STEVENS POINT, WI (WSAU) — Most area golfers have put the clubs and balls away for the season.
But Stevens Point Mayor Mike Wiza has the sport on his mind at least once a week these days as his city prepares to open its arms to the world next June.
“The logistics are immense,” said Wiza. “Staffing, volunteers, our community service officers- just to get traffic flowing correctly (to the course,) and if there’s an accident, where do we re-route the traffic to? Or if the road gets blocked for some reason.”
Wiza says those are discussions that are happening right now even though the tournament is still more than six months away. So far most have centered around emergency response and traffic flow logistics. But eventually, they’ll have other discussions on things like signage for guests and other ways to promote tourism and economic activity when visitors aren’t at the course. All to make sure the city puts on its Sunday best for an anticipated week-long crowd of 70,000 people or more.
“The small businesses, the hotels, the restaurants in Stevens Point should see a pretty big windfall. It’s not going to be Sturgis-caliber (referring to the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota), but it’s going to be pretty close,” said Wiza.
Wiza goes on to say he hopes some of those people will be intrigued by the city enough to come back a second time. “I definitely want to put our best foot forward. Because if ten of those 70,000 see something they like and they come back to visit. Or better yet, they come back to move here because we are so freakin’ awesome, that’s a win for us.”
Tickets for the event are on sale at the SentryWorld website. Many hotels within a wide radius of Central Wisconsin are already booked up for the week, and those that are still available are going for hundreds of dollars.
Other topics Wiza discussed with WSAU’s Mike Leischner include:
Start of video- Preparations for the 2023 US Senior Open
3:30- Shop small week underway for downtown businesses
8:00- 2023 budget and tax bills
13:30- Final thoughts on 2022 and a cliffhanger for 2023
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