Tourism commission awards rural grants

The Nevada Commission on Tourism has awarded nearly $700,000 worth of grants to rural communities to promote themselves to potential visitors.

"Tourism is Nevada's No. 1 industry, and rural tourism grants can make the difference between smaller communities participating in the industry or being bypassed simply because of limited budgets," said state Tourism Director Bruce Bommarito.

The grants are awarded in December and June. This latest series brings the total awards for this year to $1.75 million.

A total of 99 grants were awarded in this cycle, most of them for projects costing less than $10,000.

The list includes three grants to the Carson City Convention and Visitors Bureau and Carson Chamber of Commerce totaling $9,000, three to the Carson Valley Chamber totaling $11,825, and four grants to the Virginia City tourism authority and chamber of commerce totaling $19,800.

The Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority received $10,000 for its "Bears by the Lake" event, and the Fourth Ward School in Virginia City received $8,000 for its exhibit "Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation."

One of the largest grants was $40,000 to the Tonopah Development Corp. to advertise the community as the No. 1 place in the nation to stargaze - as named by USA Today.