Population: 24,724
Situation: Emporia was a small town with an excess of dirt roads around the city.
Action: A small groups of friends started racing several hundred miles on gravel roads.
Result: Bikers took note of this feet, and naturally, being competitive, started an all dirt road bike race that sustains the town.
Emporia, Kansas is a prime example of a city heavily capitalizing on the biking community and tourism. The surrounding Flint Hills offer miles of challenging gravel roads to ride on. The fact that you are surrounded by one of the rarest ecosystems in all of North America – tall native prairie – doesn’t hurt things either.
The Dirty Kanza is an early spring bike race on all gravel roads for 200 miles. This event took off after two founders, Jim Cummins and Joel Dyke started it in 2006, It had 34 participants. Today, 2019, it has around 3,400 participants. For a town with about 10,000 households, this is a noticeable swell.
Oh, did I forget to mention, there are 8 other bike races in emporia a year.
The great thing about becoming a biking town is great because it actually draws people year round to the town to go biking. Whether it is a biking event, festival, destination riding, and just everyday biking. People are catching on to this trend. Here are a few such examples:
People come from all over the country to attend these events. It is not just money circulated through the town but out of town money from nearby big cities like Kansas City.
Niche Bicycle Businesses
Just like some of these amazing small towns, like Leavenworth, Washington, businesses to your market niche begin popping up. For example, there are several bike shops in town, specialty biking campgrounds, and falafel at the local diners.
Ancillary Businesses
Then of course you have the general ancillary businesses like hotels, diners, and gas stations. Everyone needs those staples.
New Life into Old Attractions
Bing bike racing events like this also help to support other local attractions. If they are well advertised, people who are from out of town are inclined to go see the local attractions. The WIlliam Allen White House for example, a guild age mansion of a famous writer.
How to Capitalize Further
They need to continue growing to the needs of the biking community. It is an adventure sport and in Cuyuna one is supported. They need a hostel. It would give younger people a place to congregate to start for adventures, meet new people, and make memories. Great memories are what keep people coming back.
ou could also facilitate local squares for bikers to easily congregate it. Maybe make drinking beer in this plaza legal with food truck vendors able to park and sell food. Just a thought, bikers love beer. It is a fact.
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