Amgen Tour of California


Above: Amgen Tour of California in Fawnskin. Photos by Correspondent Rick

Once again, Fawnskin got ignored even though it was the best place to view the Amgen Tour of California.

If you happened to be downtown, you were eye level without any barriers between the racers and their entourage of vehicles and support personnel.

The crowds were all over in Big Bear Lake and missed enjoying the intimate glimpse of history rushing through our little mountain lake resort town.

Over in my world, I was surprised to see trespassers on the property when there was so much open space in town.

It was good to see that many people were waiting for the stragglers in the five or so different clumps of riders.

Personally, I am interested in seeing just how much this tour contributed to the local economy.

I am not convinced that all the business owners benefited. My personal opinion is that Big Bear needs to expand its athletic view of the mountain marketing to target people who might want to spend money as well as spend time in the outdoors.

It was sad that Big Bear failed to get any Fawnskin media coverage even though all the businesses were open and operating.

Any biz owners care to chime in on how you benefited?

And I am just so excited to hear what you have to say about the snowfall on Sunday!

Good thing that it came after the big event.



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This entry was posted on Monday, May 24th, 2010 and is filed under Events, Mountain Lake Resort.

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5 Responses to “Amgen Tour of California

  • 1
    BadBear
    May 24th, 2010 07:03

    And still we allow politicians to screw up the community.
    When will they learn we offer to people of the world the best inland body of water in So. California. It offers many activities that are free and available to families of all types.
    If other activities want to come to our valley, and they should. let them be a part of our pleasure, not take away from it.

  • 2
    Susan
    May 25th, 2010 12:39

    Just walked through the village yesterday as I do about once a month. (To see what is new.) As I know quite a few of the village business owners I asked them how the race affected their business. Every single one of them (or an employee) said the same thing, “The race did nothing for them, the village was dead.” In fact the village was slower this weekend than usual for this time of year. Yes the fast food places near the finish line had heavy traffic, but the viewers didn’t shop the village. Athletes don’t spend money in the village, never had, never will. Be they skiers, runners, bikers or cyclists. It seems the tourists came up, watched the end of the race and left. So take it for what it is worth, I kind of think the city needs to rethink this one.

  • 3
    GG (Gossip Girl)
    May 25th, 2010 13:46

    Right, my feeling entirely. The area has needed to change its marketing focus for a long, long time.

    Unless you attract the types of people who are going to spend money it isn’t going to help the local economy.

    Plus, when you get unlimited crowds without mitigation of traffic and services (like enough toilet facilities) you dissuade those who might spend money from coming back. Like my guests who commuted 8 hours up the mtn for a weekend and who won’t ever come back to do that again.

    Perhaps that is why we have so many fast food places now and the resorts that cater to the athletes do re-coop but many forget that they are not the only places doing business in these parts.

  • 4
    GG (Gossip Girl)
    May 25th, 2010 13:49

    I get what you are saying but since I’ve been here there isn’t a good plan to help the merchants or visitors. Take the lack of open toilet facilities. Businesses are always overrun with people who need to use their facilities (and who usually don’t spend money at the place). When you have too much congestion it is not good for business in the long term. Also, it is well and good to offer “free” resources but those come with the need for maintenance, sanitation, traffic management, and a lot of other infrastructure needs–all of which need to be supported with money since they don’t come for free.

  • 5
    Emily
    May 31st, 2010 03:05

    Just walked through the village yesterday as I do about once a month. (To see what is new.) As I know quite a few of the village business owners I asked them how the race affected their business. Every single one of them (or an employee) said the same thing, “The race did nothing for them, the village was dead.” In fact the village was slower this weekend than usual for this time of year. Yes the fast food places near the finish line had heavy traffic, but the viewers didn’t shop the village. Athletes don’t spend money in the village, never had, never will. Be they skiers, runners, bikers or cyclists. It seems the tourists came up, watched the end of the race and left. So take it for what it is worth, I kind of think the city needs to rethink this one.