Auglaize County Commissioner and organizer for the non-profit Friends of the St. Marys Theater and Grand Opera House Doug Spencer, center left, leads a tour of the opera house during the annual Greater Grand Lake Visitors Region awards reception on Thursday.

Tourism income in Mercer and Auglaize counties was up from 2020, a year hit hard by the COVIS-10 pandemic. Total numbers are based on a formula.

From left, Michael Burkholder, St. Marys manager of industrial and community development, Kraig Noble, St. Marys assistant law director, and Greg Foxhoven, St. Marys city safety and service director, accept the 2021 Stahr Award on behalf of the city.