Ups and downs for Lenox spring events

LENOX – The latest two events planned by the town have come and gone with mixed success.

The events committee expressed some concern over the lack of growth from the Berkshire Cycling Classic.

“The loss of momentum was easy to see, the numbers were half what they were last year,” said Events Committee Member Carl Pratt. “And some of that comes from the fact that the town was not very quick to offer up our support this year.”

For this year’s version of the race, which took place June 9, there were 130 racers, a sharp decline from the nearly 300 who took part the previous year.

The group also discussed the sanctioning of the race.

Race planner John Eustis had suggested to the town he could bring a world championship level event in the future, an idea now in doubt.

“I don’t care if the race is sanctioned or not, but if it brings 600 people, that is great,” said Mr. Pratt.

Mr. Pratt also suggested that in the future, maybe the race, and the expense, could be shared by the whole county.

Some members of the board have suggested Mr. Eustis was far more focused on his sanctioned race in Putnam County, N.Y., than on the Lenox race this year, and because of that, the Berkshire Cycling Classic suffered.

“If Lenox cannot fund this race at that level, maybe the start can move from town to town to get more support from them,” said Mr. Pratt.

The committee also felt the publicity for this year’s event was lacking.

“With the race this year, it felt like out of nowhere the race was just here,” said Events Committee Member Bob Romeo. “It was not as talked up.”

Not all was looking down in the eyes of the committee.

“On top of the event, this is the kind of lifestyle event that fits in The Berkshires,” said Mr. Pratt. “And it could build to attract cyclists all year long to come ride the course.”

Car show a success

Meanwhile, the Lenox Motorcar Festival was seen as a massive success by many downtown businesses.

“I would rate it car show number one,” said John McNinch, owner of the Old Heritage Tavern, explaining he felt it was the best spring event.

More than 1,000 people filled downtown Lenox to see the 80 cars that lined the streets.

“The event was a great success from those early numbers,” said Mr. Romeo.

He explained that while the crowd was smaller than the old British Motorcar Festival, it was a “local and good” crowd.

Mr. Romeo also said the British Motorcar Festival may become involved in the event again.

Posted by Kameron Z. Spaulding on June 20, 2013. Filed under Community Events,Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry