By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
Thousands of visitors from across Oklahoma and surrounding states will converge on Yukon this summer for a four-day athletic competition – and businesses are being recruited to help.
Yukon High School’s Miller Stadium, 1777 S Yukon Parkway, will be the site of an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Track and Field Regional Qualifier.
“They will be bringing 2,400 participants and 4,000 to 6,000 people to Yukon June 22-25,” Yukon Chamber of Commerce CEO Pam Shelton said. “They are going to be shopping in Yukon.
“We’re going to try to get them to spend a lot of money here in Yukon.”
Amateur athletes ages 4-18 will compete in a series of track and field events during this summer’s regional qualifier.
Spanish Cove Retirement Village will provide shuttle busses to take AAU track and field participants and their families from the YHS campus to major retail corridors like Main Street and Garth Brooks Boulevard.
Yukon’s chamber chief recently hosted the AAU Region 16 Board of Directors from Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas.
The group was well pleased with their visit to Yukon, which they previously selected to host this year’s large regional track and field competition.
“We ‘wooed’ them,” Shelton shared during February’s Yukon Legislative Breakfast. “They are sold. They picked us over Edmond, so I consider that a huge win.”
In an email to Yukon Chamber members, Shelton said AAU Region 16 officials “were very impressed to see what Yukon, Oklahoma had to offer their organization.”
OUT-OF-TOWN GUESTS
Yukon-area hotels are expected to be filled with out-of-town guests coming for this June’s AAU track and field meet.
“Look out, Yukon Chamber businesses, you’re going to get busy while all these people are visiting, shopping and eating at your businesses,” Shelton promised.
Sponsors are being recruited to promote the regional and volunteers will be needed to help.
Yukon Public Schools, the City of Yukon and Yukon Chamber will work together to make the June 22-25 competition “one of the best regional events they have ever seen,” according to Shelton.
The Yukon Chamber CEO is urging her members to get involved, saying “sales and services, lot of them, will be coming your way.”
“They will be all over town shopping, eating, needing entertainment, and other services that Yukon has to offer,” Shelton told Chamber business leaders. “And you, our businesses and services, will definitely benefit from this event.
“This is going to be huge, and we will be watching our incoming sales taxes soar.”
