The Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau announced Thursday eight new events they call "Big Wins" for the region. Andrea Cook is the associate director of marketing and communication. She said, "'Big Wins' bring big business to the region in a short amount of time." She credited one bowling open and two bowlingtournaments for bringing in the most money.
"Out of the more than $12.5 million that will come from the eight events, over $10 million of that comes from the three different bowling events we are hosting in 2020 and 2021," said Cook.
Other events include The Rock River Tattoo Art Expo, the North American Fastpitch Association, the Illinois Council of Convention & Visitors Bureaus Spring Conference, the Illinois Association Chamber of Commerce Executives Fall Conference, and the Basset Hound Club of America Nationals.
Pamela Crawford was there with her husband David Crawford and their two basset hounds, Apple and Ivy. She said, "We are here to promote basset hounds first and foremost, and secondly to promote the Basset Hound Club of America National Specialty."
She said the dogs are friendly, loving and "kind of hard to train." She said the event will have "anything and everything that's basset hound-related."
David Crawford said, "We're going to do agility, obedience, tracking, field work, scent work and field trials." He praised the breed:
"They're really intelligent, independent dogs. They are bred to hunt in a pack, but also think for themselves." He continued, "Because they are pack animals, they get along in very large groups."
More than 250 basset hounds are expected to attend the Nationals Sept. 18-25, 2020 at Mercyhealth Sportscore Two in Loves Park.
Andrea Cook was pleased with the variety of the events. She said, "We love the fact that not only can we bring back events that we've hosted in the past but that we're generating new business, too." She continued, "There is a lot of variety. We're bringing very creative, focused events that you just don't see happening all the time."