Hope Tourism Commission

The Hope Tourism Commission met in the City Boardroom at City Hall on Tuesday. Permits issued to hospitality businesses that collect the city tax on food and lodging were discussed as a lot of businesses are behind. City Manager J. R. Wilson talked about what could be done in terms of charging interest and a procedure of revoking the permit if the businesses got far enough behind. This would involve a hearing with citations as well as fines if the business continued to run. If the permit was revoked the business would have 30 days to appeal. Mayor Still asked about simply charging a straight fine and was told that City Attorney Randy Wright would need to be consulted about that.

For the Sparks Fly in July Park Director Summer Powell said the aim was for 15 food trucks but they ended up with 13. The food trucks all want to come back as they all did well.

Powell said the attendance was slightly off but was off all over.  The police were praised for their management of the event.

Children’s events being free was a hit.

Powell said they need to budget more money for next year for the generator and lights. They were slightly over budget this year, projected to be $300 over with the larger generator for the kids inflatables being much of that.

Lights for the kids zone, more port-a-potties and hand sanitations stations are suggested improvements for next year.

The Watermelon Festival will have the Olympics again this year. The events will include 3 on 3 basketball, Closest to the Hole, Volleyball, Tug-A-War and a Relay Race. This will be free and take place on Thursday.

The Cornhole Tournament will take place on Friday with a $30 entry fee.

A free youth fishing derby will be held on Saturday.

USA Softball will host the tournament this year beginning on Friday night at 7:00 PM.

The City has been in contact with Edmundo Dominguez on starting an Annual Watermelon Soccer Tournament and Hope to make it happen this year.

The Commission was asked about if they wanted to do the same as other years and fund the Softball and Cornhole Tournaments. The decision was to provide $4,000 for Softball – $1,000 cash prize per division and $500 for the Cornhole Tournament.  Mayor Still made the motion which was seconded and passed.

The question was if the lights would be on and Powell said the lights had already been tried with one field not coming on with that issue will be resolved soon as a part was missing.

The question was asked about how many lights they have for the soccer field and they should have plenty of lights which will be put in once the field dries out.

There were around 70 softball teams that played last year. They were in the 90s before but COVID might have caused the lower numbers.

The Ice Rink has been delivered and will be put out around Thanksgiving. It will take up almost half of the HUB and is double in size from last year.

They will be applying for a splash pad with the Outdoor Recreational Grant again this year. The Splash Pad representative has been met with and they will have an updated price soon.

The Klipsch event for next spring is being worked and committee will be organized to put the event together. The College has an event the same day and there will be an attempt to coordinate with them.

For the Annual Back to School Bash on August 24th it will be he held in Fair Park this year as it got congested downtown last year. The Commission will partner with the School District and the Chamber of Commerce in this event

There will be a ribbon cutting at the Pocket Park on Thursday at 9:00 A.M.

The question was asked if the Commission would meet next month, which is the week of the Watermelon Festival and the decision was made to hold it the following week.

The meeting then adjourned.