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January 04, 2004 RILEY ANNOUNCES TOP TEN LIST OF TOURIST EVENTS MONTGOMERY - Gov. Bob Riley announced Saturday the top 10 recommended tourist events of 2004, ranging from sporting events to an exhibit of decorative treasures. The top event is the blooming of 250,000 azaleas at Bellingrath Gardens & Home south of Mobile to coincide with 2004 being The Year of Alabama Gardens. The next three events on the Top 10 List are sporting events: the April NASCAR race at Talladega, the Nationwide Tour Golf Championship at the Robert Trent Jones Trail in Prattville in October and the Honda AMA Superbike Championship at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham in May. Mobile’s Mardi Gras celebration is fifth, followed by the "Becoming a Nation" exhibition of 18th century decorative arts at the Huntsville Museum of Art, and Gulf Shores’ National Shrimp Festival in October. Eighth on the list is the Alabama-Auburn Football Game in Tuscaloosa, ninth is the Trail of Tears Ride across North Alabama in September and 10th is the World’s Longest Yard Sale in northeast Alabama. The Alabama Bureau of Tourism & Travel staff selected the 10 events from 1,380 listed in the 2004 Alabama Calendar of Events published Saturday, said director Lee Sentell. "This is the first year the agency has ranked festivals and tournaments in the calendar. We get requests for a top 10 list all the time, so we decided to make recommendations," Sentell said. This year’s calendar is the first yearlong listing of events published by the agency, Sentell said. Semi-annual calendars have been offered for a number of years, but by combining the publications, the state will save approximately $65,000 in distribution costs, he said. Riley encouraged Alabamians to attend as many festivals and special events during the year as possible to show their pride in the state and increase the state’s annual $6.6 billion in travel revenues. The industry accounts for some 140,000 jobs in Alabama, approximately 7.4 percent of all non-agricultural employment. Top 10 List: 1. The azalea blooming season at Bellingrath Gardens & Home south of Mobile traditionally peaks in March. Research indicates the average visitor travels 408 miles to reach the gardens in Theodore. 2. The Aaron 499-mile NASCAR race at Talladega Superspeedway draws upwards of 180,000 fans. The average fan travels 391 miles to Talladega and stays three nights. The Dream Weekend is April 22-25. 3. Nationwide Tour Golf Championship at the Capitol Hill course in Prattville will be televised internationally. Some 55 golfers will compete Oct. 25-31 for 20 spots on the PGA Tour. 4. Superbike Championship at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, acknowledged as the finest road track in America. It will be televised on the Speed channel May 14-16. 5. The original Mardi Gras in Mobile, one of the oldest events in America. First held in 1703, the festival culminates Feb. 24. 6. Antiques from the U.S. State Department’s collection "Becoming a Nation" will be displayed at the Huntsville Museum of Art beginning May 22. Visitors will have four months to see this exhibit. 7. National Shrimp Festival, held along the beach at Gulf Shores on Oct. 7-10. Attendance is often 200,000 food lovers. The average visitor travels 203 miles and stays three nights. 8. Alabama-Auburn football game is scheduled for Tuscaloosa on Nov. 20. The game is usually broadcast on national television.
9. Trail of Tears Motorcycle Ride on U.S. 72 commemorates the removal of Native Americans in the 1830s. Upwards of 100,000 cyclists participate in this event held the third weekend in September between Scottsboro and Tuscumbia. 10. World’s Longest Yard Sale stretches from Gadsden and Fort Payne into Ohio in August. The event is usually featured on several cable channels. An innovation in the state’s tourism promotional campaign is the launch of an annual promotion around a single topic, Sentell said. Some 75 gardening events support this year’s theme of “The Year of Alabama Gardens.” A separate brochure available at Alabama Welcome Centers encourages visitors to attend garden-related events in communities around the state. Riley said his wife Patsy has scheduled guided garden tours of the Governor’s Mansion on March 26-28 and Oct. 22-24. The garden year sponsors are: al.com, the Alabama Nurserymen’s Association, Encore Azaleas, US Airways, Southern Living, Robinson Iron in Alexander City, AAA Auto Club, Alabama Department of Transportation, Alabama Public Television, and the state tourism bureau. Future promotions will showcase Alabama food in 2005, Alabama outdoors in 2006 and Alabama arts and music in 2007. Also during 2004, the tourism agency will promote guided walking tours on the six Saturday mornings between the Memorial Day and July the Fourth weekends. "More than 30 towns offered these tours last year and had great response," Riley said. "I saw tours on the courthouse square in Ashland on several Saturdays when I was home. I think the walking tours are especially important for generating pride and interest in small towns." The Travel Industry Association of America reported that Alabama is the first to ever offer simultaneous walking tours statewide, Sentell said. The tours will be held each summer in towns electing to offer them he said. Copies of the 2004 Calendar of Events and the new Alabama Vacation Guide are available from the state agency by calling 1-800-Alabama. | |
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