By Bonnie Culverhouse
In an effort to bring as many events as possible to the area, Minden City Council passed a resolution Monday to adopt a fee schedule for the Minden Recreation Complex.
Mayor Nick Cox told councilpersons during a workshop that a meeting with Airstream Ventures, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based company with more than 40 years of experience in sports and events of all sizes, showed city officials how much the company could help the city, once fees have been set.
“There are several events that they have lined up that they could go ahead and make a deal for us – right now,” Cox said. “The only thing holding them up is that we have to establish a fee schedule. I believe this is a good, fair fee schedule that Airstream worked with us to develop.”
Cox said he feels good about it and said he is ready to begin, “so they can go ahead and book deals.”
At this point, he said, baseball tournaments are lined up “pretty heavy” along with softball tournaments and soccer events.
An area tour with Airstream included other assets Minden has to offer that could be leveraged for sports tourism.
“I was surprised with how enthusiastic they were about two things,” the mayor said. “The airport was identified for motorsports events, and another asset that’s not in the city limits but right outside that would still generate tourism that Minden would benefit from – Caney Lake.”
The lake could be the scene of running events, he added.
“A 5K, a 10K, a half-marathon and a full marathon,” Cox said. “Fishing tournaments and kayak tournaments would be at Caney Lake.”
Visitors at Caney Lake will be spending money in Minden, he pointed out.
“They aren’t going shopping in the woods,” Cox said. “They’re going to come in town, stay in town.”
The mayor and others met with Kistachie National Forest officials to discuss events at Caney, and he said they are very enthusiastic.
“Drone racing is a possibility at the Rec Center, because they can run them through the obstacles, which I assume means the trees, goals and whatever else.”
Airstream also tossed out the idea of different sports camps.
“Since we hired Airstream, they’ve brought in specialists that specialize in basketball tournaments, cornhole, cross country cycling, seven-on-seven football events.
“I think we are headed in the right direction on this,” he said.