There is now a one-stop shop for event scheduling in Grant County.
A new website, dograntcounty.com, held it’s launch party Thursday evening at the Garden House in Matter Park. A collaborative effort of several organizations, the website aims to gather all local event information in one online space.
Kylie Jackson, President and CEO of the Marion-Grant County Chamber of Commerce, said the project was born from a desire to “make it easier for people who make calendars.”
Often, community organizations will double book events at the same time as other organizations, a major issue according to the website’s organizers. Furthermore, many at the event said they were tired of hearing the refrain “there’s nothing to do in Grant County.”
This is not the first attempt at creating a singular website for advertising local events. A previous website, itshappeningingrantcounty.wordpress.com, had numerous shortcomings. A complicated name, the inability to access the website through a cell phone, the old website simply did not meet the expectations of those who created it.
“We weren’t super excited to tell everyone about it,” Jackson said.
The issue prompted a committee of five critical Grant County institutions: the Marion-Grant County Chamber of Commerce, the Community Foundation of Grant County, Main Street Marion, the City of Marion and the Gas City Area Chamber of Commerce. Yet the fortunes of the committee changed when Executive Director of the Grant County Economic Growth Council Tim Eckerle brought on two Taylor University students.
Sung Kim and David Young Kwang-Han had won Taylor’s “Shark Tank” for the creation of a job service website meant to help college graduates connect with local employment opportunities. While Kim is in talks with Taylor to implement the website in Grant County, Eckerle brought on the student volunteers to assist with the county’s new event website.
“Not only am I a business management major but I want to serve the community,” Kim said. “We were more than willing to volunteer ourselves and create this opportunity.”
Kim and Kwang-Han, known jokingly as the “Jobs and Wozniak” of Taylor, then began writing the website’s code and looking at event websites from neighboring communities.
“A lot of these event pages are too complicated,” Kim noted.
The end result is an easy to use, official website that collects all local events in one space. Those looking to place an event on the website need only click on “Add Event” in the page’s top-right corner and enter the relevant information. They can even specify the event’s category, such as under “athletic, government, festival or fundraiser.”
An administrator for the website is then able to approve or deny pending event requests. The website also offers a feature designed specifically by Kim that allows event planners to have their event repeated on the list either weekly or monthly.
Furthermore the website mends the issues experienced on the prototype page. Those with smart phones are able to have easy mobile access to the website and events are now pushed out directly to the “Do Grant County” Facebook page.
Kim, who is now searching for post-graduation jobs in Grant County, said the students were “very proud” of themselves, and glad “to be part of the city, part of the county.”
“We were happy to be here and add on to the community,” Kim said.