As Modesto puts out the welcome mat Tuesday in grand fashion for the Amgen Tour of California, it hopes the world-class bike race will leave the city a generous tip in its wake.
The nine-day road race is the largest cycling event in America. Modesto is the Stage 3 finish of a 104-mile route from San Jose. Last year, the city was the start of Stage 3, but the economic impact of the stage's finish is expected to be greater and last longer.
Jennifer Mullen, chief executive officer and executive director of the Modesto Convention and Visitors Bureau and co-chairwoman of the Amgen Tour local organizing committee, expects about 1,000 people -- Amgen riders, crew members, support staff, media and more -- to flood into town.
Mullen's prediction doesn't include the spectators, locals and others from as far afield as Europe, who will fill downtown Modesto to watch the race and its high-profile superstar, Lance Armstrong.
"International or national, our job is to make people feel really welcome," Mullen said. "We want them to feel that Modesto is great. Like, 'I had a good time and I'd like to come back.' "
Modesto outbid 50 other cities to be named the Stage 3 finish. The cyclists will make two laps around a circuit that winds through downtown Modesto and the college neighborhood.
After the last racers cross the finish line about 4 p.m., they will stay in Modesto for the night before heading to Merced the next morning for the start of Stage 4.
Last year, the race drew about 9,000 people downtown. While Mullen said she isn't sure how many people to expect, she said estimates of 20,000 to 30,000 for the day seem on target.
By comparison, Modesto's annual Xclamation Festival brings about 15,000 music lovers into the downtown streets.
That means at least two things for the local economy -- a bunch of people who need to eat somewhere and a bunch of people who need to sleep somewhere.
Two days before the race, more than 700 Modesto hotel rooms were committed, with closer to 800 expected to sell out. That would mean about half of the city's 1,521 hotel rooms would be taken up by Amgen tour members and spectators.
Mullen said that is a major boon for the typically slow hotel rental month of February.
Boon for eateries
The other most directly affected industry will be the area's restaurants. The local organizing committee will give away 450 vouchers to Amgen support staff, which are good for meals at 10 participating downtown restaurants. Each $15 voucher will be reimbursed to the restaurant afterward.
The participating restaurants are Bacchus, Barkin' Dog Grill, Clayton's, Firkin & Fox, Harvest Moon, Paper Moon, Skewers, Thailand Restaurant, Tresetti's World Caffe and Vito's Italian.
Add in the spectators, press, entourages and volunteers expected to be in or around downtown for the race and accompanying festival, and a table might be the hardest thing to get in town that night.
Restaurants have braced themselves for a big night. Many downtown eateries have added staff or made sure to be at full staff. Others will not take reservations that night and a few have specials on their menu for the event.
Mitch Maisetti, co-owner of Clayton's and Tresetti's, said the restaurants will have drink and meal specials. While he knows the traffic, congestion and closed streets will cause some people headaches, he said the positives greatly outweigh any inconveniences.
"The reality of this is everyone will be busy downtown that day. I would imagine that even the Black Angus and Olive Garden will be packed from people in town; they're going to spill over everywhere," he said. "Especially in a bad economy, whenever we know we're going to have good business that day, it's like a blood transfusion. We need more races. Can we have one every week?"
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