Clear Lake Chamber receives grant

The Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce recently received a $10,000 grant from the Iowa Tourism Office.The grant will be used to fund a digital marketing campaign to promote The Day the Music Died tour sites, according to a press release. Clear Lake and the Surf Ballroom and the Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and Big Bopper memorial crash site were heavily featured in the new Paramount+ documentary, 'The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean's American Pie.''Upon the release of the film, we created a landing page for those interested in learning more and touring the sites mentioned in the film. We will extend our reach by running a targeted digital marketing campaign to give more people the opportunity to learn about Clear Lake,' said Tourism Director Libbey Hohn in a statement.'We're pleased to invest in campaigns that work to change the perception of tourism in Iowa and encourage more people to visit our state,' said Amy Zeigler, manager of the Iowa Tourism Office in the release.

'These projects will help us continue the momentum and growth of our industry.' Visitors spent more than $6.1 billion across Iowa's economy in 2021, an expansion of 35% over 2020 spending and within 5% of a full recovery to pre-pandemic levels. This direct visitor spending impact generated a total economic impact of $9.4 billion in Iowa, sustained nearly 65,000 jobs and generated $1.0 billion in state and local tax revenues in 2021.'Our goal with this campaign is to bring new visitors to North Iowa, and also inspire travelers to go off their original path and insert Clear Lake into their travel itinerary while traveling through the Midwest,' said Hohn. Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly.