A women-only mountain bike festival in Williams Lake provided economic benefits for the community, city council heard at their Aug. 13 meeting.
Beth Holden, one of the festival organizers, appeared as a delegation at the regular council meeting on behalf of organizers and the Williams Lake Cycling Club.
Holden apologized to council for being "disheveled" as she began, due to having crashed on a ride prior to the meeting. But Holden made an impact of her own at the meeting with her informative update.
Holden is also the regional economic and community development manager for the Cariboo Regional District for her day job, so economic impact is part of what she does on the daily.
She was able to utilize an economic assessment model she uses for work to help quantify the economic benefits of the first annual Ride Your Ride Ladies Bike Fest, which hosted three days of riding clinics and events for female mountain bikers in May. It was the first of its kind for Williams Lake.
With a goal of helping to create community and support more women getting involved in the sport, the organizers kept their first annual event small in 2024, but successfully hosted 48 riders.
There were 22 volunteers and 10 paid people supporting the festival.
With a cost of $16,122 to host the festival and over 1,000 hours of volunteer labour, all of the money to host went back into local businesses.
Holden was able to estimate an economic return of $108,900 in economic benefits to the community, including direct benefits by purchasing from local businesses, indirect benefits from the participants and paid coaches, etc. purchasing goods and services, and induced benefits from the funds spent in the community supporting local staff and businesses, staff, and taxes then supporting more spending in the community as well.
Holden said tools like the one she used to estimate the economic impact of the festival helps to show the council how investing in events like Ride Your Ride Bike Fest benefits the community.
She said these type of events also help with professional recruitment and retention by helping to ensure people in or coming to the community feel like they belong.
"I'm seeing that spinoff myself personally," said Holden, of seeing participants now out on the trails.
Council expressed their appreciation for her and her fellow organizer's work in making the event happen.
Holden said the group is already looking at next year and what it might look like, with a potential for some growth.
