[bopApocalypse]

One of the prevailing things I see in almost every thread in the Organizers forum talks about the money that having a rally brings into a community - especially when trying to get road permissions.

Now, suppose you're trying something a little different - a series of one day rally sprints, aiming to cater to (and grow the numbers of) local rallyists. For the 'target audience', we're hoping to make it: get up (a little) early, drive to the rally, race, and then drive home.

How do you pitch the economic impact from that? A handful of gas station fill-ups, and a banquet at a local restaurant? Doesn't seem like much to pitch, vs. a normal "10s of teams towing into town, spending at least 2 hotel nights each etc" event.

Or, do we (the organizers) keep our long term intentions quiet for the moment, and spin the fact that we are hoping to get teams from out of town?
(And stay quiet about our other initiatives to help the out-of-towners spend less money to come race too...)

 

[johnhuebbe]

How big is the town? The smaller it is, the more impact even a small single day rally/rallysprint can have.

If you are trying to pitch a small event to a large town/city, than it will be harder but not impossible.

 

[bopApocalypse]

looking at a wide range of possibilities.
1 area is ~30-40 miles from anything more than single households - closest town is 6000 people.
1 area is <10 miles from a town of <500.
1 area is <10 from several suburban areas.

Keen observation that the impact of an event can be inversely proportional to the size of the host town.

 

[A1337STI]

I wonder if at some point your impact may be too big for the town to want it. IE 30 rally teams coming into a town of 500 ... Maybe they would still be all open arms and cheering... or maybe pitch forks.

wonder if a town of 500, would have enough hotel space for a rally. I guess 10 teams is likely to only need 20 rooms max so it would be fine... hmm

 

[John Sundelin]

I've been working on and off on the same thing down here in AZ, and I would suggest that you not even mention it unless somebody asks "what are you going to do for us?". The point you want to make is that you'll have a very small impact on the daily operation of the community (i.e. keep track of how many cars you see when you are looking at roads), you'll indemnify the localities, and you'll fix any damage (especially to the roads), and you have a plan to deal with the things that might go wrong. On the flip side, it's a safe bet that the person that owns a restaurant in town that is sized suitably for a post-event party is probably a person with a fair amount of influence. If you wander in and mention that you're planning on doing these kinds of events, and see what kind of notice they would need for hosting a post-event party for X number of people, (supportive) word will probably get around. The good thing about living in the West is that reaction that you are most likely to get is "that sounds like fun". The down side is that getting the right permit to use the road isn't necessarily an obvious process or easy, though my understanding is that Utah law may be helpful in that regard. For a RA national event, the unpleasant impact on the locals of having thousands of spectators show up and blocking a significant number of roads (a fair number of which tend to be surprisingly well utilized) has to be balanced. For a smaller event, the downside is a lot less.

--
John

 

[granthughes]

Well, I'd assume that most people would prefer to come down Friday night and leave Sunday if the racing is only on Saturday.
You can make this be beneficial by doing an early registration and tech on Friday evening and an unofficial party that evening. On Saturday morning, have recce on the single road and allow it to be open/unlimited passes but only can start recce once you are through tech and registration. Ensure enough time for all parties to get two passes, but teams that came Friday may be able to get more than that if they choose. Make sure to have a fun after party, again, not a rented banquet hall but maybe at a local bar/restaurant that has room and won't cost to rent. If you can get teams to do one or two hotel nights and one or two big parties at restaurants you have a decent impact.

 

[carl]

when we do the nemadji trail rallies we essentially double the population of the town for a day - i know it must be a pretty big revenue day for the general store that we service next to

 

[REDrum]

The Rally New York crew puts on a great one day rally sprint, some times twice a year.

One road ~9 miles
12 stages
3 spectator locations
Held at Boy Scout camp.
Central service <2 miles from specatator points (good for crews)
Early AM recce
AM In/out, in/out, in/out
Lunch
PM in/out, in out, in/out
Done by 6:00PM Sat
400 bux

Very cost and fun effective for cash strapped teams. No vacation days off, home sat late or by noon sunday. Does it bring in a ton of room nights and meal to the town area, nope. But so what, its grassroots and a ton of fun. Wish there were two more w/in a 5 hour tow from me, I'd run'm all

 

[Mark Holden]

when we do the nemadji trail rallies we essentially double the population of the town for a day - i know it must be a pretty big revenue day for the general store that we service next to

Yep. NT certainly brings significant income into Duquette that wouldn't exist.

