Visitors Bureau supports three events in 2014

GREENVILLE – The Darke County Visitors Bureau released the names of the recipients of the 2014 Darke County Tourism Grant. This year, three recipients were chosen. They are: Illumination Festival, Tour de Donut and a new festival entitled YOLO: Festival of Races.

The Illumination Festival started with a handful of people with a common goal in mind – to bring the top artists in contemporary Christian music to Darke County. After the first year it was clear that Darke County residents were ready for this to become an annual event. Now in its eighth year, the Illumination Festival Committee has continually expanded and is now a two-day event with the first day geared toward youth groups. The event also includes “5K Run in the Darke” as a part of the Wayne Health Care challenge. While there is a good representation of Darke County residents on both days of the event, more and more people from outside the community are discovering the Illumination Festival with tickets having been sold to persons from across western Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. But that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise since they attract the top names in the music industry, such as TobyMac, Newsboys, Big Daddy Weave, MercyMe, Sanctus Real, Hawk Nelson, Superchick and FireFlight to name a few. Bands have yet to be named for this year.

The committee responsible for putting the event together includes Marty and Connie McCabe, Daryl Riffle, Dan Franks, Julie Strait, Chris Hammaker, Nick Hammaker, Jennifer Thomas, John Gilmore, Sean Lawrence and Ryan Berry.

The Tour de Donut is successfully ran by Rocketship Sports Managementd, an all volunteer not-for-profit event management company that promotes athletic events that it owns, and assists other non-profits in maximizing their return on running, cycling and multisport races.  Founded in 2007, the group has produced over 200 events including state and national cycling championships. The groups is probably most known for The Tour de Donut or Colavita-Zipp time trial series though also promotes The Grand Lake marathon, The Donut Dash, Walk the line 10k, Frosty Cheeks 5k and The Wayne Healthcare Challenge.

The Eighth Annual Tour de Donut will take place in Arcanum on the first Saturday after Labor Day. The event is like no other as it combines bicycle riding and donut eating.  In 2007, more than 100 racers took part and last year, more than 1,600 from 20 states and 5 countries ate 750 dozen donuts. A fun-filled weekend of activities begins Friday afternoon with Friday evening dinner rides and entertainment before the free kids’ events and rides take place on Saturday. New for 2014 will be the Double Donut event, a 64-mile ride with four donut stops.

The YOLO Organization is a non-profit organization founded by Phillip and Jodi Pierri that strives to continuously improve the community while bringing together high-energy people to promote healthy lifestyles and to embrace life to the fullest. Phillip and Jodi Pierri created the YOLO organization because of their passion to give back to their community.

The first event that the organization will host is the YOLO “Festival of Races.” All proceeds from the event will be deposited into a fund at The Hope Foundation to build a community “Splash Pad” in Darke County. The fund goal is $1 million.

“With the award of these three grants, the Darke County Visitors Bureau takes another step toward achieving its mission to attract visitors to Darke County through promotion, education and development of Tourism,” stated Roger Van Frank, President of the Darke County Visitors Bureau Board of Trustees.

Funds are made available to non-profit tourism attractions and organizations sponsoring special events and programs in Darke County. Grants are awarded on a competitive basis, with primary consideration given to applications, which: (1) attract overnight visitors; (2) attract visitors from more than 50 miles outside of Darke County and (3) feature new or expanded events or programs.

“This grant program is designed to encourage creative thinking to gain “new” money from tourist into our community,” stated Executive Director, Deanna York. “Many new ideas and concepts were presented during this process. The bureau encourages local non-profit organizations to continue to think outside the box and apply for the grant.”

To learn more about these events as well as other festivals and activities taking place in Darke County, please visit www.VisitDarkeCounty.org.