Meeting Notes September 18, 2025
Starting time: 3:00 pm
Meeting Location:Grand Lake Town Hall
Meeting Attendance
Board Members Present:Joanna Whitmarsh, Beau Larson, Jennifer Brown, Heather Bishop, Gretta Fosha, Elizabeth Brumm
Attendance by Zoom:Dave Huber, Dakota Cordle
Board Members Absent: Jeremy Belnap, Cheryl Spezia, Kristin Spronz, Rebecca Bierden
Also in Attendance: Gaylene Ore, Paula Isakson, Katelyn Green, Dave Santucci
Mission Statement: We inspire a sustainable, year-round tourism economy in Grand County with an emphasis on strengthening the vitality of our communities, celebrating our local culture and traditions, and respecting our environment and resources.
3:00pm Call to Order–President
Joanna called the meeting to order at 3:03 pm.
Approval of Minutes
Minutes approved by the board.
Approval of Invoices
Gaylene reported that the total invoices for September were $112,147.99.
General Public Comments
No general comments
3:15 pm Administration Finance Committee
The BOCC and the GCCTB will be on October 8 to review the board's budget for 2026 at 9:45 am.
The budget includes an approved plan that incorporates strategies from the Destination Blueprint.
Executive Director
Ongoing meetings with Madden and content writing for the new website.
Worked with Madden on the CTO matching marketing grant, along with ongoing approval newsletters, local campaign, and winter ads.
Gaylene and Paula worked several events in Granby, Fraser, and Winter Park promoting Stand Grand.
Attended BOCC, Grand Places Meeting, KeyData, and Datafy meetings
Public Relations
Grand County has recently been featured in Mountain Town, Ski Hi News, and Singletracks. Gaylene will be meeting with two media representatives arriving on September 21-24.
Last week, she was in Detroit attending the SATW Conference and met with one of the journalists who will be coming to Grand County on September 24-27.
Beau Larson arrived at 3:10 pm.
3:30 pm Contractors' Reports
Marketing – Katelyn Green
The website visitgrandcounty.com received 1.3 million impressions in August, along with 16,000 clicks and 48,000 impressions, resulting in a 4,800 CTR.
Madden will be adding a Performance Max Campaign through Google to increase ad exposure. The new Expedia ad received 506,000 impressions and 523 clicks to the landing page, which is a very high number.
Attribution for Epsilom - 3-month shelf life - 9 to 1 for every dollar spent in the market. Jennifer asked Madden Media to share three highlights of success at the next BOCC meeting. Madden and the GCCTB Board will meet with BOCC on October 28 at 10:30 am.
Social Media–Megan Dryden
Megan reviewed the July-August Reporting
Stand Grand Campaign: 1 post a week, and Madden is boosting every other week.
She's encouraged visitors to download the app for Travelstorys. Seeing more engagement with boosted posts - more positive comments.
July Summary
Reach (paid+organic): 14K -11% FACEBOOK Reach: 53K -8%
August Summary
INSTAGRAM Reach: 18,210 +30% FACEBOOK Total Reach: 157.5K -60%
New Campaign Tactic
"Promoting tourism campaign" with an organic social media campaign, "the life of a local". The campaign would run for 8 weeks, highlighting a day in the life of a local, showcasing various activities, scenery, and more.
4:15pm Old Business CTO Annual Conference
Attendance so far is Paula Isakson, Joanna, Dakota, Megan, and Kristen.
Mission2Market – Board Retreat
Dave shared highlights from the board retreat in August.
Upcoming Dates
Gaylene to send out email to board members with updates on meetings in October and November.
4:30 pm New Business
Proposed Grant Dates. Gaylene and Paula will send out a letter announcing the new dates to all past grantees and submit a release to the Sky Hi News.
Gaylene spoke with Megan Ledine, and the Grand Foundation had not yet set the 2026 dates.
Gretta motioned to change the grant cycle to January and June from the current four grant cycles, and Beau seconded. The motion carried unanimously.
2026 Meeting Schedule
The board discussed moving to our new meeting schedule and moving our Christmas party to the November 20 meeting this year. We will not have a December meeting moving forward.
Proposed Meeting Schedule
In-person meetings in January, March, April, June, August, September, October, and November Zoom Meetings – February and May
No Meetings – July and December.
Beau motioned to have our regular board meeting and Christmas party in November, no meeting in December, and Elizabeth seconded. The motion carried unanimously.
Public Relations RFQ
Questions from candidates are due October 1, and proposals are due on October 15 Gaylene will send out a Doodle Poll to see what date in November works best for interviews.
5:00 pm Adjourn
Next Meeting: October 16, Granby Fire Department
Adjournment
Beau Larson motioned to adjourn; Elizabeth Brumm seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 4:28 pm.