Visit Cook County officials on June 17 told the Committee of the Whole that the county’s special 1% lodging tax — collected in addition to the statutory statewide lodging levy — supports local tourism associations and year-round programming including live-music funding, arts and culture events and shoulder‑season marketing.

The presentation by Linda, executive director of Visit Cook County, and Mallory (Mallory, event and marketing manager) explained that the 1% is distributed through an application process that runs on the county fiscal year and is divided among the county’s tourism associations based on lodging-tax collections in each geographic area. Linda said the program funds mini‑grants and larger sponsorships for programs such as live‑music nights, North House Folk School sponsorships, and community festivals, and that one association’s annual music budget can be as high as about $90,000.

Why it matters: The 1% is a locally unique allocation that funnels visitor dollars into programming residents use and many commissioners said they want clearer public reporting so residents see how visitor spending supports local services. Visit Cook County described projects that aim to lengthen shoulder seasons (November, early December, April and early May) and to capture data about visitor origin and behavior.

Details: Linda said Visit Cook County oversees a competitive application process; Mallory manages the applications and event sponsorship tracking. Mini‑grants have supported community events such as the Readers & Writers Festival, a ski and run club winter festival, local markets, and youth programs. Linda said the county’s tourism economy is “about 81% dependent” on visitor activity and staff are intentionally promoting growth‑opportunity months to spread visitation across the year.

On tracking visitors, staff said Visit Cook County uses several data sources. Linda said the organization receives border‑crossing reports and reported that Canadian border crossings to the county were down about 40% in April (a figure she said arrived recently and that the data provider was late updating). Staff also described using cellular and event check‑in data through a platform (Bandwango) to learn where event attendees come from and to retarget marketing to those markets.

Commissioners’ questions focused on local participation in visitor‑funded events and whether residents see benefits. Commissioner Barry asked about local musician participation; Linda said much of the music money returns to local musicians and venues through reimbursement programs and event sponsorship. Commissioner Campbell pressed staff to explain what the Canadian decline means for programming and whether the county can identify who the Canadian visitors are (shopping, casino, or tourism). Linda cautioned that many variables influence cross‑border travel (currency, seasonality) and emphasized relying on multiple data sources rather than anecdotes.

What’s next: Commissioners requested that the county post the funding spreadsheet and application materials on VisitCookCounty.com so the public can see allocations, and thanked Visit Cook County for the annual report and marketing updates.

Ending: Staff said they will continue to refine the application process and data collection, and to coordinate with tourism associations to promote events that serve both residents and visitors.