This is the 13th consecutive year the bureau received the dollars — this time in the amount of $55,555, according to organization Executive Director Mark Eckman. Other Iowa communities receiving funding are Ames, Cedar Valley, greater Burlington, greater Des Moines, Iowa City/Coralville, Quad Cities, Sioux City and Dubuque.

Previously, grant dollars have gone toward financing events like the NJCAA Men’s Wrestling National Championship, Heartland USA Wrestling National Duals, Council Bluffs Wrestling Classic, King of the MAC, Halloween Havoc, Rumble on the River, River City Classic Gymnastics, 3SSB Basketball Tournament and the Triple Crown Slumpbuster baseball tournament.

“It allows us to assist sporting events in a way that we wouldn’t be able to through any other means,” Eckman said during an interview with the Nonpareil. “Our budget, while not a small amount of money, is probably not equal to what our counterparts in Dubuque receive at Travel Dubuque, or otherwise, the Dubuque CVB.

“The same thing can be said of Iowa City — both of those two convention and visitors bureaus have budgets of over $1 million, and ours is at least $500,000 less than that.”