ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Events and organizations that bring welcome attention to Belmont County got a little help Thursday with the release of this year’s round of Grant Assistance Program funds through the Belmont County Tourism Council.

Tourism Director Jackee Pugh said the goal of these grants is to “fill in the gap” by financially assisting the area’s nonprofit organizations with their events, projects, improvements or maintenance of tourism attractions.

She said there have been a “record number of applicants” this year, with 52 nonprofit organizations receiving grants from $500 to $5,000. Pugh said the Tourism Council was able to award $107,600.

“It’s normally $100,000 or just below $100,000, and last year we had just a little over 40 applicants that we were able to give to,” she said. “We were able to budget a little bit more this year, and with the recovery of COVID we’re doing better. We’re able to put away a little more, and just the sheer number of applicants we had, we wanted to help as many as we could.”

She said there have been several new applicants such Arc of Ohio and the Belmont County District Library.

“COVID impacted everyone and the recovery has taken time, so last year we saw a lot of events put on that hadn’t been for a couple of years previous, and they were successful,” she said. “We’re hoping for this year to grow those events.”

Beginning at 3 p.m., representatives of numerous organizations showed up at the tourism office in the Ohio Valley Mall.

Among the recipients was Bo McConnaughy, co-director of the Beast of the East baseball tournament that has held games since 1988 in various area fields. The organization received $3,000.

“It’s definitely going to be a big help because we have expenses with umpires,” he said, adding the cost of umpires can be $50-$90,000 depending on the number of games.

“It’s definitely a big help,” he said, adding the Tourism Council and other sponsors have helped them for more than 20 years.

“Before COVID, we had anywhere from 125 to 150 teams a year. After COVID that’s dropped off, but there’s several other reasons for that. One is there are so many tournaments out there now and a lot of other communities are having them,” McConnaughy said. “Sometimes it’s hard to get the teams to come on. Gas, travel, hotels all have an impact.”

Cheryl J. Skinner, assistant director of the Tri-State Military Veterans Museum in Belmont, received $1,000, to be used for utilities and maintenance of the site, including the Heroes Wall Forever project.

“One of our biggest sponsors is the tourism,” she said. “We’re trying to rebound. Our donations are down, but of course everybody is struggling.”

John Marshall, a representative of the Ohio National Road Association, received a check for $2,100 for an interpretive sign to go with mile marker 138 they intend to place on U.S. 40 near Ebbert’s Farm. They hope to dedicate it in the fall. The old marker has been in the Smithsonian Institute since the 1930s.

Anthony Orsini, director of the Belmont County District Library, received $2,500 for the James Wright Poetry Festival April 29.

“It’ll pay for the authors that are coming in to do presentations and lead the writing discussion,” Orsini said. “This will cover about a third of the visit. We were fortunate to get a grant from the Ohio Arts Council for the festival as well.”

He commended the Tourism Council’s generosity.

“It’s great to be able to coordinate special events like this in the county, and funding like this makes that possible,” he said.

Martins Ferry Mayor John Davies accepted $1,500 on behalf of the city for July 4 fireworks.

“That’s about half of what we spend,” Davies said.

Brad Johnston, marketing representative with the Zion Retreat and RV Park in Flushing, received two grants of $1,500 each, for pamphlets and for fees and materials to participate in an outdoors show in Pittsburgh.

“We’re actually going to be able to go to shows and highlight Belmont County,” he said, adding thanks to the tourism council. “They are my right arm whenever I need anything, Belmont County Tourism Council is right there to help us. They have provided so much help to us.”

Frank Papini of the Ohio River Valley Elks got $1,500.

“We use that for our annual Community in the Park Days at Martins Ferry Park in the summer, where we have free food, rides and games for everybody,” he said, adding the event is in June.

Papini said the Elks were new to the GAP program.

“Last year was the first year we applied for it and I was surprised that we were eligible,” he said. “It really helps us a lot because we wouldn’t be able to come up with it for the community day.”