Overton County hopes a new three-star grant proposal will help boost tourism development.
Overton County Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Zach Stephens said the Three-Star Grant in years past was up to $50,000, but this year the county was able to apply up to $250,000. Stephens said the county would use the grant to form a tourism marketing plan.
“You know we want to promote all of our natural assets, including Standing Stone State Park, some of the cultural things that are happening here, and just making sure that Overton County is on people’s radar.”
Stephens said the tourism marketing plan would involve digital and social media advertising. Stephens said the county would search for assistance to help form the plan should the county receive grant funding.
“There’s probably some other things that we would look at doing, and we would look to the Tennessee Department of Tourism Development for some of that support,” Stephens said. “Probably working with a marketing agency or something like that to make sure we are spending those dollars appropriately and wisely.”
Stephens said the latest report from 2023 showed that visitors spent an estimated $7.7 million in Overton County. Stephens said tourism is a huge part of Overton County’s economy.
“It’s, you know, ensuring that the taxes hopefully aren’t gonna have to be raised or anything like that,” Stephens said. “The county can use those dollars to put back into our community without, you know, impacting our residents in any way financially.”
Stephens said the county expects to hear back from the state about the grant within the next couple of weeks.
