NIBROC gets $15,000 boost from Tourism Commission; Chamber decides to allow out-of-town vendors

Corbin Tourism officials pledged $15,000 to help support this year’s NIBROC Festival, with a promise of more to come if it is needed in the future.

The decision came during the regular monthly meeting of the Corbin Tourism and Convention Commission Tuesday evening. Originally, the Commission had budgeted $25,000 for the event, but board member Tom Rose made a motion to scale that back to $15,000 since the festival isn’t planned to be as large as in previous years.

"I don’t want to kill it," Rose said before making the motion to allocate the money. "It’s not saying you can’t come back and ask for some more later."

The motion was seconded by board member Sherry Logan and passed by a narrow 3-2 margin. Board members Tonya Marcum and Alan Onkst voted against the measure saying they would rather give the full amount.

"It’s budgeted money. I think we ought to go ahead and give it to them," Onkst said.

He added that Tourism officials could re-evaluate NIBROC for next year once they get a better idea of how much the changes to the festival impact interest and attendance.

Josh Curry, President of the Southern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, came to the meeting asking for sponsorship money from the Tourism Commission. The Chamber is the primary sponsor and planner of the event, which will celebrate its 61st year of existence this year.

Officials with the City of Corbin decided against allowing the Chamber to use Main Street for the festival this year. In the past, the street was used mainly to house vendors for the festival.

In response, Chamber officials decided to greatly scale back the festival citing a lack of space and inadequate electrical service. Also, there were concerns that the event could actually become a financial liability for the organization due to the space restrictions. The changes included allowing only local vendors to be a part of NIBROC, and providing no musical entertainment … something that has been an integral part of the festival in the past.

Curry said Tuesday that the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors voted last Wednesday to open up NIBROC to out-of-town vendors again following public feedback over the issue and on the heels of concerns that there simply would not be enough local vendors to fill the spots allotted.

"We realized we’ve got more spots available than what was originally planned … We felt like with just local vendors were weren’t going to have enough. We only have a few that have signed up," Curry said. "Quite a few people complained that they would like to see Tony the Greek and a variety of vendors like that and not just hamburgers and hot dogs."

Curry said Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Bruce Carpenter would decide which out of town vendors would be allowed at the festival.

NIBROC will be contained this year to areas between Depot Street and Main Street. Vendors and activities will be located in municipal parking lots between Gordon and Monroe Streets. The festivals large carnival will take up the rest of the space going up Depot Street.

Curry told Tourism board officials that the chamber also now plans to have some musical entertainment with the festival. Corbin Main Street Manager Andy Salmons said he is going to help book local and regional musical acts that will play during the event. A stage will be set up near Sanders Park. Money from Tourism will be used to help pay the entertainers and for stage and lighting costs.