Governor Justice awarded 64 additional grants, worth $1,144,010 from the Governor’s Contingency Fund, to help various organizations that host fairs, festivals, or similar events bridge the gap in a year where such events were forced to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was reported to me that many of our fairs and festivals were on the ropes,” Gov. Justice said.
“The people that are putting on our fairs and festivals are doing this because of their love for our state and our communities. But they’re not flush with extra dollars and, at the end of the day, when something happens like what happened, where we had to stop our fairs and festivals, it put us in jeopardy of losing many of them altogether.
“To me, that’s just not acceptable,” Gov. Justice continued. “I’m a real believer that these events are a part of our identity, part of the fabric of who we are. We have to be able to help preserve our fairs and festivals and keep them going and I’m really proud to be able to do this.”
Out of the round of additional funding announced today, 52 grants, worth a combined amount of $451,790, were awarded to organizations that normally receive funding for their fairs and festivals through Preservation WV Grants.
Ten grants, worth a combined amount of $688,220, were awarded to individual arts line items that were included in the Fiscal Year 2021 budget. And two grants, worth a combined amount of $4,000, were awarded to a pair of additional festivals in Bluefield.
On top of the amount announced today, Gov. Justice also awarded more than $1.5 million last week to 330 fairs and festivals across the state.
Over the course of the past two weeks, Gov. Justice has provided a total of $2,710,398 to support nearly 400 fairs, festivals, and similar events throughout West Virginia.
“Basically what we’re doing is doubling-down to ensure that these great organizations and events can survive,” Gov. Justice said. “All the goodness they deliver to us, all the time, is incredible. The economic impact and the impact on tourism is amazing.
“I think West Virginians, all of us, should be so proud of who we are and market that to the world,” Gov. Justice continued. “We’re beginning to do that and it is really changing the way the world looks at us. We’re becoming the diamond in the rough that they think they’ve all missed. Now they all want to come.” ■