Community Promotion & Tourism

Village Hall Village of Lombard 255 East Wilson Ave. Lombard, IL 60148 villageoflombard.org Minutes Community Promotion & Tourism Trustee Andrew Honig, Chairperson, Trustee Anthony Puccio, Alternate Chairperson, Jill Payne, Marguerite Micken, Joe Orsolini, Nancy Schukat, Phil Dahm, , Brad Hanewall and Nicholas Piron Ex-Officio Members: Yvonne Invergo - Lombard Chamber of Commerce; Beth Marchetti - DuPage Convention & Visitors' Bureau; Yorktown Centre - Josh Dean; Neil De Guia - Embassy Suites; Nashaly Ramirez - Extended Stay America; Randy Kline - Sure Stay Plus; Max Schultz - Hyatt Place; Robert Stewart - Marriott Fairfield Inn; Adriana DeHoyos - Extended Stay America; Frank Balisteri - Comfort Suites; Alan Gagnon - Sonesta ES Suites; Ashley Libbe - Towne Place Suites; Mike Feigenbaum - The Westin Hotel Tuesday, February 2, 2021 7:00 PM Community Room 1.0 Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Andrew Honig at 7:02 pm. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Beth Marchetti. 2.0 Roll Call Present 7 - Andrew Honig, Marguerite Micken, Joe Orsolini, Nancy Schukat, Phil Dahm, Brad Hanewall, and Nicholas Piron Absent 1 - Jill Payne Present via Remote: Phil Dahm, Joe Orsolini, Marguerite Micken, Nancy Schukat, Nick Piron and Brad Hanewall Also present remote: Brittney Conway and Susie Denz, Lombard Jr. Women’s Club, Sharon Rakowski and Cindy Ward, Lombard Garden Club, Nicole Sittig and Ellyn Murphy, Lombard Lilac Festival Parade Committee, Beth Marchetti, Dupage Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. Also present in person: Nicole Aranas, staff liaison Village of Lombard Page 1 Community Promotion & Tourism Minutes February 2, 2021 3.0 Public Participation None. 4.0 Approval of Minutes A motion was made by Joe Orsolini, seconded Marguerite Micken, to approve the minutes of the October 27, 2020, committee meeting. The motion passed unanimously. 5.0 Old Business None. 6.0 New Business 210046 Local Tourism Grant Application 2021 - Lilac Princess Program Grant request from the Lombard Jr. Women's Club in the amount of $6,000 from Hotel/Motel funds for expenses supporting the Lilac Princess Program. The grant will support expenses related to the Coronation of the Lilac Queen and her Court and scholarships awarded to the court. The program begins in March and culminates May 16, 2021. The grant application for the Lombard Jr. Women’s Club Lilac Princess Program was represented by Brittney Conway, Chair of program and Susie Denz, Co-Chair. The Lilac Princess Program, will begin with preliminary interviews on February 28, 2021, end with Crowning of the Queen on May 2021. The Lilac Princess program is expected to cost just over $11,000. LJWC is requesting a grant of $6,000, or 16.6% of the program costs. The majority of the grant will cover the $1,000 scholarships awarded to the queen and her Court. The remaining $1,000 will cover other costs related to the program, including parade floats for the 2019 and 2020 Queens and Courts. The 2019 and 2020 parades were cancelled due to weather in 2019 and COVID-19 in 2020. The LJWC plans to fundraise to cover the remaining costs. The LHWC plans to livestream the Tiara Presentation and Coronation of the Queen due to COIVD-19 in order to reduce the number of people attending. They are estimating approximately 10 hotel stays for the crowning event and the Lilac Ball, which would consist of family members of the court. The LJWC is unable to calculate stays in 2020, Village of Lombard Page 2 Community Promotion & Tourism Minutes February 2, 2021 due the lack of travel caused by COVID-19. However, the LWJC does host events at Embassy Suites. Should COVID restrictions continue, the LJWC plans to cut back events, both public and exclusive events for the court. They plan to award scholarships to the court. Committee member Joe Orsolini commented that he is comfortable with continuing to fund the grant without the hotel stays in 2020 and potentially in 2021, in order to keep the Lombard tradition going. Brad Hanewall joined the meeting at 7:17 pm. A motion was made by Joe Orsolini, seconded by Nancy Schukat, to approve the $6,000 grant request from Lombard Jr. Women’s Club for the Lilac Princess program. The motion passed unanimously. 