By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
The Ellis Alliance was presented a Kansas tourism marketing grant from the Kansas Tourism division of the Kansas Department of Commerce during a ceremony Monday afternoon in Ellis with state officials from Topeka.
The Ellis Alliance is a storefront and an umbrella organization that houses the Ellis Chamber of Commerce, the Community Foundation and the Ellis Development Corporation.
Alicia Flower, who was hired as the Alliance executive director in April, submitted the grant application in mid-summer.
Bridgette Jobe, Kansas Tourism director, presented the oversized cardboard check for $1,908.78 to Flower and Alliance board members Jolene Niernberger, Pauleen Edmonds and Travis Kohlrus, along with Mayor Dave McDaniel.
The grant dollars will be used to promote and market Ellis to the public, especially out-of-town visitors.
"We were so excited when we saw your application come in," Jobe said. "I think this is so smart. ... "You're trying to market your community, and you have to have good assets."
Those assets will soon include an Ellis Alliance website and a closed-circuit video monitor in the office, on which community events and Alliance information will be promoted.
The Alliance office is in the heart of downtown at 820 Washington St.
"The whole purpose of this tourism grant is to help first-time marketing projects get off the ground. That's really what these are for," Jobe said. "That's exactly what intrigued us, and we wanted to help you."
The Ellis promotional project will include updated photography and other media.
"My husband and I just recently moved to Ellis and we have fallen in love with it," Flower said. "It's just so pretty and charming, and there aren't current photographs of it.
"I also want to get a commercial made highlighting just what Ellis is, to promote it, that would play on the TV."
Jobe said once the assets of good photography, videography and art are acquired, they could be used in multiple ways.
"You could use them on social media, online, in printed publications, billboards. There's so many great ways to use them down the road, but you have to have great photos.
"It's something we invest in heavily each year, new assets, and you're really smart to do that," Jobe said.
"We love being able to help these new projects. I don't know that we've done a whole lot in Ellis before."
Alliance board president Travis Kohlrus said Ellis differs from other communities because the Alliance combines several entities.
"We've been doing this for about 20 years. We're small enough that we can't have a chamber office, a foundation office, a [economic] development office. So the alliance represents all of us. ... We do lots of volunteering in a small town," Kohlrus said.
Flower hopes to see more local volunteers get involved in community projects and programs, especially young families. She and her husband have a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old, and they wanted to find out what activities were available as they grew their family.
"Once young families have more knowledge about what Ellis has to offer, I think they'll turn out," she said.
Flower also said she believes community events will attract a greater number of area visitors once they know what's happening in Ellis.
Ellis's summer art walk and the "Follow the Star" holiday retail promotion are two popular events.
The new Ellis Historic Walking Trail will debut on Sept. 27 with a ribbon cutting. The Community Foundation of Ellis sponsors and funds the trail.