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Spring events expected to bring crowds greater than ever seen in Wilkes County Washington and Wilkes County usually get quite a bit of company each spring, said Tourism Director Ashley Barnett, but this year the numbers of visitors is expected to be far more than in years past. An old favorite event starts the season on first day of March. The 53nd Annual Washington Area Junior Steer and Heifer Show at the McGill-Woodruff Agricultural Center in Washington will see dozens of students from Wilkes, Lincoln, Oglethorpe, and Madison counties showing their steers and heifers. The show brings young farmers and their families from several counties around to participate in the annual show and sale. The next weekend, March 8-9, will see the return of "The General" to Aonia Pass Motocross Park. Some 1,700 dirt bike and ATV racers and their families will arrive here for the second stop on the CanAm Grand National Cross Country Series. The GNCC is the largest off-road racing series in the nation, says Racer Productions spokesman Jason Weigant, with over $2.8 million in series prizes and contingency money in the 13-round series. The nearly three-hour long GNCC races lead dirt bike and ATV racers through Aonia's 11-mile track strewn with trees, hills, mud, dirt, rocks and motocross sections. A Southeastern Enduro and Trail Riders Hare Scramble will also be raced that weekend at Aonia, and vintage dirt track racers will race April 14. Then, over the weekend of March 14 to 16, as many as 1,500 motocross riders will come to Aonia Pass to qualify for what they call "The Lorettas:" the Loretta Lynnsponsored AMA/Air Nautiques Amateur National Motocross Championships. The amateur riders range in age from four years old and up, male and female, with dozens of classes broken down by age, ability, and size of bike. The weekend's racing is an area qualifier for the amateur national motocross championships at Loretta Lynn's Hurricane Mills in Tennessee, the largest motocross event in the world. Each of those two weekends, with 1,500 riders and each rider supported by several family members, the number could easily reach 6,000 to 7,500 visitors to the area. Although most motocross families camp at the track, or stay in high-dollar motor homes, local hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, and other businesses do see a big increase in trade that weekend. Although there aren't any bikes involved, the first weekend of April, of course, brings the return of the annual Spring Tour of Homes. Depending on how perfect the weather is, several hundred to more than a thousand visitors will come to get a behind-the-curtains view of some of the stately homes and lofts of Washington and Wilkes County. But this year, that's not all. The Aonia crowds and Tour of Homes visitors will be dwarfed by crowd expected here for the Tour de Georgia, which will bring a one-day crowd that will set new records. "We're expecting tens of thousands of spectators to line the streets of Washington, for our stage start on Wednesday, April 23," she said, "for the opportunity to see all the champion racers, Olympians, and Tour de France riders among the 15 top professional cycling teams coming." Unlike the motocross crowds, the crowds for the Tour de Georgia will all be in Washington. Crowds will line the race course, which will start on The Square in Washington, go east on East Robert Toombs Avenue, then left on East Street past Washington-Wilkes Elementary School, then left down Hill Street to Poplar Drive, and out of town on the Tignall Road.
The deluge of visitors for the Tour de Georgia will largely come and go in one day, Barnett said, but the economic impact of the free advertising will continue for years. "People who see our beautiful city, in person or on TV, will be coming to visit and spend money for years to come after this worldwide exposure with the Tour de Georgia. And that's why I continue to say, 'Tourism is economic development.'"
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