SportsEvents Magazine

AUG 2014

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August 2014 16 www.sportseventsmagazine.com GAME Plan ▼ and many of the same things that are need- ed for the AVCA Collegiate Sand National Championships, DeBoer said. "The Hangout Music Festival was in place before the Collegiate Sand Championships came to town and is a bigger draw; still, building out some of the infrastructure two weeks earlier helps spread the costs between two events. The expenses of the sand championships are significantly reduced by piggybacking with the music festival." The Dalton Red Carpet Half Marathon/5k/2k came into existence in 2011, and planners wanted to distinguish their race from the myriad of other races dotting the Southeast—piggybacking the event with an entertainment experience was the idea. The first year of the race, planners contracted with Sister Hazel for a concert in the evening following the half marathon, according to Brett Huske, director of tourism, Dalton Area CVB. Participating athletes received two free tickets to the concert, which added incen- tive had positive results with an impres- sive turnout. But planners changed the entertainment option to a festival for 2013 after a disappointing turnout for a concert with a local artist held in con- junction with the race for the 2012 event. "In an effort to reduce our expenses and provide more money to our local charities, we decided against another concert in 2013. Knowing Liberty Tree Festival was being held in the same timeframe, we approached Veronica Rollins, event organizer for the festival, as we felt both events could benefit more together than independ- ently of one another with promotion/ advertising. She agreed to the partnership," said Huske. There's not much that brings more celebration to mind than a block party, and the Bubble Run 5K took advantage of this, being held during the 10 th Anniversary Comcast Arena Celebration Block Party on Sept. 21 in downtown Everett, Wa., with the finish line ending at the Comcast Arena. "At the beginning, Comcast Arena was considering a 5K run along with their block party celebration. By combining the two events, this provided the oppor- tunity for Comcast Arena to focus on the logistics of the Block Party while part- nering with a running event organizer," said Tammy Dunn, sports development manager, Snohomish County Sports Commission. Mix & Match When Visit Eau Claire officials wanted to host a logrolling event in the winter, they knew that piggybacking the event with an established organization like the Special Olympics would help make the event successful. "We played around with the idea a little bit and mentioned it to our local Special Olympics coordina- tor, Karen Kraus, about working it in with the annual Polar Plunge event. We had several meetings with Karen and Shana Verstegen of US logrolling, and we came to the conclusion that we would like to incorporate the first-ever (to our knowledge) Winter Logrolling Championships with the Polar Plunge sponsored by the Special Olympics," said Ben Morgan of Visit Eau Claire. The logrolling and Toss Your Boss events took place Saturday, Feb. 22 this year, and the Polar Plunge was held Sunday, Feb. 23, both at Half Moon Beach in Eau Claire. Morgan believes the success of the logrolling event was due to piggyback- ing. "I don't think the logrolling would have been possible without being con- nected to the Special Olympics and its Polar Plunge event. While family and friends of the log rollers might still have come, it would have been hard to market the event in the dead of winter without the existing polar plunge where people already expect to be a little chilly." ■ In Central Pennsylvania an art festival and a race are held together. The Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital Foundation has held baseball, golf and other events at the same time, providing an opportunity for sponsors to gain greater exposure than they would with just one event.

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