MAYVILLE – The inaugural Chautauqua Gran Fondo Cycling Tour will take place on Saturday, with cyclists from throughout the region coming to Chautauqua County to ride around the lake.

In addition to the cycling event, Chautauqua County Executive Vince Horrigan and Chautauqua County Department of Planning and Economic Development Director Kevin Sanvidge will be announcing details of the 2016 Chautauqua Region Get Into Summer Challenge.

Horrigan told WRFA on Wednesday that’s the new promotion will focus on healthy activity.

“We’re going to kick off something called ‘Get into Summer’ and we’re going to kick that off Saturday at 8:30 a.m.,” Horrigan said. “It’s about our challenge – like the state’s Adirondack Challenge – we’re going to have a Get into Summer challenge. In 2016 for a three-week period, from the last weekend in June through July – we’re going to talk about all the healthy activities we can do in Chautauqua County.”

Horrigan will make the announcement at the gazebo in Mayville’s Lakeside Park. Following the announcement, over 175 cyclists will begin their tour around Chautauqua Lake at 9 a.m.

Tonight’s meeting has a fairly light agenda. Highlighting the voting tonight will be the legislature acting on allocating funding from the county’s 2015 bed tax proceeds for three off-cycle projects.

Those projects include the Lucy Town Half Marathon and 5K in Jamestown, which will receive $8,060. The Chautauqua Gran Fondo Cycling Tour, which will receive $6,680. And the Chadwick Bay Bike Run in Dunkrik, which is set to receive $3,600.

A complete agenda for tonight’s voting session can be found at the legislature’s website. Tonight’s meeting begins at 6:30 and is open to the public.

According to an article in the Post-Journal, committee members Thursday discussed using proceeds from the county’s bed tax to fund the creation of the National Bigfoot Center.

Funding for the project – which is being spear-headed by Peter Wiemer, owner of We Wan Chu Cottages and organizer of the Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo – was suggested by the county’s Tourism Review Panel. However, the review panel made funding to the National Bigfoot Center contingent upon proof of the project’s viability.

The proposed $4 million project aimed to utilize property near the Interstate 90 exit in Ripley. The project requested the maximum $10,000 from the occupancy tax fund for 2015 and 2016.

Projects that would be awarded funding (all under $10,000) would be the Lucy Town Half Marathon and 5K, Chautauqua Gran Fondo Cycling Tour, and the Chadwick Bay Bike Run.

Lawmakers said they didn’t feel enough information was available to them to prove the Bigfoot Center project was viable, and suggested Wiemer return next year and request the funding again.

Not everyone was in favor of encouraging the Big Foot project to return next year and ask for funding. County legislator and Audit and Control committee chairman John Runkle (R-Stockton) said if approved, it would be the most ridiculous appropriation of taxpayer dollars he has ever seen his entire life.