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Stew Lilker’s

Columbia County Observer

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$35,000 on the way
Governor's office awards Suwannee River Valley Marketing Group Rural Development Grant

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The Suwannee River Valley Marketing Group, a tri-county tourism promotion organization consisting of Suwannee, Columbia and Hamilton Counties, has been awarded a $35,000 Rural Regional Development Grant.

The announcement of the grant award was made on Wednesday of this week by Michelle Dennard, Deputy Director, on behalf of the Governor's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development. The purpose of the grant is to provide support for rural communities attempting to establish and sustain regional economic or tourism development activities.

AntiquingDennard praised the quality of the grant application, which was based on the review and recommendation of the grant application by Enterprise Florida, Inc.

"All of those who have contributed to and participated in the organization's activities are to be commended for its many accomplishments," Dennard said. "I want to extend my personal congratulations for this award, as well as offer my best wishes for the continued success of your tourism development efforts."

ENatureveryone pitched in to help put together a high quality application on behalf of the region. The County Commissioners and TDCs were all great in helping us get approval of the interlocal agreement and bylaws for the Suwannee River Valley Marketing Group.

The Columbia County TDC was the lead organization for the grant application and our staff persevered and submitted an extremely impressive marketing plan.

PaintingPaulette Lord in our office serves as Marketing Director and she compiled an impressive plan which included press trips, our new vacation guide, sales missions, consumer shows, military travel shows, social media and web sites, along with promotions.

Paulette deserves a lot of the credit for our winning this grant.

TSpringshe Suwannee River Valley Marketing Group will be eligible to apply for additional funding on an annual basis and is one of seven rural regional marketing groups currently being funded by the Governor's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development.

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For additional information contact Harvey Campbell or Paulette Lord at 386-758-1312. 

This work by the Columbia County Observer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

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