City of Morgantown and VMCCVB Partner to Create Morgantown Tourism Advancement Fund

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The City of Morgantown has partnered with the Visit Mountaineer Country Convention and Visitors Bureau (VMCCVB) to create the Morgantown Event Advancement Fund (MEAF). 

The MEAF was created to enhance the quality of existing events, stimulate new events, and attract more people to the downtown area. This program is also intended to enhance existing events and entice visitors from outside the town to visit the Morgantown area. 

“The City of Morgantown is excited to partner with Visit Mountaineer Country CVB,” said Assistant City Manager Emily Muzzarelli. “We hope that this program will help to create new and exciting events so that our residents can explore all that the Morgantown and the downtown area has to offer while also promoting local business growth.”

The grants are primarily intended for large events that would attract hundreds of attendees to the downtown. Applicants may not apply for a grant for more than 30 percent of their event expenses and grant awards will vary. Morgantown has allocated $75,000 of its America Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to fund the MEAF.

“The Morgantown Event Advancement Fund is a new generation of our tremendously successful Tourism Advancement Fund which, in 2022, has had a return of investment of generating $5 for every $1 of awarded granted funds,” said VMCCVB President and CEO Susan Riddle. “Morgantown city leadership is to be commended for using ARPA funds as a catalyst to encourage events to return to Downtown Morgantown. This is a way to take advantage of a temporary funding source to create long term community benefits.”

After completing the application process, the host must follow these requirements: 

• Must occur in Morgantown city limits 
• Required to share event data (i.e., detailed revenue & expenses, number of attendees, etc.). 
• Must complete a post-event report containing event information (i.e., detailed revenue and expenses, vendors, attendees, advertising, etc.). 
• Link to VisitMountaineerCountry.com, Morgantownwv.gov and VMCCVB's and the City of Morgantown's social media on all promotions, including the event's website. 
• Abiding by event best practices (security, traffic control, safety, budgets, etc.). 

 
Anyone wishing to apply for a MEAF grant can do so by going to https://www.visitmountaineercountry.com/grants/ and following the grant process. 

###