Washington County Visitors Association Announces Recipients
of its 2011-2012 Tourism Development Grants
BEAVERTON, Ore. (June 21, 2010) -- The Washington County Visitors Association (WCVA), awarded to local businesses and organizations a total of $215,430 in tourism grants.
The following recipients were awarded a portion of the overall total for various projects, including publication of marketing materials, out-of-area-marketing efforts, infrastructure improvements and other tourism development efforts:
·Community Vision Inc.
·Washington County Cross Country Club
·Forest Grove Chamber of Commerce
·City of Forest Grove Community Forestry Commission
·Oregon Department of Forestry, Forest Grove District
·A Great Oregon Wine Tour/WineUP! TV
·North Willamette Vintners
·Tree to Tree Adventure Park
·Tualatin Chamber of Commerce
·Washington County Museum
·Westside Trail Federation
Recipients were selected by the WCVA’s grant committee, which is comprised of select members of the organization’s board of directors. Allocated grants will be dispersed during the WCVA’s 2011-2012 fiscal year for projects started and completed during the same time frame.
The sole purpose of the funds allocated is for the development or promotion of emerging events, activities and other tourism-related attractions in Washington County. To be considered for funding, projects must have the potential to attract and draw tourists from at least 50 miles outside of Washington County and the Portland Metro area, thereby increasing visitor spending in the local economy.
All grant recipients are required to demonstrate how the awarded funds increased visitor spending in Washington County from visitors who traveled from out of the Portland Metro area, as well as report a return on investment on these grants.
About the Washington County Visitors Association
The Washington County Visitors Association (WCVA) is an accredited destination marketing organization, which serves the region’s tourism industry by actively promoting Washington County, Oregon, to business and leisure travelers, sports and event planners, meeting planners and group tour operators as a desired travel destination. Washington County includes the growing communities of Banks, Beaverton, Cornelius, Durham, Forest Grove, Gaston, Hillsboro, King City, North Plains, Sherwood, Tigard, Tualatin and Wilsonville, and is home to world-class golf, award-winning wineries, an array of outdoor recreation and superb dining and shopping. For more information, visit , , or call 503-644-5555/ 800-537-3149.
What a great way to finish out April. A half dozen of us continued work on the "Drip-Torch" line at the Stub Stewart Freeride Area. One large berm was completed, a jump was extended and a lot of dialing-in/sessioning closed out the day.
8 Scheduled build days and 4 months later... how is it coming along?
Let's back up a bit- The Green light was given back on January 13th.
Since then, we have been building trail like gang-busters. 8 or so scheduled build days with crews averaging about half a dozen people has left us with some good/solid progress. Sure there are lofty expectations of giant build days where a quarter mile of trail gets built, but those are not realistic. Frankly, crews of 6-10 is a perfect size manageable group where the quality of the build shines. While sheer quantity of trail is nice progress to see, you are still left with perfecting the line and tedious/rewarding finish work.
Back to Stub.
The push-up trail ("Rise and Shine") to access the top of the hill is rough-cut and 80% complete. With the removal of a few downed trees and finish work, the push up trail is ready-to-rock. I know it doesn't sound sexy and actually kind of boring, this is actually a huge feat. The process of building a push-up trail is not exactly rewarding and the reward doesn't really come until there are gravity trails complete to effectively use the push-up trail. So getting people out in the woods to help with that is hard enough. A HUGE amount of gratitude is deserved for the crews that helped on that. Thank you guys and gals!
The beginner line ("Flying Tiger") is 60% flagged and ready-to-clear. We are really taking our time defining the line of this trail to maximize length and serve it's purpose as a beginner trail. A few re-routes have occurred, but for the most part, we (Stephanie Debbie Terry Keith and Ryan) are happy with it's routing. Right now we are held up by the technicalities of the approval to use a chain-saw within the State park. Oregon State Parks is dedicated to the proper chainsaw certification of volunteers and the personal Safety of all (as is w.t.f.). On April 17th, w.t.f. had a representative attend the PCTA's Trail Skills College to receive a Chainsaw certification. Now all that remains is the paperwork of the Park authorizing use for that individual. Following this approval, quick work will be made of clearing the corridor for the Beginner line and construction could begin very soon.
The intermediate line ("Drip torch") is currently occupying the majority of our focus. Many of us are really getting stoked on this line, it's going to be total flow from top to bottom with little rest time. We have spent a total of 4 build days just on this line and so far- have 6 berms and 4 jumps built. The goal is to have this trail ride-able by the time the Summer sets in. As soon as the rains ease, it will be very hard to work/manipulate the dirt as we will most likely have to wait until fall to resume.
This time of year is such a struggle. Glimpses of sun and reports of tacky trail conditions usually result in riders assuming a zombie like trance followed by an exodus to the mountains... you can pretty much forget getting them out to a build day. Trailbuilding during this time of season is really only reserved for the dedicated few who manage to fight through the reports of epic group rides to keep the shovel tightly gripped in hand instead of the handlebars. The short-term goal for Stub Freeride Area remains to have something ride-able by this Summer and (for once) I am hoping that we continue to have a wet/rainy spring. Don't hate.
This user group is blessed by such a great contingency of riders who are willing to omit a ride day (or two) a month to give back to the trails they ride as well as help construct new trail destinations. With so many encouraging Freeride/Downhill projects going on in the area, it's extremely hard to choose where to spend your weekend hours. From the continuous improvement and perfection of world-class destinations such as Post Canyon and Black Rock Mountain Bike Area, to the new projects such as "Stub" Stewart Freeride Area, Sandy Ridge trail network, as well as the Thrillium/Larch Mt DH project by the Cold Creek Mountain Bikers- the future of DH & FR in NW Oregon (& SW Washington) is the best it has ever been.
