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Organizers hope Atlantic City will be East Coast's 'Cowboy Town'Mar 20, 2011 (The Press of Atlantic City - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Servers rushed food to customers during a bustling lunch hour at the Cracker Barrel restaurant across from the Georgia National Fairgrounds in Perry, Ga., last month. Was this an unusually busy day? "Oh, yes," associate manager Kathy Walsh said with a smile. This was one of the restaurant's two busiest weekends of the year -- along with the state fair -- because the rodeo was in town. "(Business) increases a significant amount," said Walsh, who has worked at the restaurant for five years. The Barnes PRCA Rodeo's next event is at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City and is expected to bring a similar spike in business -- but on a bigger scale. With costs including $56,000 in prize money for the competitors, Barnes' fees, dirt and insurance, the casinos are committing about $250,000 to the Atlantic City Boardwalk Rodeo, Chairwoman Janet Markowitz said. "We just think it's something that's unique and different, and it's going to be a great reason for a lot of our customers to come to town," said Resorts Casino Hotel owner Dennis C. Gomes. Gomes, who is chairman of the Special Events Committee of Mayor Lorenzo Langford's task force, came up with the idea to bring the rodeo to Atlantic City after seeing it succeed in Las Vegas when he was a gaming executive there. The goal is not just to draw tourists to gamble, though. Markowitz, a partner in Chester's Plants and Flowers in Atlantic City, wants to show families that the resort has plenty to offer them, too. "I think overall it's just an event to showcase Atlantic City," Markowitz said. "They're going to see the restaurants, The Walk, all the things that are at all the facilities. They'll just have a good overview of Atlantic City." Markowitz, Gomes and stock contractor John Barnes don't anticipate the Hall being packed with "city slickers" or even many people from Atlantic County. Rather, they hope to bring rodeo fans from all around a region that Barnes said has more agriculture than people realize, including places such as Woodstown in Salem County, home of the Cowtown Rodeo. "They're going to come from the woodwork," said Kendall Barnes, John's sister-in-law, who grew up near Harrisburg, Pa., and now works as a timer at the events. "Those little small-town western stores (in places such as Woodstown) are alive and going for a reason." Most of the fans interviewed at the rodeo in Georgia came from more than an hour away, and John Barnes said that's been his experience with past events in northeastern states such as New York and Pennsylvania. Plus, there will be about 250 competitors, some bringing families. "Our advertising is going out to New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, Washington," Markowitz said. "We have cowboys coming from all over the country and Canada and South America." A Boardwalk Hall spokesperson said the capacity will be 10,000 for the rodeo, and Gomes said he'd be "very happy" if it is 70 percent filled each day. "Even 50 percent, if we get 5,000 people for each show, there are three shows, that'd be 15,000 people," Gomes said. "That would make me ecstatic to have 15,000 incremental people come into this city." Barnes, 48, said there are "strikeouts" every year -- places where the rodeo just does not go as he had hoped. But his family's company has gone back to some cities for as many as 58 years in a row. Barnes' 18-year-old son, Colton, plans to take over the business eventually, and they both hope Atlantic City is a staple on their schedule by the time that happens. "The most important thing is that people just come to the town," Barnes said. "Las Vegas for two weeks turns into Cowboy Town, Nevada (during the Wrangler National Finals near the end of each year). And Atlantic City needs to turn into Cowboy Town of the East Coast. And once that happens, you'd be surprised how that's going to help the revenue of the town. "Believe it or not, us country (people) like to spend money. If we have it, we'll spend it. So when we get that town of Atlantic City full of cowboy hats and boots, and everybody's going to like it, then we come back and back again." Contact Jason Mazda: 609-272-7193 [email protected] More Coverage --Upcoming rodeo will bring "culture shock" to Atlantic City, organizer says To see more of The Press of Atlantic City, go to http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/. Copyright (c) 2011, The Press of Atlantic City, Pleasantville, N.J. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. |