March 19, 2024

Marketing board discusses potential events for Newton

The Newton Community Marketing Board discussed several upcoming opportunities for the city including a possible invitation to be a RAGBRAI host city during its Thursday meeting. Community Marketing Manager Danielle Rogers said the city received paperwork to fill out for annual statewide bike ride but it in no way indicated Newton would be selected next year.

“The mayor received a packet of information. (Right now) it is just information gathering,” Rogers said. “All they are wanting from this is to get updated information. I think they decide to send it to city’s who have done it in the past as well as bigger cities who fall in different sections.”

Rogers said RAGBRAI made it very clear that receiving the packet in no way guarantees a community host city status. Even with no preference shown to Newton, the board members were excited about the possibility of bringing the event back to the city. Newton last served as a host city in 2006.

“It is an amazing event. It was a fun afternoon, fun evening,” board member Mark Allen said.

Another event looking to possibly come to Newton is the 2019 Preserve Iowa Summit.

“It falls kind of in why the community marketing board was created, for tourism purposes bringing different events to Newton, that this kind of aligns with that,” Rogers said.

The Newton Historic Preservation Commission was approached by the Iowa State Historic Preservation Office to potentially host the summit in 2019. Rogers said the hope is if Newton is named the host, the city would partner with the commission to market the event.

“There would be some opportunities for different sponsorships for different business or organization in the community,” Rogers said.

There would be a small cost to the city of approximately $5,900 but the board gave unanimous approval to move forward with plans as they come to the city.

“I think it is a great event, a great opportunity for the city,” Rogers said.

An advertising opportunity a little sooner is the Travel Iowa September 2017 Facebook Co-op Ad. The ads will run towards the end of the month and, with board approval, will feature the upcoming Sculpture Festival.

“They will run the ad for seven days on there Facebook page,” Rogers said. “It has the potential reach of 21,000 to 55,000 people.”

The board previously approved advertising on the Travel Iowa Facebook page as an avenue that would give a lot of “bang for the buck” and would also provide an efficient way to track views generated from the ad.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com