Henrico County Parks And Recreation

Sporting events in Richmond area can mean big payday

Allison Hannah Bio

Born: July 22, 1983 in Greensboro, NC

Education: Godwin High School, 2001; James Madison University, bachelor’s degree in hospitality and tourism management, 2005; Virginia Commonwealth University, MBA in marketing, 2010.

Sports career: Participated in competitive cheerleading and gymnastics from the age 5 through high school; part of the original group that started the All-Girl JMU Cheerleading team in 2001; Cheered four years in college.

Outside interest: Running, cycling, kayaking, power yoga and to travel abroad.

Family: Husband, Kyle Hannah.

Athletes from across the country have converged on the Richmond region during the past several weeks to compete in a series of tournaments held at fields and parks throughout the area.

Along with their bats, cleats and sticks they brought their wallets.

In all, the four major tournaments played here this month brought an estimated 15,000 people who racked up 7,700 room nights at local hotels, ate at local restaurants and shopped in local shops.

All four of these tournaments had one thing in common: Allison Hannah .

"My job is to bring in sports. That's what I love. That's what keeps me going," said Hannah , the 28-year-old sports development manager at the Richmond Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The four events this month — Capital Cup Lacrosse, USA Field Hockey National Club Championships, Triple Crown U.S. Baseball Championships and Big Shots Virginia — are here because of her efforts.

In her role as the Richmond region's point person when it comes to sports tourism, she is charged with identifying sanctioning bodies and convincing them of the advantages of bringing their tournaments, along with their athletes and families who travel with them, to the Richmond region.

"It's easy to sell a place you love," Hannah said.

* * * * *

Sports is big business in the Richmond region, which is home to several youth soccer tournaments, the SunTrust Richmond Marathon, the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K and the Colonial Athletic Association's annual men's basketball championship tournament.

The Richmond Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau does not have economic-impact numbers on sports tourism in the region, but the organization estimates that each person who attends a tournament here spends about $208 per day.

Tomato Order Placed; Festival Day Nears

Like clockwork, Oscar Watson gets his demand in early – and it’s often 200 bushels of the fruit for that the Hanover Tomato Festival is named.

Since the Black Creek Volunteer Fire Department proposed the celebration in 1978, Watson has paid for tomatoes from Robby Dodd of Dodd’s Acres Farm in Black Creek.

Watson, who serves as boss of the Tomato Festival Committee, will coordinate with Dodd to take the tomatoes at 6 a.m. Saturday, 3 hours before the celebration strictly opens at Pole Green Park at 8996 Pole Green Park Lane in Mechanicsville.

“He has furnished all my tomatoes – from day one,” Watson mentioned of Dodd, whose plantation is located on Market Road.

Before the beginning of the Little Miss and Tiny Miss Tomato Festival Pageant on June 25, Watson talked about his impasse with the Tomato Festival and how he functions year-round in credentials is to next. It has been his slight given the Black Creek VFD initial played horde on the station’s drift 33 years ago.

The cost of the tomatoes, that are sole beneath a tent in the center of the park’s grounds, typically cost $15,000. According to Watson, the subdepartment might make wherever from $400 to $500. The celebration is their primary fundraiser and monies are used for expenses related with working the VFD.

Festival-goers will see a few improvements at the playing field this year. Marcy Durrer, recreational module executive is to Hanover County Parks and Recreation Department, mentioned new lights have been commissioned and the field has been upgraded. Improvements moreover have been done in electric service capabilities.

“As segment of our union referendum projects, you have not long ago finished the add-on of field lighting on our soccer pads, that offer as the eventuality businessman space is to Tomato Festival,” Durrer said. “Essentially, what that has authorised us to do is arrange and upgrade the eventuality plan to supply extra electrical opportunities to the vendors and expansion out the food justice along the corner of the football field to supply extra space and extra seated eating areas.”

She mentioned the improvements have authorised for a change in layout, with the food justice being changed to run the length of the football field. She moreover mentioned there will be an extra division that will together the exiting line of traffic.

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