Small business, organization leaders work to obtain Experience Butler County grants
Several organizations received grants from Experience Butler County and the Butler County Tourism Foundation, providing money for projects that may otherwise go incomplete for years if not for the funding.
And while a project had to promote tourism and visitation to Butler County to even qualify for funding, they also had to be written and presented by staff of the organizations — a tall order for some that are completely volunteer-based.
Jessica Sanzotti, media coordinator for Musical Theatre Guild of Butler, said she and some members of the organization’s board of directors assembled the grant proposal and presentation, which was all completed on unpaid time.
“We had to submit a proposal narrative as part of the process,” Sanzotti said. “I would say like between three-and-a-half and five hours probably,” she added referring to how much time she spent preparing to submit the grant proposal.
“I had never written a grant or anything before.”
Several of the Experience Butler County grants and the foundation grants went to organizations, businesses and municipalities with a limited number of employees.
The partner agencies, municipalities and programs that received grant money are: The Birdwatchers Store, Butler Township, Evans City PumpkinFest, Bear Run Campground, Get Fit Families, Slippery Rock University, Brighton Transportation, SurfSUP Adventures, Tokens Arcade, Zelienople Area Business Association, Cranberry Township, Glade Run, The Rodfathers of Butler, Glade Run Lake Conservancy, Musical Theatre Guild of Butler, The Butler Florist, Hilton Garden Inn, Butler County Family YMCA, North Country Trail Association, The Bus Stop Coffee Co., The Sweet Gremlin, Wood Lanes & Co. and Friends of the Bantam Jeep Association.
The Experience Butler County grants are for up to $5,000 each and the Butler County Tourism Foundation grants are for up to $10,000 each.
The Experience grants are to enhance the tourism experience and increase overnight stays within Butler County. The foundation’s grant program is awarded to agencies aiming to enhance the tourism experience by supporting development through a program of historic preservation and education.
Amy Pack, president of Experience Butler County, said the three categories of projects eligible for funding included collaborative projects, capital projects and advertising programs.
“Advertising programs must be targeted to media that will reach noncounty residents,” she said. “Capital projects related to replacing or repairing physical attributes to your business will not be funded if the project is deemed to be a normal cost of doing business.”
Applicants need to be partners of Experience Butler County and must be “current partners in good standing for at least one year as of the application deadline.” So if someone joined today, they wouldn't be able to apply for a grant until 2028, according to Experience Butler County.
Every grant recipient is also required to have at least 25% of their project cost funded by themselves. That is the required match, mandated by Pennsylvania, Pack said.
Even though the partner agencies usually are in regular contact with Experience Butler County, their administrators still have to apply for its grants independently.
Jody Roberts, owner of the Birdwatchers Store, said that although applying for an Experience Butler County is a “streamlined process,” it took her up to around three hours of total work to prepare the grant and presentation.
“It was all me. I did my research, got some quotes from locals, wrote up a grant proposal that included all the numbers and how it would benefit tourism,” Roberts said. “I would say I put several hours into it, two to three hours... Just a nice and simple process.”
The Birdwatchers Store will use the grant money to buy a new sign, which Roberts said will be more eye-catching and help draw people to the store, even if they are just driving by on New Castle Road in Slippery Rock Township.
Another small business, The Sweet Gremlin, will use its grant money to open a store in the City of Butler. The bakery and sweets shop only has two employees: its owners, Matt and Jenn McConnell, who have occasionally hired part-time employees.
Matt McConnell said applying for the grant was relatively simple, but it still took some time outside of the bakery to write and prepare a presentation. He added that the money will be used to purchase equipment to roll ice cream and to help the shop prepare soda bottles with The Sweet Gremlin’s logo.
“This is the first time we applied,” Matt McConnell said. “We sat down in one evening and followed up with some additional information a few days later, scheduled the interview and met down there.”
Tokens Arcade, which is in the Lyndora area of Butler Township, is another owner-operated establishment. Chris and Brandy Henry own the pinball arcade. Chris Henry noted the couple perform numerous duties as just a twosome.
“We're building, machine maintenance, advertising, social media, accountants, we're the whole show,” he said.
Chris Henry said it was his wife who prepared the paperwork and the presentation for both of the tourism grants, which added to their duties as business owners. The process took some research, which Brandy Henry was aided by artificial intelligence to complete, but Chris said the projects the arcade is going to do will be greatly helped by the grant funding.
“We joined the organization last year and we attended the meeting last year and that's when we found out the grants and stuff were even around,” Chris Henry said of Experience Butler County. “She had to do a presentation to the board for each one.”
Sanzotti echoed the Henrys, saying the Musical Theatre Guild’s project may seem meager to larger organizations, but it would not be possible, at least for some years, without outside funding.
“We've had some really expensive repairs this past winter that racked up $5,000 here, $10,000 here,” Sanzotti said, noting the project was not in the organization’s budget.
