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A Food Lover's Guide to Downtown Erie Restaurants

Local breweries, cafés, bakeries, and restaurants serve everything from elevated comfort food to creative new flavors, making downtown a must-visit destination for food lovers.

Recipients stand toegther behind a big check to receive their matching funds grant.

Tourism Marketing Matching Funds

Apply for a dollar-for-dollar matching grant to support marketing campaigns and programs. 

Purpose:

The goal of the VisitErie Tourism Marketing Matching Funds Program is to promote the business partner and Erie County as a tourism destination. VisitErie will provide a dollar-for-dollar match for selected marketing campaigns targeting travelers outside of Erie County.

Available Funds: TBD

VisitErie awarded a total of $40,000 for Tourism Marketing Matching Funds in 2026. The 2027 available funds will be released soon. Matching funds will be awarded up to $5,000 with a minimum match of $2,000. Approved projects will receive a dollar-for-dollar match from VisitErie.

Eligible Applicants:

Applicants must be VisitErie partners, in good standing, and draw out-of-town visitors. 

Qualifications

  • Businesses who apply are required to be partners of VisitErie, in good standing.
  • Business may apply once per year unless otherwise expressly stated by VisitErie.
  • Partners applying must develop and execute  the marketing campaign and send materials to VisitErie for review prior to the launch of the campaign. (Allow 5 business days for approval.)
  • Partners applying must develop a marketing plan outline to answer the questions in the form below.
  • VisitErie logo must be included on promotional materials.
  • Marketing campaign must be executed by the applicant in the 2027 calendar year.
  • One of VisitErie’s goals is to promote tourism during all four seasons. Proposals that include dates in the ‘off season’ will be viewed favorably.
  • Businesses can either apply for the Tourism Marketing Matching Funds or Events Matching Funds.

How the program works if selected:

  • Applications will be reviewed by VisitErie and will be scored based on these program criteria:
    • Target Market
    • Regional Promotion
    • Program goals
    • Program Budget
  • Businesses will track campaign metrics to measure its success 30 days from the end of the campaign taking place and will provide VisitErie with a final report.
  • If a final report is not provided, this will jeopardize future participation in Matching Funds programs.

Deadline for applications is February 5. Applicants will be notified by February 22.

IMPORTANT: Before clicking the submission button, please save your completed application as a PDF and email it to janicef@visiterie.com ensure it is received.

Apply for Matching Funds

(Min. of $2,000, max. of $5,000)
Include cost breakdown for each tactic.
Please note: This should reflect visitors from outside Erie County.