The 2017 Bathurst 1000 is still more than six months away, but local hotels and eateries have been enjoying something of an off-season bonanza over the past week or so.
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While nothing will ever match the Great Race’s drawing power for our city, hosting regular smaller events throughout the rest of the year helps keep local cash registers ringing and the economy ticking over.
And that’s just what we’ve seen in town this month with a number of back-to-back events.
First, Bathurst hosted the rich Gold Crown carnival that brought the cream of the state’s harness racing industry to town for more than a week.
The 10-day carnival is one of the highlights of the state’s harness racing calendar and also brings plenty of trainers, owners and drivers to town – along with their partners and children, in many cases.
Harness racing is very much a family-oriented industry and all those extras mouths to feed can only be a great thing for our economy.
Even the families who don’t stay in local hotels are contributing to Bathurst’s mini boom and Bathurst MP Paul Toole put the total boost in the millions when he addressed the Gold Crown finals night on Saturday.
But no sooner had the harness racing caravan rolled out of town then young tennis players and their families started arriving for the Bathurst Autumn Junior Tournament and more than 200 golfers from across Australia and beyond rolled into town for their own tournament.
The influx of visitors has packed local accommodation providers and put plenty of smiles on plenty of dials.
But perhaps the biggest boost is yet to come with the Blayney 2 Bathurst cycling classic returning this weekend.
Thousands of cyclists will descend on the region for the race, though most will be competing solely against the clock and themselves rather than dreaming of a podium finish.
And the great thing about cyclists is that so many of them are well-heeled MAMILs (middle-aged men in lycra) with plenty of money and a willingness to spend it.
Bathurst Regional Council has worked hard in recent years to make Bathurst more than a “one trick pony” when it comes to attracting visitors and the past week has shown, yet again, that this region is much more than just a car race.
