by Jessica Schroeder, USTA Outreach & Membership Enrichment Coordinator

Columbus, OH — The United States Trotting Association is pleased to announce the winners of the 2017 Matching Funds Grant program. The winners were selected from 29 applications submitted vying for their share of $10,000. A total of 20 fairs and horsemen’s associations were awarded money for advertising and promoting harness racing at their fairs, with eight of them being awarded money for the first time since the program was started in 2006.

Winning proposals included billboard, radio and newspaper advertising; door hang tags; television commercials; posters; banners; road signs and social media promotions.

The following fairs were 2017 recipients:

Agricultural Society of Oswego County (Sandy Creek, NY)
Columbiana County Fair (Lisbon, OH)
Cuyahoga County Ag Society (Berea, OH)
Darke County Fair (Greenville, OH)
Defiance County Fair (Hicksville, OH)
Delaware County Fair (Delaware, OH)
Erie County Fair (Wattsburg, PA)
Farmer City/Dewitt County Fair (Farmer City, IL)
Fayette County Harness Horsemen (Washington C.H., OH)
Fowlerville Harness Horsemen (Fowlerville, MI)
Goshen Historic Track (Goshen, NY)
Jayland Trotting Association (Portland, IN)
Madison County Amusement Park (Camden, MS)
Mahoning County Agricultural Society (Canfield, OH)
Morrow County Fair (Mt. Gilead, OH)
Ottawa County Fair (Oak Harbor, OH)
Richland County Fair (Richland Center, WI)
Wapello County Fair (Eldon, IA)
Western Michigan Fair Association (Ludington, MI)
Wisconsin Harness Horse Association

The Matching Funds Grant program was started in 2006 to aid county fairs and horsemen’s associations to support a grassroots marketing initiative at the fair level. The need for assistance this year ranged from $84-$1,000 (with $1,000 being the maximum assistance provided by the USTA to an applicant), proving that marketing and promotion can be done at any level.

There is an additional $10,000 available to assist fairs and horsemen’s groups in purchasing items to be given away during the races at their fairs. Groups must submit the invoice for and a photo of the product to jessica.schroeder@ustrotting.com and they will be reimbursed for half of the cost, up to $1,000 per group. Reimbursement is available first come, first served until the $10,000 budget is reached. The USTA also has some racing promotional items available for purchase, which can be viewed here.

For more information about the program, visit the Matching Funds Grant webpage on the USTA website.