City of Ellensburg Capital-Unity Park Shade Tents

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Tourism-Related, Small-Scale Municipality-Owned Capital Project Narrative L. Project Description: Please describe the project in detail. lndicate the major work to be completed, any milestones that need to be overcome in order for the project to move forward and include a comparison of existing and proposed conditions. The scope of this project is for the purchase of sun shade screens for the performance stage at Unity Park, the future downtown park located at the intersection of 4th & Pearl. Design work on Unity Park started in 2019, with a focus of creating a park that could be used year around by our local community and to provide an enhanced performance area for events that take place downtown. 2. Kittitas County Tourism lnfrastructure Plan: Please explain how the project meets the goals and priorities in the Kittitas CountyTourism lnfrastructure Plan as adopted. Also, describe the specific county tourism infrastructure needs the project addresses and how the project directly increases tourism. Explain how the improvements will promote tourism in Kittitas County and indicate specifically how the improvements will directly increase economic activity resulting from tourists (see the definition of tourist on page 3 of this application). The development of the property will benefit tourism by creating a unique "destination" multi use park in a centralized public space. The park will dramatically increase programming opportunities that attract visitors to our community. Unity Park will become a signature attraction and prime marketing tool for conventions, businesses, and tourism. Organized programing opportunities include but are not limited to, events and festivals for arts, food, music, movies, sports and holidays. When a potential visitor comes to an event, they have made or will make additional arrangements which can include hotels/motels, restaurants, fuel, retail, and recreational adventures. The additional economic activity impacts the community, as well as the communities traveled through to get to a destination. Unity Park is uniquely situated in a location that makes it useful and usable year-round. There are many tourists that attended events in Ellensburg that last more than three days length. Of note is the Ellensburg Rodeo which boasts over 60,000 tourists each year. ln support of the Rodeo are several events that occur at the Unity Park site such as the Rodeo Kick-Off breakfast, and the Hoedown in the Downtown. lt's not a reach to suggest that most of the Rodeo attendees have lodging in Ellensburg, which have an average overnight expenditure of S95/pp (source: Dean Runyan Associates) and the Rodeo is a significant supporter of County tourism as a destination. Worth mentioning, too, is The Ellensburg Music Fest (EMF), formerly known as Jazz in the Valley, also a multi-day event, which attracts an estimated 5,000 tourists who travel >50 miles from their residence/place of business to attend this very popular musical event. ln its 25th year, this annual, reoccurring event supports the County as a tourism destination, with attendees having multi-day lodging stays in Ellensburg and the County. ln total it is estimated that over 65,000 people annually stay overnight in Ellensburg for events that utilize the Unity Park property, of which 65,000 people travel from an area greater than 50 miles to attend these events. 3. Use of Grant Funds: Please explain exactly how the requested funds will be used. lnclude an itemized list.