Committee discusses fundraising, Route 66 sponsorships and centennial planning

The Pacific Historical Committee discussed fundraising strategies ahead of the city’s centennial and Route 66 activities, and asked a committee member to research options and return with proposals.

Bonnie Post (addressed by the chair to lead fundraising research) proposed several approaches including producing a historic calendar sold with advertising, restaurant fundraising nights, raffles and trivia events. "I thought maybe everybody could bring their ideas back... even if we can get something in the pipeline... we could just make some money to be sort of putting back in when we buy things," she said. Members recalled previous successful calendar fundraising that covered printing costs through advertising sales.

Tourism director Kelly O'Malley said tourism has roughly $35,000 set aside for 2025 in preparation for 2026 events and described current sponsorship and grant efforts tied to Route 66: a possible $15,000 interactive Route 66 sign sponsorship and a $25,000 nonmatching sponsorship application for a barbecue and bluegrass festival. "We have a budget in tourism, about $35,000 put aside for 2025 to get ready for 2026," O'Malley said. She recommended setting clear fundraising goals (for example, earmarking funds for a specific exhibit) and suggested confirming with the city attorney whether donations can be directly placed into a committee line item or whether an outside 501(c)(3) is needed to hold funds.

Members agreed to start with one fundraising project and asked Bonnie Post to research costs and present a proposal at the next meeting. The committee also discussed possible merchandise sales and online ordering but noted current staff capacity limits for order fulfilment. Kelly also announced a Route 66 resident-and-business meeting scheduled for Jan. 22 (10 a.m. and 6 p.m.) to brief local stakeholders and solicit participation.