The Cambrian Tourism Board recently ordered a service to provide an in-town weather station and web camera for and access to current weather conditions and scenic Internet viewing by visitors and residents.

The volunteer board members, representing various area lodgings and businesses, also approved a grant for this year’s Scarecrow Festival, new officer roles for board members and selection of members to fill those positions.

The service, estimated to cost $3,880 annually, also would provide Cambria-specific information to the National Weather Service, according to Cheryl Cuming, CBID’s chief administrative officer. The county group provided funding for the equipment, she said, and the Cambria board’s fee goes toward maintaining the equipment and the service and generating reports.

Locations for the equipment haven’t been determined, but tourism board members said they hope the web cam could be placed to show the ocean and shoreline, while the weather station might be located in the warmer, often sunnier downtown area.

The board also unanimously approved a $4,977 grant to the 2013 Scarecrow festival. (Grants of $5,000 and over must be approved by county supervisors.) Annual storage costs for scarecrows and supplies have risen to about $2,000. Festival organizers plan more advertising and want to hire a professional photographer to provide pictures of each scarecrow and post them on the website more quickly, allowing more visitors to view them earlier in October.

The festival’s committee plans to sponsor a “buck a ballot” fundraiser vote for people’s awards. Winners of prizes would be notified by mail and email, thereby providing to the festival committee their zip codes and email addresses for future communications.

The tourism group also reorganized its executive board at a special meeting Feb. 18, opting for chairperson and vice chairperson positions in place of having two co-chairs, as the board had in the past. Elected to the new positions for 2013 were Chairman Bram Winter, general manager of the Cambria Pines Lodge, and Vice-Chairwoman Nancy Carr, representing San Simeon Pines Seaside Resort. 

Follow Kathe Tanner on Twitter at @CambriaReporter.