Tourism Fee pushing Clarksdale to area

The Clarksdale-Coahoma County Tourism Commission spent all of $ 198,750 it received from CARES Act funds and took the opportunity to benefit the community.

The funds came as a result of the COVID pandemic.

“We should be spending everything before December 30, 2020, but they extended it last week so we carried over some small funds,” said Bubba O’Keefe, executive director of the Clarksdale-Coahoma County Tourism Board, on Wednesday, May 12th board meeting.

“When we had the CARES Act funding, I used some of that funding to pay for our billboards and Live from Clarksdale. These were extensions that we would normally have paid out of our budget, but since I was able to qualify these for the CARES Act, I didn’t want to unnecessarily deplete our general fund. ”

According to O’Keefe, the spending of the CARES Act went into things like the touchscreen kiosk at the tourist office, which helped visitors plan about seven billboards between Tupelo and Birmingham, between Jackson, Tennessee, and Nashville, Tennessee, near Sikeston , Missouri, help. , between Memphis, Tennessee, and Little Rock, Ark., Natchez, Lula and Walls, an African American culture map and tourism map.

The slogan was “Ready for a road trip? … sure!”

“At that time, it was before December,” said O’Keefe. “We just planted a seed. When you’re ready, we’re ready. That’s basically what the question mark says. ”

O’Keefe also reported that its commission from the start of the fiscal year October 1, 2020 to date was $ 72,109 less tourism tax than the previous fiscal year in May 2020.

“That’s because of the pandemic and the winter months,” said O’Keefe.

The tourism tax results from a tax of one percent on food and drinks and a tax of two percent on hotel packages.

O’Keefe said tourism tax dollars are just starting to rise as more visitors come to Clarksdale. Some of the additional tax dollars that are expected to be generated will go into marketing as there are no other CARES Act funds.

“We’re really stepping up our marketing because we’re getting out of the pandemic and we’re very well positioned to get into the pandemic,” said O’Keefe. “We don’t want to lose this ground.

“We will work hard. We double the marketing. We want our retailers, our restaurants, and all of our hotels to upgrade because we are selling Clarksdale and they are ready to receive our gifts. ”

In other business areas:

• The commission agreed to pay $ 300 per episode for Ted Reed to shoot podcasts in Clarksdale that will focus on the community every two weeks through the end of the calendar year.

O’Keefe said the episode was 30 to 40 minutes. The episodes started during the Juke Joint Festival in April with many musicians in town.

“He wants his film, which is called the Blues Trail Revisited, to be advertised,” said O’Keefe. “So the podcast is called Blues Trail Revisited. He had the best documentary at the New York City Film Festival last week. ”

O’Keefe said Reed, who is not in the Boston area, has won Oscars for documentaries and is well connected to the Clarksdale area. He added Reed guests, Clarksdale residents and people at local restaurants.

“I’ll tell you that. I think it’s excellent, ”said Roger Stolle, President of the Tourism Association. “I listened to everyone who came out the day they came out. The quality is super high. ”

• The Commission previously approved a US $ 12,500 grant to support the first Mighty Roots Music Festival in Clarksdale on October 1st and 2nd at Stovall Farms.

Howard Stovall, who oversees the festival, had advised the commission that one payment could be made now for $ 7,500 and another payment of $ 5,000 later.

“You have to think about the festival in the fall,” said Willis Frazer Sr., Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors.

O’Keefe agreed.

“There is a lot of play,” said O’Keefe. “It’s also well positioned. I think we’ll have a good turnout.

“They have been granted resort status by the county. They really put it out there with lights and infrastructure. ”

• The board approved a $ 7,500 sponsorship for the 34th annual Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival, August 13-15.

“I’m not telling them what to do, but I would like to talk to you about your marketing because there are some things that I feel strong about and some things that I think they really need to reconsider” said O’Keefe. “Our goal with sponsorships and scholarships is to set up these festivals. That’s what makes people come. ”

O’Keefe said regional television would benefit marketing.

“I think there are things we can do to save money and reach bigger audiences,” he said.

• O’Keefe said Ellis & Hirsberg CPAs PLLc would review the commission and it would likely take about six weeks. He said nothing was wrong, but several years had passed.

“We have started our exam,” said O’Keefe. “We waited a long time for our audit. I don’t think it has been done since 2012. ”