Any event requesting marketing support funds from the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission to help with advertising, should only — in most instances — receive consideration for three years.
After that, the event should be established and self-sustaining enough that help from the CAPC isn’t needed.
That guideline, which has been part of marketing support standards in the past, was part of the discussion at a monthly workshop held Wednesday, March 12.
Groups can request up to $5,000 for an event that, if approved, will be reimbursed by the CAPC and must go toward advertising and marketing efforts using specific guidelines.
“… Organizations should only receive funding for three years,” CAPC chair Steve Holifield said. “… Then after three years, hopefully, you’ll do the work, get some sponsors, and then we shouldn’t have to give you any more money. I think we’ve been pretty lax on that.”
Marketing support funds was the lone topic of discussion during the workshop.
CAPC executive director Mike Maloney told commissioners that $75,000 was budgeted for marketing support funds in 2025.
“That was $25,000 less than 2024 because we were trying to go ahead and pinch pennies,” Maloney said. “We did have some funds return to the pool so we ended up with a total budget of $78,917.”
To date, the CAPC has committed $38,500 to various groups, Maloney told commissioners.
“We do have anticipated requests and we went through that list … based upon who we expect to come in,” he said. “It’d be about $44,000 if they all come in , and that means that we would be looking at a deficit of minus-$3,583 for consideration.
“So, we can go ahead and do it and fund it as we go, or we basically say we’re done with funding.”
Maloney suggested that commissioners hear marketing funding support requests four times a year — at a monthly workshop — and then vote on those requests at the following regular meeting.
“We’d like to have two months in advance notice before your event,” Maloney said.
Commissioner Robert Schmid mentioned events that come to town each year and bring in many guests, such as the annual Alcoholics Anonymous event that brings in thousands of guests, and activities surrounding Bikes, Blue and BBQ.
Other events commissioners discussed that typically ask for funding that get overwhelming support include the annual Zombie Crawl, Christmas parade, Classic Car Show and Voices from Eureka’s Silent City.
“For lack of a better term, it’s really a consideration of, are there legacy events that we should say, they bring in so much revenue to town, that they really should be … they’ve proven themselves,” commissioner Heather Wilson said. “If three years is in our [guidelines], can we continue to fund them?”
Enforcing the guidelines more strictly in 2026 would give time for communication with event organizers, Maloney and commissioners agreed, starting with groups who regularly make requests.
“We’ll go ahead and basically contact each one of them via mail, or whatever the fastest way is to get them a notice,” Maloney said. “And these are the people we can go ahead and contact immediately, let them know what the program is going to be. But, we will need to go ahead and do a couple of hits in the Eureka Springs Independent and the Eureka Springs Times-Echo, just basically to make people aware of the fact that there’s been a change in this, and will it take effect if everybody’s OK with that in 2026.”
The guidelines discussed are already in written form, Schmid reminded commissioners.
“It mean, it’s communicated already,” he said. “We just have to enforce it.”
Planning ahead is key for groups, Maloney added.
“Ideally, we’d like for people to plan ahead,” he said. “If they think they’ve got a great idea, go and formulate it, put it together, and do your homework. And then come in and make the request. And we want to hear, especially new events that may have legs, obviously. And anybody that needs some help prior to filling out the form, come to us anyway, and we’ll be happy to help them walk through that process. So, making it fair for all.”
Especially the groups that actually need the help, Holifield said.
“I think this is putting people on notice, that we are going to start enforcing a three-year rule to say, unless you have a good reason why you can show us that you’re still struggling,” he said. “And again, I think that people who are doing really, really good don’t need us anymore.”
