The business of competition: Youth bring coaches, family and dollars when competing in Grand Island events

They come to shoot rifles, rope calves or do back flips.

Then they eat out, sleep at motels and go shopping.

Their grandparents browse antique stores. Their parents make trips to laundromats. Their siblings swim at Island Oasis.

"They come, they compete, they spend money," said Renee Seifert, director of the Grand Island/Hall County Convention and Visitors Bureau. "And then they go home."

And this, she said, is exactly what any city wants.

"It's new money, it keeps taxes lower," Seifert said.

Nearly 500 boot-wearing youth competed this past week in the State 4-H Horse Exposition. Nearly 450 gun-toting youth shot for trophies June 22 through 25 in the National 4-H Shooting Competition. And 1,200 pom-pom waving youth bounded into the Heartland Events Center on Feb. 23 for the Nebraska State High School Cheer and Dance Championships.

They try to make an impression in the arena. But where they and their families dine, stay, shop and play makes even more of an impression -- $750,000 of an impression, according to direct economic impact estimates from the convention and visitors bureau.

Direct economic impact is the measure of actual expenditures in the community, Seifert said.

"What we've discovered is that these competitions become vacations for the families," she said.

For the 4-H horse and shooting competitions, Seifert said the bureau assumes 2.4 people traveled with each competitor and coach to Grand Island. About 130 coaches attended the 4-H shoot, and 150 volunteers ran the event, she said.

Estimates for each 4-H event are based on each competitor and coach staying at a hotel with their 2.4 guests for five nights.

With these figures, the direct economic impact ranges from $666,000 to $904,000 for the horse exposition and from $700,000 to $900,000 for the shooting competition, Seifert said.

The Nebraska State High School Cheer and Dance Championships lasted one day, Seifert said, and attracted 1,200 participants, who were "primarily girls and liked to shop."

She said the bureau estimated each dance and cheer contestant spent $92.

M.J. Hart has attended the 4-H Horse Exposition as a group leader, volunteer or parent for more than 20 years. She said 90 percent of the families at the exposition will not take a family vacation this summer.

"They choose between the exposition and a vacation," the Cozad-native said. "It was always our family vacation."

And when these vacation-seeking competitors and families pull in, city businesses notice.

"We know exactly when they hit town, and we can tell when they leave again," said Carol Thomson, general manager of Subway on South Locust.

The Travel Lodge booked every one of its rooms Wednesday night, said Randy Shaffer, who works for Tommy's, Inc.

"And I'm pretty sure every motel in Grand Island was full, too," he said. Tommy's, Inc. owns Travel Lodge, Tommy's Restaurant and Galaxy Laundry and Tanning.

Todd Gieger said Godfather's Pizza, 1916 S. Locust, saw a 12 to 15 percent increase in sales during this year's two 4-H competitions.

"We get packed," said the manager. "I actually get a heads-up e-mail from the convention and visitors bureau before the event."

The convention and visitors bureau not only talks with area businesses, but with families of youth competitors, Seifert said.

"Parents are never going to tell their kids they can't go to one of these competitions," Seifert said. "So they make the most of it. We find they have  numerous activities planned out ahead of time."

Visiting manufacturing plants is among the lesser known -- but popular -- way visitors spend time and money in Grand Island, she said.

Add together the wide range of expenditures with the fact that many participants and coaches travel with more than 2.4 people, for longer than five days, and the city has an actual economic impact much higher than the estimated range, Seifert said.

And this number, Seifert said, has room to increase.

To promote the city as an amateur sports destination, the convention and visitors bureau recently created the Greater Grand Island Sports Council.

"We are the center of the country, it makes sense for kids to come here to compete," Seifert said. "But what they do before and after the competitions makes more sense for Grand Island.”