Sporting and tourism events are filling Terre Haute’s hotels and keeping prospects for a new record in tax revenue for 2022 on course, said David Patterson, executive director of the Terre Haute Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Tax revenue for the county’s innkeepers totaled more than $1.456 million through July, compared to $1.15 million through July 2021.
“We’re still ahead of last year and I think we’re going to be close to $3 million this year,” which would break a peak of $2.6 million in tax revenue. “Everything has been well attended and it’s been a great year so far.”
With the races planned, Patterson said cross country events at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in eastern Vigo County will be key to generating a new revenue benchmark.
“This is our best cross-country plan I’ve seen in 25 years,” Patterson said.
In fact, the final four races, scheduled for October and November, are expected to draw 25,000 people, Patterson said. These races include the Missouri Valley Conference Championship, Indiana High School Athletic Association Championship, NCAA Division I Great Lakes Regional Championship, and NIKE Cross Regional Midwest Championship.
And on October 1st, the month kicks off with back-to-back Indiana Middle School Cross Country State Championship races followed two hours later by the NIKE XC Town Twilight race. This race for high school runners could be a lot bigger since the rule limiting a team to a 300-mile radius (600 miles round-trip) has been removed, Patterson said.
This has drawn interest from teams from Florida, New Mexico and even California, Patterson told the Vigo County Tourism Commission, which oversees the CVB, on Tuesday.
“Teams from all over the country can now come to the Nike event. These are powerhouse teams from other regions and the reason they come here is this [Nike race] is indeed a pre-regional race for Nike, so it counts for a team’s points for the regional and then [they] can compete nationally,” said Patterson.
“Historically we were either No. 1 or No. 2 in terms of attendance, so those teams [from other states] have a vested interest in coming here because they’re up against better runners, and if they do well against better runners, then theirs [team] Stock is increasing to meet national value,” Patterson said.
The NIKE XC Town Twlight race has attracted 3,400 runners at previous events, with the state middle school event attracting 1,800 to 2,000 runners. But if you add in parents and spectators, that equates to about 15,000 people that day, Patterson said.
The cross-country season kicks off Saturday with the Valley Kick-Off hosted by Terre Haute South Vigo High School, a running event that attracts 70 teams of boys and girls. For the full schedule, go to www.lavergibson.com/schedule.html.
Reporter Howard Greninger can be reached at 812-231-4204 or at [email protected]. Follow @TribStarHoward on Twitter.