Lombard committee recommends eight tourism grants, including Lilac Parade and Brewfest

The Village of Lombard’s Community Promotion and Tourism Committee recommended approval of eight local tourism grant applications for 2026, Trustee Egan said. The requests include funding for the Lilac Princess program, the Lombard Cycling Classic, Lombard Food Truck Social, an America 250 art installation, the Explore Historic Lombard app, Spooktacular, Candy Cane Lane Holiday Market and the Lombard Brewfest.

Trustee Egan told the board the committee recommended seven applications at the amounts requested and one at a reduced funding level after reviewing grant guidelines, applicant presentations and a discussion of each request. She said the committee also examined preliminary Placer AI visitor‑data reports to provide context on past event attendance and local tourism activity.

“Those applications were … reviewed with presentations from the applicants, questions and discussion,” Trustee Egan said, summarizing the committee’s evaluation process. The committee will forward the grant items to the full Village Board for consideration in March.

The recommendations include specific event funding and requests for village services funded from hotel/motel funds; for example, the Lilac Parade committee sought $25,000 plus the cost of village services and the Lombard Garden Club requested $2,000 to purchase lilacs. Other chamber and festival requests listed by the clerk included allocations to cover village services, overtime for public works to place barricades, and advertising.

The committee’s use of Placer AI data to inform its recommendations was highlighted as a way to estimate visitor patterns and measure potential returns on investment. No final board votes on the grants were recorded at this meeting; the items are expected on a future agenda in March.