Elko event looks to attract Hummer owners

Anyone who has $50,000 or more to spend on a Hummer probably has the disposable income that makes him a valuable tourist.

The Elko Convention & Visitors Authority will test that theory with its first Hummer Roundup in September, and the event is expected to draw owners of at least 400 of the vehicles from around the nation.

And within a couple of years, tourism officials expect that the event might draw 1,000 to 2,000 vehicles and their owners.

It's getting a jump start with a $10,000 grant from the Nevada Commission on Tourism, one of 146 grants totaling nearly $1 million to boost tourism activity in rural areas of the state.

Tom Lester, tourism and convention manager for the Elko Convention & Visitors Authority, said the grant will be used to advertise the five-day roundup in markets across the nation.

Trail rides will be the center of the event, he said,with cowboy dinners, cowboy poetry and driving clinics scheduled throughout the event.

(For details, go to elkohummerroundup.com.) A sampling of the other northern Nevada grants approved by the tourism commission:

* $7,500 to Pyramid Lake Fisheries to promote fishing at Pyramid Lake.

The activity will be promoted at sports shows in San Mateo and Sacramento, Calif., as well as on the Web site www.fishsniffer.com.

* $4,000 for the Virginia City Convention and Tourism Authority to promote Halloween Ghost Train 2005, which is designed to attract overnight visitors.

* $8,000 for promotion of the Lake Tahoe Jazz Festival by the Lake Tahoe Incline Village Crystal Bay Visitors Bureau.

* $8,200 for the Winnemucca Convention and Visitors Authority to advertise to residents of the Reno area through an ad campaign on KRNV News 4.