For the last five years, the Mount Pleasant Area Convention & Visitors Bureau (MPACVB) has been making it a mission to invest in local projects that ultimately boost tourism. Now, the MPACVB has announced the slate of recipients for the 2024 Destination Development Fund, aiding in those efforts.
To date, the MPACVB Destination Development Fund has channeled more than $400,000 into the community, says Executive Director Chris Rowley. “A new thing for CVBs everywhere is to invest in the tourism product in our area,” she adds. Each year the organization gets investment dollars to help grow tourism in Isabella County, and Rowley says it spends those dollars in two buckets—sports and general.
In the past, the MPACVB Destination Development Fund has contributed to Art Reach of Mid Michigan’s Paint the Pavement event; Little League needs; volleyball equipment and basketball rims at Morey Courts Recreation Center; improving erosion and adding canoe launches and wayfinding signage in Deerfield Nature Park; and other causes. Of the sports-related efforts, Rowley says, “All these things allow more tournaments to come to the area as well as make our fields and facilities more desirable when competing to gain more tournaments.”
This year’s benefactors of the MPACVB Destination Development Fund include
- Art Reach of Mid Michigan: $5,000 for Paint the Pavement 2025
- Chippewa Watershed Conservancy: $2,700 for reprinting Chippewa River Trail maps
- City of Mount Pleasant: $25,000 for Town Center public restrooms
- Isabella County Parks & Recreation: $4,650 for new gates at Pere Marquette Rail Trail
- For Art’s Sake: $5,000 for Market for the Arts
- Mount Pleasant Discovery Museum: $3,500 for improvements to its “One World” exhibit
- Morey Courts Recreation Center: $65,000 for a revamp and bleachers
- City of Mount Pleasant Parks & Recreation: $4,490 for posts and netting for Yost Park
- Mount Pleasant Little League: $5,000 to improve batting cages at Pickens Field
“I am so grateful to be able to not only market the Mount Pleasant area, but also to invest in our destination,” Rowley says, adding, “The more visitors come to our area, the more we can continue to market and help our community thrive and be a great place for not only residents, but visitors as well.”
2024 Destination Development Fund resources come directly from the MPACVB budget. Guidelines and the application form are available here.
