PASCO - This holiday weekend is a busy time for high school sports here in the Tri-Cities and hopefully a big weekend for local business. Gesa Stadium is home to the 4A and 3A state baseball championships for the first time ever.
“When you have big things like this and you're getting extra business on top of what a regular weekend would be typically in weekend we're pretty busy, yeah it is kind of icing on the cake," said Wing-Stop owner Dave Tuthill.
The Tri-Cities Visitors and Convention Bureau expects around 3500 people to stay here this weekend, with those visitors expected to spend nearly a million bucks.
"We're bringing something to the the Tri-Cities area that wouldn't be here if the Dust Devils weren't here, if we didn't have the facility, and we didn't have this in place this wouldn't be happening,” said Dust Devils’ General Manager Derrel Ebert.
"All of our community partners have been investing a lot of money into these venues where we can showcase it to our community and to show them really what we have here in Tri-Cities, we're a premiere sports destination,” added Hector Cruz of the Tri-Cities Visitors and Convention Bureau.
Last year alone more than $12 million was spent by visitors coming to the Tri-Cities in for sports tournaments, meaning on these weekends, businesses are jockeying for their slice of the pie.
“It's going to be fun, we're ready for it,” added Tuthill.
Dust Devils employees tell KEPR Friday’s attendance has already exceeded expectations. They expect even more people to show up tomorrow for the championship games.
“When you have big things like this and you're getting extra business on top of what a regular weekend would be typically in weekend we're pretty busy, yeah it is kind of icing on the cake," said Wing-Stop owner Dave Tuthill.
The Tri-Cities Visitors and Convention Bureau expects around 3500 people to stay here this weekend, with those visitors expected to spend nearly a million bucks.
"We're bringing something to the the Tri-Cities area that wouldn't be here if the Dust Devils weren't here, if we didn't have the facility, and we didn't have this in place this wouldn't be happening,” said Dust Devils’ General Manager Derrel Ebert.
"All of our community partners have been investing a lot of money into these venues where we can showcase it to our community and to show them really what we have here in Tri-Cities, we're a premiere sports destination,” added Hector Cruz of the Tri-Cities Visitors and Convention Bureau.
Last year alone more than $12 million was spent by visitors coming to the Tri-Cities in for sports tournaments, meaning on these weekends, businesses are jockeying for their slice of the pie.
“It's going to be fun, we're ready for it,” added Tuthill.
Dust Devils employees tell KEPR Friday’s attendance has already exceeded expectations. They expect even more people to show up tomorrow for the championship games.