Southern hospitality is about to be put to the test.
For the remainder of March and into late April, the city of Columbus will play host to 13 events that will draw strangers and familiar faces to the friendly city. There are sports tournaments, conventions, reunions and even an Australian tour coming to town. There is the 75th Pilgrimage and all the events surrounding it in mid-April. That means added business for local hotels, shops and restaurants.
The Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau is sponsoring 11 of those events and providing support for the others. CVB director Nancy Carpenter said the events are paying off for the local economy. For the CVB board, the mantra is: to earn money, one must spend money and not fear rejection.
“You have to be willing to be turned down,” Carpenter said. “We are actively soliciting business.”
Sports tournaments
This year’s Pilgrimage will roll straight into a youth soccer and senior tennis tournament April 17, 18 and 19. The soccer tournament is the Mississippi Soccer Association’s Northern District tournament. The tennis tournament is a U.S. Tennis Association 65 and older competition at Magnolia Tennis Club.
Carpenter said the CVB spent $20,000 of its annual $40,000 budgeted for soccer tournaments on the MSA district tournament; for that investment, she said the city will see an economic impact of around $360,000-$400,000. Columbus Parks and Recreation Director Greg Lewis said 35-50 youth teams will be competing in the tournament. The soccer complex received $29,000 for new lighting from the CVB board, according to Carpenter. Lewis believes these investments to the soccer complex are helping the community.
“It has a tremendous economic impact for the city,” Lewis said.
The CVB board covers the expenses of the officials for soccer tournaments. Carpenter said treating those officials well is what has kept large tournaments, such as the President’s Cup, coming back to Columbus. Putting out real food for breakfast, Hank’s BBQ for lunch and having a fish fry for dinner at last year’s President’s Cup has lingered in the memories of visiting soccer officials.
“We’ve had officials say they were treated like royalty here,” Carpenter said.
The Friends and Family Tournament, hosted by Columbus United Soccer Club March 27-29 will bring over 20 teams to Columbus and the soccer complex, according to Lewis.
“That’s one of those in-house tournaments that’s always been successful,” Lewis said.
The seniors tennis tournament has 225 registered participants, which does not include any spouses or families who may accompany them. Carpenter said many of the tournament participants are arriving in Columbus Wednesday, April 15 to catch the end of Pilgrimage before they play.
Hotel occupancy growing
Columbus has added around 300 hotel rooms in the past year, but the average occupancy rates continue to rise, according to Carpenter.
“Last Friday and Saturday, we had 76 percent occupancy,” Carpenter said of local hotels, “That’s up 33 percent over last year at that time. That’s huge.”
Nikki Mays, who has worked at the Ramada Inn in Columbus for 10 years, said business has been up this year.
“Normally we are pretty slow this time of year, but we’ve been pretty busy,” Mays said.
Mays said the Ramada Inn is already 50 percent booked for the weekend of April 17 and 18, when the tournaments and Pilgrimage cross over.
Other events
Currently, the Trotter Convention Center is hosting around 300 guests for the Mississippi Full Gospel Baptist Church annual state conference. Next week, a group of journalism students from the University of Mississippi will be staying for three days, working on a project for The Commercial Dispatch.
Carpenter is hosting 26 managers of state welcome centers the week of March 22. She said the goal is to show them what the city has to offer, so they can point Mississippi visitors in the direction of the Golden Triangle.
The weekend of March 27 will also bring a host of strangers to Columbus. The Phi Beta Lambda business fraternity is bringing 177 people to Columbus. That same weekend the Columbus United Friends and Family tournament will be in town and the Mississippi University for Women will be celebrating homecoming.
In April, the 75th Pilgrimage will coincide with the 25th “Tales from the Crypt.” Carpenter said it is not uncommon to have visitors from every state come for the two week stretch of tours of the city’s 350 registered historical properties.
The week of April 22, Possum Town will be visited by a group of Australians touring the South, who got in touch with Carpenter two years ago to schedule their visit.
Guests may be coming in from as far away as Down Under, but the local economy should be what comes out on top.
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