If you ran NT out of, say Duluth, you'd essentially just be lost in the noise.

But there are more Duquettes near rally roads than there are major cities. Basing a rally sprint in a very small community can still have a major impact for the community.

 

[RichardM]

We asked this exact question of the Chamber of Commerce in Nocona Texas. The answer was simple: It gets our name out there.

 

[jimmy]

Perryville MO saw what happend at 100AW and asked us to come to their town!

Of course, golden tongue Kim DeMotte had a bit to do with it.

ymmv

press on,

 

[Mark Holden]

Does it bring in a ton of room nights and meal to the town area, nope. But so what, its grassroots and a ton of fun.

The point is that being able to show a significant economic impact on a community can make all the difference in the world to an organizer in making an event happen.

It's the difference between a handful of irate people showing up at a DNR meeting and complaining about their roads being closed, and having a representative from the Chamber of Commerce lobbying on behalf of the rally and the benefit they bring to the community as a whole.

Rally doesn't exist in a vacuum, as much as it would simplify things, an organizer has to consider economic and political aspects of the event as well as the merely logistical. In fact it's really a larger percentage of the job that the stuff that you can directly see results from on the day(s) of the event.

 

[bknblk]

I think the Hearts and Minds campaign is just as effective as the hard data to the chamber approach. Whenever I do anything in or around the town(s) of a rally, I tell them how great there town is and that I'm here for the rally. Gas, restaurants, Wal-Mart, etc. the money might not be overwhelming, but It puts the two thoughts together.

There was some soccer tournament in Perryville last weekend. I'm sure there were many, many time more people in town for that than rally. But I also bet they didn't make a point of telling the gal at the gas station, or the guy that owns that great Italian place downtown they were in here for ____________.


This obviously doesn't help with a new event, just keeping a event alive in the future.

 

[A1337STI]

that's a great Tip Tony. i usually tell store workers that i'm in town for X rally. but not always and I didn't even think it could possibly help the event organizer...

 

[Mark Holden]

As you say, doesn't help with a new event, but everyone who competes, volunteers or spectates an event should be doing this. Building relationships with the communities we compete near is crucial.

I can't remember how many times I've been in Bemidji for OFR, and had someone ask me "why are all these people wearing wristbands?" When I explain it to them I get the "How long have you been doing this?" followed by "I've lived here for XX years and never heard of it before!"

I think the Hearts and Minds campaign is just as effective as the hard data to the chamber approach. Whenever I do anything in or around the town(s) of a rally, I tell them how great there town is and that I'm here for the rally. Gas, restaurants, Wal-Mart, etc. the money might not be overwhelming, but It puts the two thoughts together.

There was some soccer tournament in Perryville last weekend. I'm sure there were many, many time more people in town for that than rally. But I also bet they didn't make a point of telling the gal at the gas station, or the guy that owns that great Italian place downtown they were in here for ____________.


This obviously doesn't help with a new event, just keeping a event alive in the future.

 

[Dante]

It's still hilarious in L'Anse. If you say LSPR, you get a puzzled look. If you say POR, they smile, laugh, and start talking your ear off of how back in the day "we were gonna do that!". Btw, I think LSPR is now 17? years old.

 

[russellmn]

when we do the nemadji trail rallies we essentially double the population of the town for a day - i know it must be a pretty big revenue day for the general store that we service next to

Duquette has a total population smaller than the crew VSC/SRTUSA brings out to a national!!! lol I think you could take the population of Duquette, Nickerson, Kerrick and Holyoke and STILL double the population if you brought out 20 teams!!! lol

We have a similar strategy when we take the Jeeps out, when ya get gas, food, or just soda and ice for the cooler, buy it local, don't haul it in with you from home. Let the owner/manager of whatever store you stopped at know why you're there. They appreciate it, more and more as you get more people to do this.