09/16/2026 Tourism Advisory Committee

The City of Albany Tourism Advisory Committee met September 16, 2026, to review prior grant results and award tourism grants for upcoming events. Applicants presented proposals for downtown Christmas tree lighting, the Historic Carousel Museum, Christmas Storybook Land, the Northwest Fly Fishing Expo, an international slow-pitch softball tournament, Monteth House performances, United Way’s Crab Fest, and the Willamette Valley Jaguars. The committee approved an initial $42,560 in allocations, including $9,045 for the fly-fishing expo, $3,800 for the softball tournament (including a later $1,100 addition), $9,014 for United Way’s event, and $9,900 for the Jaguars. It then approved $645 for Monteth House and voted to distribute the remaining $6,795 equally among five partially funded projects, bringing total awards to the $50,000 available. Grant payments are made by reimbursement upon submission of receipts. The discussion included event promotion, venue costs, equipment, and expected visitor and lodging impacts; no vendor contract awards or procurements were made.

Staff reported that Albany had identified 81 short-term rentals, of which 59 were registered, and that transient lodging tax revenue was up 7.57% year over year after the city changed its code to allow Airbnb to remit taxes directly. Members asked how lodging-tax funds are allocated and discussed a state-law change expected to affect the allocation split beginning in January; staff said Finance would need to clarify the details. No allocation plan was decided at this meeting.