Volunteers are needed to help welcome the Student & Youth Travel Association (SYTA) Annual Conference. The conference is being held at the Baltimore Convention Center with events and volunteer opportunities throughout the city and surrounding areas from August 24-28, 2018. For a full list of volunteer opportunities and more information, follow this link.

July 30 is the last chance to submit nominations for the MSAC’s Maryland Traditions Heritage Awards. Awards are given in three categories, Person or People, Place and Tradition. Past recipients include the National Outdoor Show, the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, the Ladies’ Aid Society of Smith Island, and the late Irish music impresario Joe Byrne. For more information on the categories and a list of previous winners, follow this link to the MSAC website. To make a nomination, complete this application, which includes guidelines to submit.

The 2018 Maryland Travel & Tourism Summit (MTTS) will be held November 14-16 at the Chesapeake Bay Hyatt Regency Golf Resort, Spa and Marina in Cambridge. MTTS is Maryland’s annual tourism industry conference, which brings together all sectors of the hospitality industry. MTTS offers one-of-a-kind networking and is the ideal opportunity to learn and develop new strategies to advance your business and Maryland Tourism as a whole.

The summit attracts more than 250 attendees, acclaimed speakers presenting on industry trends, and interactive learning sessions including an off-site learning lab. For more information and to register, follow this link.

Our Town is the National Endowment for the Arts’ (NEA) creative placemaking grants program. These grants support projects that integrate arts, culture, and design activities into efforts that strengthen communities by advancing local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes. Successful Our Town projects ultimately lay the groundwork for systemic changes that sustain the integration of arts, culture, and design into strategies for strengthening communities. Applications must be submitted by Aug. 9. For more information and to apply, follow this link to the NEA’s “Our Town” page.

The latest Maryland Tourism Monitor, with data through April 2018, shows strong growth in Maryland’s social media programs with a year-over-year increase of 18 percent in social media followers and a 19.8 percent increase in digital referrals to industry partners. These gains correspond with a 13.9 percent growth in welcome center visitation. Tax revenue from tourism categories has continued to outperform all other sales tax collections with a 1.9 percent rise year-over-year, compared to 1.5 percent in other categories. To read the full monitor, follow this link.

The all-new, official Destination Maryland guide presents our tourism partners with a unique, powerful opportunity that is 100 percent focused on visitation to Maryland—and there is no better time to speak to its large audience than when they are actively planning their visit to the state. Destination Maryland is sent by request to highly qualified consumers who are actively planning a Maryland vacation—most often a long one. In addition to 250,000 printed copies distributed, the guide will also be available as an interactive e-book with click-through to an advertiser's landing page.

Contact Carly Stedman for rates and details: carly.stedman@milespartnership.com, 202-681-8169 or go to http://industry.visitmaryland.org/marketing-advertising/advertising-marketing-opportunities/.

How can OTD help spread the word about your attraction or event? "Maryland Mondays" is the perfect way to help us help you. Each Monday, OTD launches a new “Maryland Mondays” ticket giveaway program across all of our social media channels, consumer newsletters, and weekly “Maryland Minute” radio spots. Combined, these channels reach thousands of potential customers each week. To find out how to get involved by providing tickets to your attraction for an upcoming "Maryland Mondays," email OTD’s Leslie Troy.

Pictured: Oregon Ridge Park, provided by Richard Lippenholz

For the latest on events and everything going all around Maryland, view the latest edition of Visit Maryland Now! here.

Each week, the Maryland Minute provides highlights and insights on this weekend’s events around the state. Maryland Minute is featured on iHeart radio stations in Maryland and Washington, D.C. and on Baltimore’s WBAL-AM 1090.