|
|
|
Marketplace
|
|
Sections
|
|
Customer Service
|
|
 |
|
Ready to roll
By Connie Beard
Published July 12, 2009
Tour de Paris is the premier summer event in Lamar County, and organizers are ready to roll out a huge welcome for participants in this 25th anniversary ride, set for Saturday at Love Civic Center.
Pre-registration numbers show a banner crowd plans to come to Lamar County, bikes in tow, to peddle their way through the hills and valleys. There will be more than 800 cyclists riding the 15k, 40k, 70k and 100k routes.
A staggered start is one of the big changes for the race this year. Columns of balloons will form a grand entrance for cyclists. Starting at 8 a.m., cyclists on each route will begin the first lap, which takes them from Love Civic Center to downtown Paris where they circle the Plaza and travel back to Jefferson Road to split into the various legs of the races.
“I can’t stress (enough) the importance of people coming out to cheer these people. It’s like a parade going around the Plaza,” said Becky Semple, tourism director for Paris Visitors and Convention Council. Those who want to cheer the cyclists on are asked to be at the Plaza, or anywhere along the downtown route, by 8 a.m. A tunnel of flags with local boy scouts holding American flags is planned along South Main Street. Traffic will be blocked along South Church and South Main streets as the bikers ride along, and motorists are asked to be patient until the cyclists have gone by.
Staff at Lamar County Chamber of Commerce and Paris Visitors and Convention Council have spent months preparing for this happening. Coordinating all the aspects of a ride this size requires the assistance of more than 450 volunteers, Semple said.
“We couldn’t do it without them,” she said.
In addition to individuals, many businesses provide a wealth of supplies, goods, services, technical support and promotion and marketing.
“Grocery shopping for 800 people is a trip,” Semple said. Volunteers arrive in pickup trucks to load up on donations that include bananas, oranges, chips, cookies, crackers, water, cold drinks and even 40 gallons of pickle juice, a prized drink for hot cyclists.
“Tour de Paris is not something we make money off of. It’s an event we do simply to bring people to Paris. Lamar County Chamber of Commerce and Paris Visitors and Convention Council host this event to promote our beautiful countryside and bring people to see Paris so they’ll want to come back,” Semple said.
“It takes the commitment and support of the boards of each of those entities to allow us to put on this event,” said Rachel Schory of Paris Economic Development Council. “They see the benefit of having people come and stay. They’re not looking at the bottom line whatsoever, just the benefits to this community.”
Share |
Save |
Mail |
Print |
Letter
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
