KMPH Fox 26 Central San Joaquin Valley News Source in Fresno, California Entertainment, News, Sports and Weather | Amgen Tour to Ride Through Visalia in 2010

Amgen Tour to Ride Through Visalia in 2010

By: Ashley Ritchie

On February 20th, 2009, thousands of people packed onto Main Street Visalia to watch the Amgen Tour race through town.

Inside Brewbakers restaurant, they were running a race of their own.

"People stayed afterwards from the race. They came in. We opened up early just for the races," Dana Englert, Brewbakers manager, said.

May 20th 2010, they'll get to do it all over again.

"It really helps out the local businesses, especially downtown to keep us going. ‘Cause that's what we need," Englert said.

"I think not only what it means from a potential economic impact that's it's gonna have on the city, but just the mere fact that we won again," Visalia Mayor Jesus Gamboa said.

City officials say when it came to selling Visalia to Amgen Tour officials, there wasn't much of a need for    bargaining.

"They said you know what, those guys in Visalia are pretty nice people, let's go back," Gamboa said.

"We had a perfect spring day, views of the Sierras and we put 18,000 people out on the race road as they left town. So that impressed them," Greg Kirkpatrick, local organizing chair, said.

With thousands of people expected to root on the riders, the city is gearing up for a boost to the economy.

"We're hopeful that the tourists, maybe the international media that are touring with the race, some of those kinds of people will come down Wednesday night. And so we hope we'll pick up some more of those hotel rooms and dinner menus and those kinds of things," Glenn Morris, Visalia Chamber of Commerce president, said.

And of course, there are always the bragging rights that come along with getting an international event center stage.

"As a mayor, I'm very proud of my city. I'm very proud of the people that live here and work here," Gamboa said.

And back at Brewbakers, they say they'll once again be ready for one wild ride.

"Definitely a lot more business," Englert said.

It will cost the city of Visalia about $100,000 to host the Amgen Tour.

City officials say they'll begin fundraising and looking for sponsors.

And they'll also need about 500 volunteers to make everything happen.

Meanwhile, the city of Clovis was not chosen to host a stage in this year's Amgen Tour, despite being chosen last year.