Hot air balloons. Image courtesy: Steve and Nancy Woller.
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — A retooled local event will receive some additional sponsorship money from a familiar source.
Tuesday evening the Wausau City Council considered a resolution to modify the City’s 2021 budget to approve a $10,000 sponsorship with the Taste N’ Glow Balloon Fest. The balloon rally and food festival is similar to Wausau Events annual Balloon and Rib Fest but is being held by independent organizers after Wausau Events cancelled their 2021 event.
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The sponsorship was approved unanimously earlier that evening by the City’s Finance Committee. The Finance Committee heard from event organizers Steve and Nancy Woller about the changes to the event including its location and more local focus.
Finance Committee Chair and District 7 Alder Lisa Rasmussen explained to the full council that the money for the sponsorship would be coming from the City’s portion of the area room tax . “It will not impact previous allocations or our continuing appropriations entities.
“We’re also not looking to set a precedent or a pattern with late applications to be handled from that pool of money. This is a special circumstance. This event was revived after it was canceled by Wausau Area Events. It was able to find a home just outside the City limits.
“But they are still seeking some support which they would have applied for from the Room Tax Commission had that window been open. And so future requests like this will still go back to the Room Tax Commission. In fact we’re considering holding a second room tax grant award period a little earlier than what we would normally in case there are some late applicants,”.
Some of the changes to the event include moving it from the Wausau Downtown Airport to the Trailmates Snowmobile Club lawn in the Town of Stettin. The event will also no longer bring in outside rib vendors but instead will have local restaurants and food trucks for the “Taste of Marathon County”.
With the change of location for the event outside of City limits, District 3 Alder Tom Killian was concerned about allocating City money outside of its limits. City Finance Director Maryanne Grote explained that Room Tax Commission grants are available for events that bring money to Wausau without being within city limits.
Rasmussen also noted that the event being outside of the City will save Wausau money in the long run as they will not need to provide any logistical services to the event. Some of those logistical services include EMS, law enforcement, and public transit among others.
The sponsorship request and budget modification was approved by the council on a 10-1 vote with Killian being the lone no vote on the resolution. The City’s $10,000 sponsorship will be as the event’s laser show and glow sponsor.
The Council also approved a resolution to declare the month of May as No Mow May for 2021. The resolution allows participating households to not mow their lawn for the month to provide early season forage for emerging native pollinators.
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