On some of the hottest days in the Atlanta area thus far this year, hundreds of young athletes were ice cold—just the way they liked it.
The Atlanta Open, a qualifying event for the Solo Dance Series, drew about 400 figure skaters and 45 judges to Alpharetta, Georgia. Using The Cooler as home, Awesome Alpharetta (as the local CVB is called) was glad to be hosting yet another sports event during the pandemic.
“Sporting events and competitions were among the first groups to meet safely in Alpharetta last summer,” reports Janet Rodgers, president and CEO of the Alpharetta CVB.
Rodgers likens sports events to citywide events in that the trickle-down effect is noticeable. Even without spectators, the suburb was able to help provide valuable business to hotels, restaurants and retail stores.
Anchored by Avalon, an outdoor megamall, Alpharetta provides a surprising amount of options for event planners. There are 200 fields and facilities and 750 acres of parkland, according to the CVB. Wills Park hosts equestrian events regularly, and youth baseball and soccer tournaments frequently fill the playing areas.
With two 85-by-200-foot ice arenas and one 85-by-185-foot roller arena, The Cooler is one of the region’s largest ice-specific venues. It can host figure skating events as well as ice hockey, and can be converted to accommodate volleyball, roller hockey, martial arts, yoga and wrestling events as well.
This November, it will host the 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championship Series presented by Toyota. Once again, Atlanta Figure Skating Club will serve as the local organizing committee.
“We are proud to call The Cooler in Alpharetta Atlanta Figure Skating Club’s home rink,” says Atlanta Figure Skating Club President Tea Junnila. “We have a long history of successfully hosting events with The Cooler, and Alpharetta is a wonderful host city as it has an abundance of restaurants, shops and entertainment.”
To help maintain steady business to Alpharetta, the CVB has been running highly targeted ads in local, regional, and national print and online publications, notes Rodgers. As group business picks up, she is expecting to further add to the marketing budget.
Results are noticeable. Other events Alpharetta has scored include the Braves Country Battles Youth Championship three-day baseball tournament July 9 to 11 and the Triple Crown Southeast Nationals July 15 to 18.
