VALDOSTA —
The parking lot at Freedom Park was nearly full, primarily with vehicles from other areas of Georgia. George Page knew what that meant.
It meant that hundreds of people were visiting Valdosta from out of town. People who needed somewhere to sleep, somewhere to eat and somewhere to buy gas. Which meant that lots of out-of-town dollars would be spent in Valdosta over the next few days.
That was a good thing.
Last week, Valdosta hosted the 8- and 10-year-old Dizzy Dean Baseball state tournaments at Freedom Park. The tournaments began on Thursday and lasted until Sunday.
Page, the director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority, said the two tournaments were good for the local economy.
“A tournament like this has a huge economic impact,” he said.
Combined, the two tournaments had 36 teams playing, 34 of them from out of town. Each of those 34 teams spent 1-4 nights in hotels in Valdosta. Many of the players had family members accompany them to the tournament, and those family members occupied more hotel rooms.
“With this tournament alone, we’re probably looking at 1,500 hotel nights,” Page estimated during the tournament. “That’s a huge economic impact to our community. We’ll have folks here from Wednesday to Sunday.”
Teams and their supporters have also had to eat three meals each day while staying in the city. And people have also spent money on other things while in town.
“Businesses in town will definitely see a spike this week,” Page predicted. “And that’s a great thing.”
The tournaments also gave the Parks and Recreation Authority the opportunity to showcase Freedom Park and the city of Valdosta.
“We’re certainly excited to have all the teams from (different) parts of the state down here visiting Valdosta-Lowndes County. We feel they’re going to have an enjoyable three or four days here. We have a beautiful facility at Freedom Park, great facilities for kids to play at and we’re proud of our facilities,” Page said. “Not only do we have the facility, we have an awesome staff. We have an abundance of hotel rooms in town, great restaurants, a theme park (Wild Adventures) and we have a lot of positive things that are right here in our community.”
Page was pleased that the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority was able to bring two Dizzy Dean Baseball state tournaments to Freedom Park this year.
“We’re excited that we were fortunate enough to land both the 8-year-old and 10-year-old Dizzy Dean state tournaments,” Page said. “Last year was our first year in Dizzy Dean. Last year, we had five All-Star teams, and all five All-Star teams had to travel north of Atlanta to state tournaments. This year, we’ve got four All-Star teams, and we were able to win the bid for two state tournaments.”
Dizzy Dean Baseball has several state tournaments every year, and the Parks and Recreation Authority wants to keep bringing some of those tournaments to Valdosta in the future.
“This is only the beginning,” Page said. “We enjoy Dizzy Dean. Dizzy Dean, so far, has been a good organization for our community. It’s a good fit. We will continue to bid on tournaments in 2013, and in the future.”
Page also said that the Parks and Recreation Authority will continue to try to bring other baseball and softball tournaments to the area. The VLPRA is also planning to build a soccer complex that can host soccer tournaments in the near future.
“If we can bring these type tournaments to town 30-40 weeks out of the year, that (would be) huge for our local economy,” he said. “We’re going to continue to go hard for tournaments. We like seeing folks come visit Valdosta. It’s a great place.”
“We’re just scratching the surface of what we can do,” he added. “We’re looking at a way to be able to show how many hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars of economic impact that Parks and Rec, by facilitating or hosting tournaments, is bringing into the community.”
Local Sports
Related Photos
-
The parking lot at Freedom Park was nearly full, primarily with vehicles from other areas of Georgia. George Page knew what that meant.
Discussion
Youth tournaments bring dollars into the community
- Local Sports
-
-
Sending the Blazers off
The Valdosta State softball team made the long journey to Salem, Va. Tuesday, leaving Valdosta at 10:30 a.m. with devoted fans cheering them out of the parking lot.
-
All-Region teams announced
Lowndes was one win away from a trip to the Class AAAAAA state semifinals, and the success by the Vikings this season showed when the All-Region 1 baseball teams were announced Monday.
-
Lowndes tennis dominates
Lowndes’ tennis team dominated the All-Region 1 teams, with coach Heath Phelps garnering Coach of the Year honors on both the girls’ and boys’ side.
-
Banks Lake Youth Fishing Derby a success
The 13th annual Banks Lake Youth Fishing Derby held May 11 drew 150 children from ages 3 to 15 who competed for trophies while learning how to fish.
-
Valdosta's Alakulppi ties for 2nd at state
Valdosta freshman golfer Luukas Alakulppi fired a 71 to finish in a tie for second at the Class AAAAAAA state golf tournament in Tifton.
-
Brooks County's Parrish in Rivals Top 100
Brooks County rising senior Malkolm Parrish is ranked the 73rd best high school football prospect in the nation, according to the release of the Rivals.com Top 100.
-
Summer camp information
VSU baseball camp coming soon
-
Prince Automotive donates new baseball equipment
Prince Automotive of Valdosta is supporting the Valdosta community through its partnership with the Valdosta/Lowndes County Recreation Department. The dealership has joined forces with the national Chevrolet Youth Baseball program to provide new equipment, instructional clinics, and a monetary donation.
-
Needmore holds final races before big Memorial Day weekend
Saturday night racing at Needmore Speedway saw some new faces in victory lane.
That wasn’t the case in the Late Model division, as Valdosta's Gene Ross drove to victory once again, but not without some close competition from Steven Roberts who came in second.
In the Limited Late Model class, it was another win for Cole Exum, with Gene Maine finishing second in the NAPA Auto Parts special. -
VSU softball wins South Region, headed to nationals
For the third time in four years, and second in a row, Valdosta State’s softball team will play in the national championship tournament.
The Blazers won their third South Region championship Saturday, beating Alabama-Huntsville 8-3 in game three of the best-of-three series at Steel’s Diamond at Blazer Park. - More Local Sports Headlines
-
