Recreation becoming a business around Lake Norman | Denver ...

by Josh Carpenter

CORNELIUS ? The Westmoreland Athletic Complex will open Saturday, July 7 ? a park that has been a very long time in coming for Cornelius.
The park, which includes four baseball/softball diamonds, a playground, a concession stand and bathrooms, started out in 2004 as a private project by local business leaders. Plans fell apart, though, and the town eventually assumed the lead over the project.
Current recreation director Troy Fitzsimmons took over in 2008 and began construction in March of 2010. Since then, he said, it?s moved at a pretty steady rate.
Fitzsimmons thinks the park can serve multiple roles for Cornelius, including providing more recreations space for local and statewide play.
Fitzsimmons said the park will be booked at least 32 weekends a year for tournament play.
?Everyone from our parks commission to the town board was very supportive of this,? Fitzsimmons said. ?We?re looking to open up even more opportunities with it.?
Fitzsimmons said the complex will bring some much-needed relief to the town?s growing recreational needs. Currently, Cornelius has baseball/softball availability at Bailey Road, Legion, Torrence Chapel and Smithville parks.
?We do need some more space,? he said. ?Really this park was built to bring in tournaments to Cornelius but we?re also seeing a growing need in our recreational program. This will help alleviate some of the pressure at the other parks.?
Alleviating pressure is one thing, but Travis Dancy said another park will also fuel the economic landscape of the lake.
Dancy, the sports sales manager at the Visit Lake Norman tourism organization, is responsible for recruiting state and local tournaments to area parks.
?Sports tourism is our biggest market as far as the events we look to recruit,? Dancy said. ?It?s very safe to say that the sports tourism market has gotten a lot more attention over the last few years.?
Dancy said sports tourism was one of the few industries that thrived during the recent recession. With the economy on the way back up, he said, it?s doing better than ever. Westmoreland is expected to generate just shy of $5 million per year.
?During the heart of the recession a lot of other tourism markets were scaled back,? Dancy said. ?I think sports tourism was recession resistant, specifically with youth. Parents don?t want to deny their child?s opportunity to play in some of these tournaments.?

Recreation as an economic tool
The opening of the $3.2 million Westmoreland complex doesn?t just signify Lake Norman?s newest park.
It?s the continuation of a recent trend that has turned recreation into an economic motor for the lake.
Including Mooresville?s opening of Mazeppa Park in September and Cornelius Park in January, Westmoreland is the third major park opening in the last year around the lake.
?You have to look at these parks as an economic development project for your community,? Ron Johnson, chairman of the Mooresville Convention and Visitors Bureau, said. ?It helps everyone.?
Johnson said the hotel business was one of the primary beneficiaries during the 2011 Lake Norman Soccer Club Fall Classic held at Mazeppa Park. The Thanksgiving weekend tournament brought more than 4,000 visitors to the area and generated 1,200 room reservations for Mooresville hotels, Johnson said.
?November was traditionally one of our worst months,? he said. ?Now that we?ve got that tournament it?s one of our best.?
Mooresville Recreation Director Wanda McKenzie said the town saw the need for more recreational space coming from a mile away.
?We realized years ago that tournament ball was going to be very popular in the future and that to bring economy to Mooresville, we had to build these parks,? McKenzie said. ?We had too many kids playing baseball and soccer and not enough space.?
Even with the opening of the two Mooresville parks, Johnson said there?s a high demand for more recreational space.
Soccer was one of the key reasons for building Mazeppa, McKenzie said, and its two full-size turf soccer fields and four full-size grass fields have done the job.
?If anyone comes to this area for soccer and sees Mazeppa, they don?t want to go anywhere else,? she said.
The increase in recreational needs also puts the lake towns in competition with one another.
Will the opening of Westmoreland take any business away from Mooresville?
?I really don?t think so,? Johnson said. ?Our experience has been that there is just more demand for parks than what we have so we?ll continue to fill them up even with Westmoreland.?
Recreation doesn?t only help businesses, Johnson said, it can also lend a helping hand to Mooresville?s taxpaying citizens.
?Every tournament you have at that park, they?re paying a fee,? Johnson said. ?Basically if you have enough tournaments you could get enough income to take care of the maintenance for the parks. That could mean less taxes.?

Eastern Lincoln County?s
recreation state
The need for recreational facilities in Lincoln County is at an all-time high.
Erma Deen Hoyle, recreation director for Lincoln County, said the need has become especially evident for soccer and other field sports in the last 10 years.
Eastern Lincoln County doesn?t have a regulation-size soccer field in its parks system, making it hard for sports like soccer, lacrosse and football to grow.
The only available area for soccer, football or lacrosse is a small multi-purpose field at East Lincoln Park, Hoyle said, but it?s not regulation and also isn?t lighted.
?The demand for soccer and those other field sports have just been so high,? Hoyle said. ?We?re working on meeting those demands.?
One way the county has planned to offset those needs is through the East Lincoln Rescue Park off Galway Lane in Denver.
The park will include two multi-purpose fields and a nine-hole disc golf course, among other amenities. Hoyle thinks the park will open ?within several years.?
While the county lacks in soccer, lacrosse and football fields, the need for baseball diamonds have largely been met, Hoyle said.
The East Lincoln Optimist Club has hosted Baseball Players Association tournaments in the last year and an 11,000-square foot baseball training facility ? The Bat Cave ? opened on Old Plank Road.
Even with the lack of soccer fields, Hoyle said recreation can still be a money-maker for the county.
?I think with the economy there are possibly not as many people traveling,? she said. ?Maybe doing some stay-at-home vacations and looking for some things close by to do.?
The county also aims to begin construction on the new Rock Springs Park by the fall of 2012 or spring 2013. The 116-acre passive park will include picnic shelters, a walking track and trails.

Joining forces?
The Lake Norman area landed a major event in December when it was announced that it will be home to the Powerade State Games in 2013 and 2014.
The 2012 event in Winston-Salem drew more than 7,000 people for the opening ceremonies alone.
Visit Lake Norman hosted the youth baseball, softball and soccer portions of the games in June 2010, generating almost $2.2 million in visitor spending for Cornelius, Huntersville and Davidson.
Fitzsimmons said joining with other town recreation departments to bring in additional tournaments could increase interest in the lake.
?We?ll definitely be talking to some other recreation departments to get some of these larger events to the lake,? Fitzsimmons said.
McKenzie agreed with Fitzsimmons, saying joining with other towns for tournaments could help the lake outbid bigger cities.
?Even if they stay in Cornelius or Davidson they can still drive up to Mooresville or vice versa,? McKenzie said. ?We?ve got a win-win situation.?

Want to go?
The Westmoreland Athletic Complex grand opening celebration takes place Saturday, July 7, at 1 p.m. at the park, 8439 Westmoreland Road, Cornelius. The event will include a speech by Cornelius Mayor Jeff Tarte, children?s activities, a home run derby contest and a Lake Norman Little League baseball tournament.

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Source: http://denverncweekly.com/business/2012/07/recreation-becoming-a-business-around-lake-norman/

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