Spokane talked up at St. Louis event
ST. LOUIS – “Welcome to Spokane,” Deb Barnes of the Spokane Local Organizing Committee playfully said to guests after they ascended to the club-level restaurant above the skating arena.
Rather, welcome to Spokane in St. Louis.
After all, the guests of the 2007 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships organizers were not party hopping around the Les Schwab room at the west end of the Spokane Arena. This gang, which included newly sworn-in Spokane Mayor Dennis Hession and his wife, Jane, were drinking and noshing in the Savvis Center, site of this year’s national championships.
“This is our official welcome to Spokane,” said Toby Steward, promoter of the Spokane championships, along with his business partner and wife, Barb Beddor. “We are going to present them the job we’re going to do in Spokane.”
The guest list included David Raith, executive director of U.S. Figure Skating; Ron Hershberger, USFSA president; and Phyllis Howard, past president of the USFSA and board member of the International Skating Union council, along with other VIPs. About 20 people from Spokane, including three Public Facilities Department employees, also attended as part of “Team Spokane.”
Hession and his wife arrived in St. Louis on Thursday afternoon, making it the mayor’s second road trip since he was sworn in as mayor nearly two weeks ago. They were guests of Steward and Beddor’s. The mayor also was in Washington, D.C., this week, testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Federal Youth Coordination Act.
It is the couple’s first time in St. Louis, where they plan to enjoy part of this morning on a run near the Gateway Arch.
Hession plans to spend time in the Spokane booth today at the main venue, meeting and greeting potential ticket buyers. More than 68,000 tickets already have been sold to the Jan. 21-28, 2007 event. If past nationals are any indication, the championships could bring as much as $30 million into the Spokane economy.
Spokane is the smallest city with the smallest arena (9,500 seats for nationals) to be awarded the prestigious tournament. The Savvis Center seats 18,000, although attendance has been light. The announced attendance at Thursday night’s ladies short program was 8,572.
“Most people would be surprised (that Spokane won the bid), but I’m not,” Hession said.
“Spokane just works harder, tries harder and presents an image of a city that is much larger than its population. We put on a very good show in Spokane.”
Thursday’s reception also proved to be the perfect arena for Steward and Beddor to exercise their skills as master multitaskers. Next month they plan on bidding on the 2009 World Championships. The association will choose an American city that it will present to the ISU. Other U.S. cities that plan on bidding have not made it public.
Hession, meanwhile, is focusing on 2007 and the attention that will give his city.
“It brings people to Spokane who would never come,” he said. “That’s why, with our business bureau, we get so much value out of that.”