The Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau has opened its online event calendar to all county organizations, giving them an opportunity to promote their tourism-related events with the bureau’s online calendar.

“This is a great opportunity for our county,” said bureau President Jack Cohen. “Not only will tourists and residents have more events to choose from, but event planners will see what else is happening so there will be less date conflicts between events allowing everyone the chance to experience all of the happenings in our county.”

To post an event to the bureau’s online calendar, bureau non-members should visit www.VisitButlerCounty.com/user/register to create an account. New users can also log in with a Facebook account.

After registration, tourism-related events may be posted. A 300-word description and basic contact information can be added.

Each event will be reviewed by a bureau staff member, so non-members wishing to post events should allow multiple days for their event to be published to the website. A notification e-mail will be sent when the event is posted.

Users should be aware that there are a number of restrictions when posting events to the calendar. The event must be:

Tourism-related so no sales, promotions, blood-drives, etc.

Held in county and not take people out of the county

An actual, open-to-the-public event, so no meetings.

For enhancements to event listings such as longer descriptions, links, pictures and listing priority, contact the bureau for a membership application.

Other growth for the bureau includes a grant program for member organizations, awarding $30,000 among member businesses, now in its second year. As of mid-March 2013, two complimentary shuttle vans now are available to groups of six or more staying in a participating county hotel. Previously only one shuttle offered this service.

Tourism matters here in Butler County. It provides thousands of jobs and saves us all hundreds of dollars in taxes.

Explore www.VisitButlerCounty.com to learn more about what we have to offer here. Residents should be proud, bringing visitors back for more.