210047 Local Tourism Grant Application 2021 - Lilac Time Art & Craft Fair Grant request from the Lombard Chamber of Commerce in the amount of $5,000 from Hotel/Motel funds to cover the cost of Village services (Police, Public Works and Fire Department overtime). The fair is scheduled for May 2, 2021. Committee Member, Joe Orsolini represented the Lombard Chamber of Commerce grant review. Joe is a board member of the Lombard Chamber of Commerce. The LCC is requested a $5,000 grant to cover the cost of Village services, such as PD, FD and PW. The event is scheduled for May, but should COVID-19 restrictions not allow the event to take place, the event would be moved to Fall 2021. Should the May event take place, the chamber is also considering holding a second event in Fall 2021. Nicole Aranas clarified that the grant is for the May event. Should that event be moved to the Fall 2021 due to COIVD restrictions, the applicants would have the ability to work with staff to use the grant for the Fall event. If the Chamber holds the May event they have the ability to come back to the committee with a new request for the Fall event. A motion was made by Nancy Schukat, seconded by Nick Piron, to approve the $5,000 grant for the Lombard Chamber of Commerce Art & Craft Fair. The motion passed by unanimous vote. Joe Orsolini abstained from the vote. 210048 Local Tourism Grant Application 2021 - Lilac Sale Grant request from the Lombard Garden Club in the amount of $2,000 from Hotel/Motel funds to cover the cost of the purchase of lilac bushes to be sold. The sale is a three day event beginning May 5, 2021. Village of Lombard Page 3 Community Promotion & Tourism Minutes February 2, 2021 The grant for the Lombard Garden Club was represented by Cindy Ward, President and Sharon Rakowski, Grant writer of the Lombard Garden Club. Requesting a grant for the Lilac Sale in May of 2021. The events traditionally tied to Lilac Time. When the 2020 events were postponed until Fall 2020 due to COIVD-19, the Lombard Garden Club moved the sale to the Fall. Eventually all the events were cancelled. The Lombard Garden Club had already purchased 400 the Lilac to be sold and were storing them in Lilacia Park. The bushes need to be sold, so the club held an online sale. Sharon Rakowski spoke to the details of the grant. This is the 5th year the Garden Club is requesting a grant. They are requesting $2,000, as they have for the past 5 years. They were able to meet the challenges of the pandemic restrictions and hold the sale online, which was more successful than the previous year. The event is scheduled for the 3 days prior to Mother’s Day. They are planning to continue with online ordering and scheduling of pick up. Should the restrictions relax, they are prepared to adjust to the previous method of sale. Should the grant be reduced due to COVID, the club is planning continue to fund the scholarships they give, the cuts would be made to the amount of money spent on speakers for their meetings. The Lilacs have been ordered and will be prepared and planted at Lilacia Park in April in anticipation of the sale in May. The lilacs can be ordered at lombardgardnclub.org. The club has scaled up their purchase of plants from 350 plants to currently purchasing and selling 450 plants. A motion was made by Phil Dahm seconded by Brad Hanewall, to award the Lombard Garden Club a grant of $2,000 for the purchase of Lilac bushes for the sale. The motion passed unanimously. 210049 Local Tourism Grant Application 2021 - Lombard Lilac Parade Grant request from Lombard Lilac Festival Parade Committee in the amount of $18,000 from Hotel/Motel funds to support all expenses of the parade, honorariums paid to the participants, advertising expenses and recognition expenses. The parade will take place on May 16, 2021. The Lombard Lilac Parade grant application was presented to the committee by Nicole Sittig, Chair of the Lombard Lilac Festival Parade Committee and Ellyn Murphy. The committee holds 5 fundraisers each year to offset the costs of the parade. This past year, due to the pandemic, 4 of the 5 events were Village of Lombard Page 4 Community Promotion & Tourism Minutes February 2, 2021 cancelled. However, the parade committee has funds not used for 2019 and 2020 to help offset the costs in 2021. Again, due to the pandemic, several of the fundraising events may be cancelled. The parade committee is prepared to reduce the number of honorarium and cut back on advertising, using more social media. The committee is requesting a grant of $18,000, same as previous years. The roughly $17,000 cost of Village services is not included in the grant. The committee is moving forward with the parade. Should pandemic restrictions still be in place in May, the committee will reschedule the parade to September 19th. Nicole Aranas again noted that should the date be changed the committee will still be eligible for the grant but will need to work with the Village staff. The cash grant would not be awarded if the event does not take place. A motion was made by Brad Hanewall, seconded by Nancy Schukat, to award the grant of $18,000 to the Lombard Lilac Festival Parade Committee for the Lombard Lilac Parade. The vote passed unanimously. 7.0 Other Business None. 8.0 Information Only Beth Marchetti spoke regarding the impact of the pandemic on the current tourism and hotel/motel status in DuPage County. 9.0 Adjournment A motion was made by Nancy Schukat, seconded by Joe Orsolini, to adjourn the meeting at 8:04 pm. The motion passed by unanimous vote. Village of Lombard Page 5