Economic Development and Tourism staff briefed council on four initiatives including the Grow Waynesboro training and grant program, a consolidated business website, a tourism app, and new short-form videos for marketing.

Greg Hitchin (Economic Development and Tourism) said the initiatives carry a combined budget of about $161,000, of which roughly 30% is city funding and 70% is from grants and partner contributions. The Grow Waynesboro program (branded Rockfish Gateway for a targeted corridor) combines free seven-week training starting Feb. 3 with a startup grant competition: staff said more than 30 interest forms were received and that a pitch night on April 28 will distribute $58,000 in startup grants with at least three winners and a maximum single award of $25,000.

Staff also presented the new Waynesboro Business website (waynesborobusiness.com), consolidating three prior sites and adding user-targeted navigation, an entrepreneur’s guide, an available-properties square-foot counter, and business testimonials. Tourism staff reported 2024 visitor spending of $85,900,000 (a 10.4% increase over 2023), tourism-supported jobs totaling 895, and local tourism-related taxes of $4,100,000. Recent grants listed included a $16,000 VTC destination marketing organization grant, $10,000 micro-business grant, a $10,000 drive tourism plus grant and a $20,000 DMO grant in 2025 to market videos.

Staff said they produced short-form tourism videos using grant funds, will use the Virginia Tourism Corporation marketing cooperative to run targeted ads (including connected TV and social platforms), and plan to share the videos on the app and website. The Visit Waynesboro app has about 1,600 downloads to date and includes self-guided tours and interactive "challenges." Staff invited council questions and noted they will continue outreach to entrepreneurs and investors.

Next steps: Staff will continue outreach for the Grow Waynesboro program, keep the application available briefly for late applicants, and proceed with marketing campaigns funded by the VTC grants.