 2026. Of course, the big takeaway here, pretty simple. If you're hosting an event or bringing in visitors, maybe you're building something that helps showcase the community. Well, there are real monetary resources available to help you succeed, and it's worth starting those conversations early. Get in before those deadlines. You can learn more, explore upcoming events, and submit event listings at visitfinly.com. And as always, if you're not sure where your idea fits, reach out. Those programs are meant to be accessible and collaborative. I'd be happy to help get that conversation started with you. Chamber Amplified is a free resource from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce, made possible thanks to the support of our members. Their investment helps drive business advocacy, community promotion, leadership development, and conversations like the one that you just heard today. If you have an idea for a future episode or if there's a topic you'd like to hear us explore, feel free to send me an email anytime. D Jenkins at Findlay Hancock Chamber.com is the way to get in touch. Over the next few weeks, we're going to be doing some best of episodes, and then we'll be back with more as we roll towards episode number two hundred sometime here in 2026. That's hard to believe. Again, thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time on Chamber Amplified.

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Doug Jenkins

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