The views of the authors on this website are not neccessarily the views of the website. All comments are solely the responsibility of those who write them.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Dew Tour wants to return to OC

OCEAN CITY -- The Summer Dew Tour is locking in dates to return to Ocean City this August.
For its second year at the resort, the tour is requesting competition dates of Aug. 16-19. The action sports tour includes BMX, skateboarding and surfing events, with about 100 of the world's best action sports athletes. The event would also include a concert and a Festival Village, where the public could interact with athletes, visit sponsor tents and sample various products.
In July 2011, the first of four Dew Tour events was held in Ocean City. The second through fourth events were held in Portland, Ore., Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, respectively. Alli Sports, the tour organizers, have not yet officially announced any of the stops for the 2012 tour.
Attendance for the 2011 Ocean City tour stop was the highest in the history of the tour since its 2005 inception.
"We're obviously thrilled at the prospect of the tour returning to Ocean City," said Ocean City Tourism Director Deborah Turk.
Councilmembers Mary Knight and Brent Ashley predicted council approval of the timeline, and both think an August event will be even better than a July one.
The end of August is usually a time in the summer when business starts to slow down, Ashley said, so holding the event later in the year could attract more visitors than in July, when commerce tends to peak at the resort.
"A lot of the events we do have the intention of extending the prime time season a little longer, and this is one that could bring more people to town and hold them over a little longer," Ashley said.
The event will be broadcast on NBC and NBC Sports, the channel formerly known as Versus, which will also broadcast the 2012 London Summer Olympics from July 27-Aug. 12. During this time, Knight said, the stations will be promoting Dew Tour coverage, which will in turn promote Ocean City as a destination.
"We will get all that exposure, all of that free advertising, and that's wonderful," Knight said.
Knight is looking forward to working with Alli Sports, the event organizer.
"Those people were the best people in the world to work with," she said. "They were totally amazing, and they're professionals, so I expect no resistance at all."

No comments: