Amended Greater Mauston Area Tourism Association

GREATER MAUSTON AREA TOURISM ASSOCIATION MINUTES July 10, 2024 at 5:30 PM 303 Mansion Street Mauston, WI 1. Call to Order/Roll Call- The Greater Mauston Tourism Association met in a regular session on July 10, 2024, at Mauston City Hall. The Meeting was called to order by Michel Messer at 5:30 p.m. Present were Diane Dahl, Doug Linder, Michel Messer, Ben Bader, and Leanna Hagen. Absent were Julie Winn and Wendy Murphy. Also present was Jessica Bilski from On the Line Presence. 2. Minutes- Bader/Dahl to approve the minutes of June 12, 2024. Motion carried. 3. Financial Report- Linder/Bader to approve the financials as presented. Motion carried. 4. Event Support activities- a. Mauston/New Lisbon Area Airport application- Dahl will contact Linda Salzwedel for the amount requested. It was decided that this would be tabled until the next meeting when the committee has a dollar amount. b. Post-Event Follow-Up- Sally Luehman stated that she understood the 4th of July Fireworks event was well attended by about 2,000 people. Hagen, who attended the event, mentioned that everyone had a great time. The food stand sold out within a couple of hours, and the only complaint was the lack of enough bathrooms. 5. Marketing Activities- a. Tyler Carl from Hidden Valleys of Southwest Wisconsin talked about different advertising possibilities. Juneau County has decided not to pay for advertising of the County in their magazine at this time. There was a discussion about asking other Juneau County municipalities to join us in this county county-wide advertising endeavor. Dahl/ Hagen motioned $3,900 to Hidden Valleys of Southwest Wisconsin for publication on the back page of their magazine to include Juneau County but the content shall be controlled by GMTA. Motion carried. b. Peter Malinger from Image Pictures discussed doing a 55-minute show highlighting Mauston area businesses. The business would pay to be featured and keep a copy of the show to be utilized however they wished to promote their business. He is asking for a letter of support to be given to the area businesses to get this project started. The committee liked the idea and agreed to a letter of support.  c. Mike Taake Chair of the Parks Committee spoke on the Gasser Big Dig grant recently submitted to improve our parks and to connect the parks via walkways or bike lanes. This would be a four-phase project. The first phase would be Lions Park removing the two basketball hoops and adding a modified full basketball court on the east side of the tennis courts, painting two additional pickleball courts, and updating the sloping green space to make it level. The second phase would be to improve the Lions Park parking lot, adding shade sails around the splash pad and adding a storage building. The third phase is to connect all eight City parks via walkways or bike lanes including adding kiosks. The fourth phase is to improve Riverside Park. There was considerable discussion about the projects GMTA could support. It was decided that Jessica Bilski is to contact Travel Wisconsin to have a representative come to a meeting to discuss this at a future meeting. 6. Staff Report- none 7. Adjourn- Linder/Hagen to adjourn. Meeting adjourned. ___________________________________ _____________________________ Chair Date