County Supervisors have given the green light on a proposal to help publicize a major bike ride in Cambria set for September.
Supervisors were asked to approve funding some $50,000 out of SLO County Business Improvement District monies, which derive from a 2% tax on room night stays at lodging properties in the unincorporated areas of SLO County including Cambria and Cayucos.
Those fees, which are mainly passed on to guests, are collected by the CBID to promote tourism in the participating towns. Half the money is given to a local advisory board to support events and promotions in the particular areas where the money was collected. The CBID was first formed in 2009 and CBID’s funds will cover $5,000 of the total with the Cambria BID pitching in $45,000.
In Cambria, they wanted permission to support the Eroica California Bike Ride slated for Sept. 17 and based in Cambria.
The series of cycling rides will explore the North Coast’s most scenic rides in and around Cambria and have a bike fair with vendors and more.
Eroica events are held about once a month in various locations across the world. Including in Italy, Spain, Germany and Switzerland among others.
According to the County report, Eroica “is an international event with registered riders from all over the world. The race was also held in the Cambria/Cayucos/San Simeon in 2022 (the original event was cancelled in 2020) with a total investment of $60,000 from the district. There were over 1,126 attendees. Of the total, 90% were from out of the area generating 1,103 room nights in Cambria. In 2020, the district invested $60,000 in marketing. As noted in the results section below, it is anticipated that there will be 1,500 attendees, with 90% being from out of town.”
The County said it doesn’t have any performance criteria for spending BID monies like this and relies on the recipients to use the money as intended. “The intent of the marketing of the event,” the County report said, “is to increase the number of attendees from out of the area that will require overnight stays within the district. It is anticipated that 90% of the 1,500 attendees will be from out of the area. It is estimated that a minimum of 600 overnight stays will be booked as a result of the event.”
For more information on the Eroica cycling events, see: https://eroica.cc/en.
